r/Concerta

So just wondering, I started Concerta extended release about 9 months ago. I started on 18mg, which people seem to say is a very low dose, however for me, I feel it's a lot.

I definitely feel it, everything calms down, the “constant frantic feeling” and disorganization disappears. After 45–60 minutes, as it builds throughout the day, I can very much feel where I am on the “release curve,” but it's also, I feel, plenty intense. Like 36mg to me would be completely overstimulated, but I am also very sensitive to this stuff. Like even coffee, I can have a maximum of half a cup and I'll very heavily feel the effect.

I am just wondering if anyone else has it like this? I thought ADHD meant understimulated, so people with ADHD can go through gallons of coffee just to function, but I'm the exact opposite? Is this normal? Anyone else feel like this? I mean, it even makes me bring into question the feeling of imposter syndrome.
Perhaps I don't have ADHD, and thus even the low stimulant level pushes me very far already?

I mean, my psychiatrist says I am one of the heavier cases she’s seen on behavioral evaluation of ADHD traits, but I don’t see how that then would work if 18mg neurochemically already is plenty.

I need help according brand Concerta. (Actavis only worked 2 hours then had me crashing down with behavioral issues. Trigen worked better around 4 hours but with lots of side effects).

But, without health insurance, getting Brand Concerta is costing me $450 a month!!!! cash pay out of pocket!!!!

I saw that there is a savings program from the Concerta manufacturer that “CAN bring down your cost AS low as $4 a month” …. but….. A) you need to have a private health insurance to apply. …. and B) there is no guarantee that it will bring you down to $4 once you apply.

I asked my psychiatrist how people afford this and she said some people's health insurance only covers a portion and they still have to pay over $100 -$200 out of pocket anyways!

Can you leave your experiences or any suggestions for getting Brand Concerta at an affordable price? how much do you pay for yours?

I (26 M) was diagnosed with ADHD last month and have been taking Concerta 18mg. It doesn’t seem to help thus far as this is the 4th week; the first few days I did have a little more motivation and was able to focus a bit more. But I’m just wondering what do psychiatrists typically prescribe when 18mg Concerta is not working?

When I am on concerta yes my libido improves a bit but I am not talking about sexual attractiveness I mean I just generally find my girlfriend so attractive while I am on it and I just want to cuddle her 24/7. Does anyone else share this?

Happens just randomly at points in the day. If I exert myself then a lot worse but will happen at any point and then the back of my head is just damp and feel incredibly hot . Any tips on reducing this

I find that concerta (72mg) works wayyy better if I take a small nap immediately after taking the pills. Though usually I find it impossible to go back to sleep is there any techniques that could help me go back to sleep for an extra 30-40 minutes?

Extra-

My doctor told me it's because for some people like me concerta seems to work more heavily on the dopamine neurotransmitters more than the norepinephrine ones which causes that initial sleepiness.

Has anyone ever only started feeling the benefits of Concerta at very high doses, like 72 mg or higher?

I was on 18 mg, and now I’m on 36 mg, but I still don’t feel anything. At least I’m not having any side effects. No crash either — how would I crash if it’s not working in the first place? 😎

Give me some hope, because methylphenidate XR (Concerta) is basically the only option available in my country.

Hey folks 31 yo newly diagnosed female here. (Btw sorry for the potential mistakes English isn’t my native language)

So i diagnosed like 1.5 months ago at first my doctor gave me 36 mg and I realized its effects last 3 or 4 hours. After 1 month when i see my doctor again i told him the situation and he said he predicted this but he wanted to see my body s reaction. He also said that he noted this dose could be inadequate for me according to my situation and physical condition.

And then he gave me 54 mg. I’m using this new dose for like 5 or 6 days but I feel like I lost the 3 4 hours lasting effect that 36 mg gave me earlier. With this dose I even lost this effect and it feels like no effect or so. I don’t feel focused mostly with this new dose :(

Idk if I am exaggerating this medication or my expectations give me false thoughts.

Btw with this new dose some big changes happen at work. My company announced that in 2 months some ppl will be fired and then some more and in one year they will shutdown the company. So I thought focusing to work may seem not important for me.

Anyone any ideas about this situation?

Hi! Okay i’m on concerta (18mg) but my roommate is exactly like me and has a lot of the same ADHD traits and i let her try one of my concerta’s and it drastically improved how she functioned throughout the day and helped her be present. She’s been talking to a psychiatrist and of course she got put on strattera first but her body completely rejected it. How can she ask for Concerta? Does she actually say she tried it? I’m not sure how to help her advocate for herself. Thanks!

I always take me medicine around 8:00-8:00am but I have evening dance rehearsals sometimes so I decided to take it later to get through the classes (I really have to focus). However by the time I take my medicine I am already exhausted (getting my child ready, dropping to nursery and back) and then I am tired in the evening. Not sure if I should keep the same time or just accept it that I won’t be that fresh during classes..?.

Today I after school I picked up my first expensive bottle of 18mg Concerta. I’m year eleven (uk, 16F), in the slap-bang middle of final exam season mid-complete-burnout. I haven’t revised, i’m taking one exam at a time despite being very upset at how i’ve turned out.

My executive functioning difficulties, being academically gifted enough to get mid-good mock exam results, but never being able to revise ever, crashed into me in the last couple months. I’ve given up. I also do have health anxiety.

I think i’m going round in loops but, i’m sitting on my bed in front of a sheet big enough to curl up and sleep under - full of side effects. Depression, paranoia, seizures? Shaking? Dilated pupils?

I had a health emergency when I was eleven, nothing serious on the books. A seizure in class from stress. No epilepsy or anything. I also have an innocent heart murmur, so harmless in which the stimulant medication was immediately approved by me cardiologist. But from this all I do still have rather crippling health anxiety. A tingle in my hand won’t go away? I get a cold sweat, scared i’m gonna die in the classroom or be sick everywhere. I think the loss of control scares me a lot. I’ve managed to be so scared of tingles (the symptom before my little seizure) that my brain can literally manifest symptoms to be true when i’m scared.

(Hair tickles my face. ‘is my face numb?’ Face feels a little numb suddenly due to imagination. ‘yeah i’m dying, my vision is fading, I can’t feel my hands, blah blah blah’)

Anyway, I guess i’m looking for some encouragement or advice or some words to ground me. Because, despite thinking rationally, there’s a big part of my brain that’s saying ‘you are that 1 in 10,000’ from the side effects sheet. I’ll be taking one tomorrow, off school, and the day after i’ll be in another exam. I don’t get this anxious a lot, but I guess the lore I think about it the more unsure I feel. I also don’t want to have the medication crash out, grief of learning in didn’t get to do, studying in could’ve done etc etc to get in the way of the next million exams I have all of june.

(this was very garbled, apologies. I suppose i’m just looking for some stories of minimal side effects to de-mystify me - i’ve been successfully scared by the side effects list.)

Concerts 18mg is my third ADHD med (previously medikinet 20-30mg XR and medikinet 30mg IR) and it it gives me major anxiety and negative thoughts towards the end . I keep trying to go back and keep going (my psychiatrist is pretty useless) but it's genuinely just counterproductive at this point.

I have heard from others that it had a negative effect on their mental health too. Is this a common occurrence?

Today for example ive felt more intense , more rushes, bit of anxiety , pulse rate between 90 and 105 most of the day. Yesterday was fine felt smooth ,pulse low 80s and obvious rushes and intensity .

What problems disappeared and what positive things happened in your life that it made you realize it was helpful/working

Since I (16M)started concerta 2 weeks ago (18mg)İ started to have some side affects any ideas or tips?

-itching: first it started beetwen my toes I scratched until skin peeled then it spreaded to everywhere it’s not really severe I can manage it most of the time

-verry bad skin quality: my friends asked damn you got darker and my mom suspects I m smoking because my skin quality is decreasing

-I m having more Acne’s on my face and they stick around for longer.

-during the day I really feel tired but also something is keeping me wake(its helpful I always had chronic fatigue and tiredness)

Every comment is welcome I would also like to hear your first side affects to compare 😊

hi i'm 18f. i think like 2 weeks ago i was diagnosed with adhd. my psychiatrist first gave me ritalin 10mg in the morning and 10mg in the afternoon and asked me to book an appointment in a week so i did.
when i went back i told him that it really did nothing to me. i just had terrible headaches and i lost my appetite.
first day i woke up like i think 3 times idk. then i think the other days it just made me sleepy after taking the first pill in the morning.
so he asked my weight i'm 50kgs (110 pounds) let's try 18mg concerta in the morning and a 10mg ritalin around 4 pm.
it's been like a week and i feel like concerta is just giving me a dizzyness/headache and a worse loss of appetite. i lost like 2kgs in a week (5 pounds i guess) is it normal?
and the problem is i still don't feel like it is changing anything😔 i feel nauseous and tired because of the headache situation.
i have a big college entrance exam coming up which happens once a year in my country and i only have a month left. i still can't get myself to study or can't read those long boring paragraphs without starting to fold the corners of the pages or doodling.
i think it made me calmer or sadder?
i don't know i just felt like there wasn't stuff going on in my mind as much but still it wasn't quiet enough me to focus on my work.
i started thinking do i not have adhd? is it why the meds don't work? or is it normal for this dose. i'm scared if my psychiatrist decides to increase the dose more i'd have more side effects.
also my mom refused to believe that i have adhd. i tried to explain how much i struggle etc. during all 4 years of high school and finally convinced her to book an appointment for me. even after the psychiatrist saying i have severe inattentive adhd my mom still doesn't believe and she is saying that maybe next month we should go to a different psychiatrist i think he misdiagnosed you.

Just wanted to update that since my six year old started concerta he has had 8 clean days of self initiating bms on his own across contexts. He also takes an exlax every evening. He had been at least partially soiling (skid mark) every day before, and this has been an issue for three years. Just wanted to share as when we were trying to decide to start meds or not I couldn’t find a lot of positive stories, and I wonder if that’s because once people have it resolved they don’t return to update what worked, or they try the stimulants without also fully addressing the physical piece also/first.

I know we aren’t out of the woods yet, but wanted to share what is working. In his case we kept the bowel empty with meds for 6+ months and scheduled sits, but his inattention and executive functioning deficits leading to withholding seemed to be the missing piece.

My friend took 14 18mg (252mg) concerta pills, she’s 16 and around 60kg if that’s useful what can she expect.

The first dose of 18mg my son was WIRED by 1pm never heard him talk so much in my life. Second and third, no difference at all.
27mg were notice his conversations are so much better, not hyperfixated, less scripting, more of his own speech and intimating conversations. Besides that not noticing any difference with executive function, attention or focus. But he is not sleeping at all… he was up until 5am the other night.. then in the morning when we have to wake him up he’s so tired and doesn’t want to get up and he’s tired throughout the day.
We give 10mg of melatonin already which is the max we can do and we already did that because his autism makes sleep hard.
The dr just increased his dose to 36mg and now I’m scared ! What do we do about his sleep 😩

I was on 18mg of Concerta for two weeks. Three days ago, my doctor bumped my dose up to 36mg because the 18mg had no effect.

The new dose was working perfectly. Oddly enough, during the first two days, I didn't experience any severe side effects—just a slight, expected increase in my resting heart rate. But yesterday, something terrifying happened. My heart rate suddenly spiked to 187 bpm according to my Apple Watch. It felt really dangerous and was extremely alarming. I immediately stopped taking the medication after that.

However, there is something else that is seriously worrying me right now. Today, I’m feeling a weird burning sensation in my heart area (specifically around the left nipple), or like my heart is fluttering and something is moving in there. This is happening even though I completely stopped the meds and haven't taken anything today. The feeling comes and goes at different times of the day; it's not constant.

Guys, I am honestly terrified. Are these just lingering side effects from the medication that will eventually fade away, or could my heart have sustained some sort of damage or glitch after being severely exhausted yesterday? Any advice or similar experiences would be really appreciated!