[Georgiana]

I've changed the order of your questions a little. Hope you don't mind...

How long should it take to get into ketosis if everything was "normal"?

It depends, but typically is 2-4 days.

Originally Posted by Reici

I take ADHD drugs and am having a hard time getting into ketosis.

How do you measure ketosis? With ketostix? Ketostix only measure the concentration of excess acetoacetate (one type of ketone, the other two being acetone and beta-hydroxybutyric acid) that is spilled over in your urine. If the concentration is below the detection threshold of the stix or if you simply have no excess acetoacetate, then the color of the stix won't change although you would be in ketosis. The color may stop changing if, for example, you increase your exercise (you use more ketones for fuel) or you drink a lot of water (the concentration may decrease below the detection threshold) or, later on in your Atkins journey, get to eat more than 50 g carbs. Similarly, you can make those stix (more) pink/purple if you change your sources of fat from long chain triglycerides to short & medium chain triglycerides.

But as I've said, just because your pee doesn't change the color of the ketostix, it does not mean you are not in ketosis. Physical signs of ketosis (sweet/metalic taste in your mouth, "funny" smell of your pee, increased energy, thirst, etc.) are more reliable.

I was wondering if these drugs cause the same type of problem that caffine does.

Caffeine will not affect ketosis. The only thing caffeine does is stimulate insulin release, which can interfere with your body's ability to mobilize fat as fuel, because insulin is a fat storing hormone. Caffeine also causes cravings for some folks, which may weaken one's ability to stick to the Atkins WOE. One should also check for the other signs of blood sugar instability if he/she decides to drink coffee, because cravings are only one of the possible symptoms (look at the test on pp. 150-151 of DANDR 2002).