"i used ritalin for many years before realizing it had little or no effect on me. i think the placebo effect applied not only to me, but also to my parents and teachers. upon finding out that it&#039;s quite common for some patients to have their medication switched 2-3 times before finding one that works, i decided to try adderall (which worked amazingly, but gave me insomnia), concerta (which didn&#039;t work on me, since it&#039;s basically the same as ritalin), and finally settled on dexedrine, which i don&#039;t know how i ever lived without. of all the add medications i tried, it was head and shoulders above the rest as far as effectiveness and had the fewest side effects (which were barely noticeable and disappeared after a couple weeks)."