r/Concerta

Who else out there and how did you move forward. Now I understand how the release mechanisms for Ritalin and Concerta work i can trial dose timing with what I have. So currently my script for this month is 54mg Concerta and 10mg Ritalin IR. My sedation kicks in 2hours post Concerta dose, it was suggested that the IR be taken at the same time to compensate the dip before the Concerta OSMO pump kicks in. Has anyone been down this trial path or because of the Ritalin bimodal release you've gone straight to Ritalin LA.

I didn't want to switch to elvanse just because of the hassle of going through all the titration again but it might be the solution. Frustrating as 36 mg felt fine for a while then nothing . I thought it might be the hot weather and disrupted sleep lately ,I'm not sure

I wake up, cats shredded my pill organizer. I saved most of the pills thankfully but the organizer was unusable. I decide to use the normal concerta bottle to store pills until tomorrow. I take my usual 72mg, wake up, forget to brush teeth and just chill on my laptop and take my concerta of course. 30m later wait.. oh god.. I forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer. Then I realize I also took 144mg of concerta within an hour of each other. Can you guess what happened next??

Nothing. Just nothing it's the same if I didn't take it. Now truth is I have been struggling with 72mg concerta. Feels like it doesn't even do anything and now I am sure of it.

Idk how common this is but I genuinely felt nothing on 144mg, no increased blood pressure, heart rate or even anxiety. I think it's about time I stop wasting money on a medication that doesn't work.

I stopped Concerta immediately after discussing it with my doctor (no taper). The timing worked out because I had just finished my current bottle, and we agreed it was a good point to stop rather than start another one. I’d been taking it for about 5 years with almost no breaks. My dose and formulation changed a lot over the years, but it eventually stopped helping. My final dose was 72 mg/day (2*36 mg). I also recently reached 100 mg atomoxetine, which made stopping feasible.
This wasn’t an easy decision. I’d tried to stop methylphenidate before and the withdrawal was bad enough that I always went back. It also took me a long time to accept that, despite how much it had helped in the past, it had gradually become more of a hindrance than a benefit.
The withdrawal has been much harder than I expected. I have constant physical and mental discomfort, feel very restless, and I sleep throughout the day if I don’t consume caffeine. Caffeine helps a lot, but not nearly enough, and too much of it starts affecting my breathing.
One thing I’ve noticed is that Concerta consistently made mornings feel especially motivating, regardless of the dose, and I think I became psychologically dependent on that feeling over the years.
Has anyone experienced something similar after stopping after such long-term use? Did anything besides time make the transition easier, especially for the sleepiness, restlessness, and overall discomfort?

The first months (march - may) I guess it was working, I wasn’t hyperactive and it did stop my task paralysis/procrastination. Nowadays there’s no difference between unmedicated me and medicated me, and it’s leading me to frustration and depression. Before someone talk about the dosage, I talked a lot with the psychiatrist about it before posting it on reddit. I improved from 27mg to 36mg and all still the same besides the fact of it just giving you the side effects with no help ( So it’s better to not take the medication than take it to feel the same + side effects ). I’m thinking about asking my psychiatrist to change the medication, more specifically the Elvanse (Vyvanse in Europe Union). What do you think about it guys? Sorry for the bad english, i’m not a native speaker.

I have been on concerta 18mg for about 6 months. I’m pretty sensitive to stimulants and when I tried adderall XR I couldn’t sleep for days. When I started concerta I had zero problems sleeping. I had some irritability when it was wearing off but slept great. About a month ago I had my gallbladder taken out unexpectedly and for obvious reasons was not taking my medicine. I’m also a teacher and it’s summer so I wasn’t in a big rush to start back. About a week ago I started back and couldn’t sleep at all the first night then subsequent nights it’s taking me a few hours to fall asleep which is not normal for me.
Has anyone else had this happen? Obviously I can’t go down on my dosage but I originally asked for an immediate release med but my dr wanted to try this first and it worked great until now.

Been taking Vyvanse for 6year now and I feel like I built a bit of a tolerance. My Psych NP suggested to give Concerta a try. I’m so nervous to even pick it up from the pharmacy 😩🤣 Vyvanse has changed my life so much and it helped me to even get my old self back. Anybody ever done the same switch? Vyvanse to Concerta? Any starter stories/advise on Concerta is welcomed 🙂

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Today I got up early (6:30) for a big family event, I took 10mg short acting Ritalin right after waking up and also had 3 shots of coffee (I was extremely exhausted and thought it would help). Later (9) while doing makeup I guess I took concerta, then somehow forgot I already took it, and took it again. I normally take 36mg, so with the short acting I had a total of 82mg and it was BAD. I felt the effects 1hr into a car ride (wasn’t driving thank god) and was so painfully aware and alert. I am less anxious now but still feel uncomfortably awake, I am unable to stay still or relax. However I did know this wasn’t a dangerous amount for me (accidentally did same thing a few years ago and didn’t die so I knew I’d be ok) which helped ease anxiety and racing heart. I took the Concerta around 9am this morning and it’s now almost 7pm, still feeling it pretty strongly. Has anyone else done this? I am assuming since ADHD makes us forgetful it might be quite common to accidentally double up.

Also, if you have any tips on how to avoid accidentally doubling up please share cause I absolutely don’t want to do this again lol

edit: yes I know the coffee made this astronomically worse lmao (hence why I included it as a detail!) that is not an amount I have everyday.

Final edit: I am sorry if anything I’ve said hasn’t made much sense, my brain is going so fast I cannot properly contemplate everything. It’s almost 10:30pm now, I am still very much awake and alert, will likely be up all night. Thank u for the genuinely useful advice.

Looking for advice from anyone who has experienced anger with taking concerta. My 16 year old started at 18mg 2 weeks ago. The first week was good but this second week, his rage is out of control. Every little thing triggers him. He punch a hole in his door and is arguing and getting mad non stop. I emailed his doctor but haven’t heard back yet. Did this happen to you & you stayed on it and it stopped?

My most noticeable change now that I've been on it for a few months and the initial "wow" has worn off a bit: I can do ONE thing at once.

I used to need at two to three things. If I was watching TV, I'd also need to be reading something on my laptop, doing something on my phone, or knitting/crocheting/etc. with my hands. I would get up to go switch out laundry (after days of it sitting in the wash and having to rewash it of course) and need a youtube video playing. I sound like an adult iPad kid, but hopefully y'all get it.

About a month ago I got really into editing Genius lyrics and one day I spent the entire day, literally the entire day, reading through wikipedia articles and even finding unique sources to do research for annotations so I could explain the historically accurate references in a musical song. With nothing else. It was silent. Silent.

I'm writing this post right now in silence! I actually had to PAUSE my TV show because I devote all my focus into one thing now. I cannot wait for fall semester to start so I can see what it's like to be able to pay attention in class.

[ADHD-C, started on 27mg in March, been on 36mg since April. I take it every day with no breaks. Also taking bupropion 150mg]

I’m actually kind of curious, how common is withdrawal. I play with my dosage all the time. I can get on and off the medication without any issue. I even had to go cold turkey once. I’m curious, for others, is withdrawal really a thing? If so, what’s it like?

I’ve had my dose steadily increased each month and now prescribed 72mg. I’ve had little to no positive effects from Concerta so far and at this point I’m wondering if the 72mg is even worth trying. Doc said next month will be Elvanse if still no improvement. My query is…. How will I even know if it’s ’working’? My current test is “can I leave the house for work without having to go back for something important?” (F, 41).

I’ve been on 54mg of branded Concerta XL for a week (titrated up from 18mg) So far and I’ve noticed massive improvements in my anxiety, emotional regulation, concentration, but not executive functioning and task initiation.

Obviously the medication can’t make me do things, but it’s still hard, or even harder to get up and do things I need to do because I’m so used to relying on panic, shame, and general negative self talk.

I’m finding it more difficult to do mundane daily tasks, or tasks that only impact myself like studying or chores, but it doesn’t impact my work because it’s a non negotiable obligation. Although work has always been a consistent thing I’m able to do even before medication, I’m just more functional and reliable at work than I was before.

Is anyone in the same boat or can share some of their advice/ personal experience with concerta or other medications.

Thanks!

I got prescribed Concerta 18mg to try out and am unsure if it’s even working. Im on day 3 and the most I’ve noticed is being a lot more sleepy than usual. I don’t have any terrible side effects besides a light headache that typically goes away on its own. I do also tend to have a terrible crash later on in the evening where I am just so tired I don’t have the energy for anything. My doctor when he prescribed this said I could up to 36mg yet my poor memory wont recall when he said it would be okay to do so and I was wondering if anyone knew when that might be safe to do so? I only ask because I don’t seem to be getting any benefit from this medicine like I’ve been reading about from other people’s experiences and I feel disheartened because I just got diagnosed finally later in life and I’m very new to all of this and want to get help and do this the right way. Thank you!

Been on Concerta 36mg for a week and I keep getting blurry vision. Just looks like my eyes can't focus on things properly.

I know this is a known side effect but has anyone dealt with this before? Did it wear off?

I noticed this med (any dosage) is effective when I undersleep however I can't just put an alarm, I have to wake up naturally so it happens once in a blue moon. Once it happens I feel sharp (never happens otherwise), my chest has a pleasant burn that makes me feel warm and content and my head feels all tingly. Without 5 hours of sleep i'm just my regular self except my heart feels like it beats stronger lol.

Why is this the case? Also can I somehow induce these effects on 8+ hours too, I miss not having groggy brain fog 24/7 even if it's just a few days per year.

Hi everyone. Simple directed question and appreciate there can be many more variables, but has anyone gained more mileage out of concerta in regards to duration, more efficacy from the medication etc, by moving thier diet to keto?

I used Concerta on and off in the past, only when I felt I needed it, and it always worked well.
About a month ago, my psychiatrist started me on 36 mg daily. For the first 2–3 weeks, it was incredible. I could hyperfocus for hours, got so much work done (including hands-on projects), barely touched my phone, and sometimes even forgot to eat because I was so absorbed in what I was doing.
But for the past week, it’s been the complete opposite.
It feels like my brain has been shredded into pieces. My thoughts are scattered, I can’t focus on anything, and I honestly feel more distracted than I did before starting the medication. Even simple everyday tasks like washing my hands or doing laundry feel mentally overwhelming. I’ve also been getting headaches.
I know sleep deprivation can make ADHD symptoms worse, and I haven’t been sleeping enough lately. But I’ve been sleep deprived plenty of times before (both before Concerta and during the first few weeks on it), and I’ve never felt anything like this.
My doctor is currently on leave, so I can’t ask him yet. I’m mainly wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar after Concerta worked really well initially. Did it improve on its own, or did you end up needing a dose adjustment or a different medication?

I have been taking Concerta for a few months. At first I thought it was amazing. At tried a few different doses but initially I loved taking 30mg XR. It worked for me.

Now, everytime I take it I feel moody and depressed. I thought it was because of a crash but I feel like I am in a bad mood right after taking it and it's not effective at helping me with my ADHD. Has anyone experienced this? It helps and them all of the sudden you start feeling moody everytime you take it?

I thought it might be an issue with the manufacturer and not tolerating it and I can't rule it out apparently the pharmacies closest to me use the same one.