I am fully aware that I shouldn’t drink alcohol while on Ritalin, however I do sometimes cook with it, so I was curious on if that’s a major problem, as the relative quantity of alcohol is much lower than when drinking it. Say for instance a sauce that’s 1/5 Sake (15% alcohol) of which you then use around 30-40ml. That’s barely any alcohol, so should I be worried and maybe not take my meds when I’m planning on making food containing alcohol, or is it fine if I just avoid beers and wines and such?
Edit: The consensus seems to be that it’s fine, especially if it cooks longer, because it’s a low amount and at high heat the alcohol cooks away anyways. Thank you everyone for your input!
You must log in or register to comment.
Cooking alcohol doesn’t burn off as much as many people think it does.
But uncooked, you’re talking about 20% of 30mL. 6mL of sake. 0.9mL alcohol.
The interaction is not that severe to begin with, it’s a tiny amount, and the sauce is cooked. There’s probably that much alcohol in ripe fruit.
Yea, realistically the same amount of alcohol boils off as the water since they’re bound.
Mixing Ritalin (methylphenidate) and alcohol is dangerous and can lead to serious side effects, including high blood pressure, anxiety, drowsiness, and even fatal outcomes.
I’m not a doctor – but I’m pretty sure alcohol alone can also cause all of these.
You’ll be fine – at some point in time I’m sure there was a fleet of frat boys taking Ritalin and drinking every day. If you’re an alcoholic with preexisting heart conditions – you probably shouldn’t be on Ritalin already.
You’re fine. The small amount of alcohol used in cooking isn’t enough to mess with your medication.
Eh, I never had any issues taking my concerta in the morning and having beers in the evening. Not sure what the negative effects supposedly should be lol
I usually don’t drink much if I took a Ritalin booster but I’d still have a beer if going out for dinner 🤷♂️
(But to answer your question, the amount you’d ingest while cooking would be negligible. Add it a few minutes earlier if you’re worried.)
With a terrible hangover, I agree with this assessment.
You can fix that with a couple activated charcoal pills and hydration before bed
I suffer for my art.
If you’re cooking with alcohol and it’s getting hotter than 78 °C (or 173 °F if you’re so inclined) then all that alcohol will evaporate off.
Cooks Country would like to disagree (as would basic chemistry): the alcohol is bound to the water, so you lose as much alcohol as total water lost to evaporation.
Basically while alcohol alone evaporates at a lower temp than water, when they’re bound (like in a wine) they evaporate together.
You make a great point. Obnoxious clarification - Ethanol evaporates about 5x faster than water. The exact details depend on the % of ethanol to water, and the distillation type.
Distillation will force most of the alcohol off first as only some of it is bound to the water, depending on the method and concentration before an azeotrope is found. The azeotrope is where the water and alcohol are bound and can’t be further separated by distilling and boil off together. It’s around 95% ethanol 5% water.
If that is the case then how does distillation work at all?
It’s only in the pan for a minute or two usually, near the end of the cooking process, so I don’t think that’s enough time for that
It really depends on how much heat is actually making it to the alcohol, which relies on a lot of factors but you’re right fresh short cooking applications most of the alcoholic usually remains.
That’s really interesting! however I’m skeptical of the information in the table in that article. It doesn’t describe testing methodology or list any studies where these results were recorded.
That said, I understand that not all the alcohol will cook off and stay out. Some will re-condense and re-enter whatever you’re cooking, and any covering or absorbant layers will retain some of the alcohol that has evaporated.
Edit: my bad, the article does mention a source. However the methodology isn’t fully described and the source doesn’t align with the claims made in the article.
I did cross check some articles on Google scholar that seemed to line up with the results but I only had 15 minutes so take that for what you will
Bearing in mind that I’m an unqualified rando on the Internet: I dunno, alcohol evaporates much more readily than water (which is how distillation is possible), so if you reduce that sauce by 15% then you probably got most of it.
Edit: hmm, yeah but you probably aren’t reducing it by 15% in a minute or two like you say unless it’s really boiling
Alcohol cooks off when you’re cooking with it, so you’ll probably be fine.
never even occurred to me not to drink alcohol with my Ritalin. not like I wash the pills down with a beer, but certainly later in the afternoon I’d have a smoke, weed, and a beer or two and everything is fine. why wouldn’t you be able to do that?
Don’t get medical advice from Internet strangers. Ask your doctor/nurse. Literally just call and ask them, it’ll take two minutes.
Who is your doctor? I need a doctor that responsive
Every primary care doctor I’ve ever gone to has had either an NP or PA on staff to answer patient-specific questions, handle refills, appointments, etc. That’s pretty standard here, and I’m on Obamacare so I don’t have a special healthcare plan.
I think a lot of people don’t know that you can just call and ask them questions, for free, without having to set an appointment and wait. They won’t give you a diagnosis or prescribe a new treatment, but they’ll absolutely answer questions like the OP has.
Spent my 20’s and half my 30’s as a raging alcoholic pretending to be a chef who also survived on adderall, cocaine and cigs. Dont ever underestimate what the human biology is capable of handling. Dont cut yourself short, take ritalin so you can drink more. Then dr8nk more so you can take more ritalin. Rinse repeat and tell your shrink your mama didnt raise no pussies and that you want the good shit amphetamines from now on.
Or do the opposite of everything i did if you wanna live… idk healthy and long. 💁♂️
