I started taking Ritalin LA (slow release) yesterday and its brilliant. I can concentrate 10 times better but it seems to do the opposite of stimulate me. It nearly tranquilizes me. I'm so calm I'd be perfectly happy sitting in one spot for about 10 hours straight.

Its all good but I was hoping it would drive me to get things done like amphetamines do. I hear that slow release methylphenidate like concerta has this effect. Ritalin LA comes in gelatin capsules. Is it just the capsules that make it slow release or is there another chemical in there which makes your body absorb the methylphenidate more slowly?

I can literally go to sleep on this stuff in the middle of the daytime. I can't even do that sober. Is this a normal side effect of Ritalin LA?