Ritalin LA Dosage

2.1 Pretreatment Screening

​Prior to treating patients with Ritalin LA, assess:

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​for the presence of cardiac disease (i.e., perform a careful history, family history of sudden death or ventricular arrhythmia, and physical exam).

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​the family history and clinically evaluate patients for motor or verbal tics or Tourette’s syndrome before initiating Ritalin LA​.

2.2 General Dosing Information

The recommended starting dose for Ritalin LA is 20 mg once daily. Increase dosage gradually, in increments of 10 mg weekly. Daily dosage above 60 mg is not recommended. When a lower initial dose is appropriate, patients may begin treatment with 10 mg.

Administer Ritalin LA orally once daily in the morning. Ritalin LA may be swallowed as whole capsules or may be administered by sprinkling the capsule contents on a small amount of applesauce (see specific instructions below). Ritalin LA and/or their contents should not be crushed, chewed, or divided.

The capsules may be carefully opened and the beads sprinkled over a spoonful of applesauce. The applesauce should not be warm because it could affect the modified release properties of this formulation. The mixture of drug and applesauce should be consumed immediately in its entirety. The drug and applesauce mixture should not be stored for future use.

2.3 Patients Currently Using Ritalin

The recommended dose of Ritalin LA for patients currently taking Ritalin twice daily is provided below in Table 1.

2.4 Switching from Other Methylphenidate Products

If switching from other methylphenidate products, discontinue that treatment, and titrate with Ritalin LA using the titration schedule.

Do not substitute for other methylphenidate products on a milligram-per-milligram basis, because different methylphenidate base compositions and differing pharmacokinetic profiles.

Clinical judgment should be used when selecting the starting dose. Daily dosage above 60 mg is not recommended.

2.5 Dosage Reduction and Discontinuation

If paradoxical worsening of symptoms or other adverse reactions occur, reduce the dosage, or, if necessary, discontinue Ritalin LA. If improvement is not observed after appropriate dosage adjustment over a one-month period, the drug should be discontinued.