Starting Concerta - side effect ??’s | ADHD Information
i'm new here...we started our son(12yrs) on Concerta, worked our way up to 36mg...its working wonderfully...he's able to focus more and is back to his loving,compassionate self...i was just wondering if anyone else on here is experiencing "crashes"...they are not happening often, maybe once a month or so,(all he!! breaks loose...like he just needs to 'vent'), then things are better...im keeping my fingers crossed for this school year....is this happening for anyone else?? just wondering
well i am glad that the moody and crying at the drop of a hat will wear off
my 5 year old is on ritilin and instead of beoming violent he crys now (i would rather that then him hurting someone).... we are going to try the new chewable medication but it is the same ingrediant as the ritilin so it shouldnt make him relapse.. I am glad that he will stop crying
I thought it was working good for my boys, except for the fact that they didn't eat. I guess they have been on something for so long, I just thought all the moodiness was pasrt of their "ADHD" issues, I knew the not eating and trouble sleeping was a bad side effect.
We had in increae both of my boys (15&11) to 54 mg a day. The 36 mg their grades started dropping throughout the year and then went back up with the increased dosage. I DID notice however they both seemed to lack in personality and didn't smile anymore, that broke my heart.
We took them off the meds for the summer to see how they are without them and after a few weeks, NO more outbursts, EATING GREAT, no over emotional and crying outburts. BUT they are VERY hyper and inattentive now. I'm looking into something less harsh on their systems....wish me luck!
Chloe 
We have also put Tynisha on Ritalin SR and are having wonderful results. Hopefully the concerta will work for you. Thanks all for the feedback and reassurance! The emotionality *does* seem to be improving for ds. And I think the Concerta is helping him be more focused and attentive. We've bumped up to 27 mg, but I suspect we'll probably wind up at 36 mg in the end. Thanks for your help and advice!!
My seven year old daughter has been on Concerta for about 9 months. Initially she too was started on the 18mg. She has gradually moved up to 36. There were no real problems with sleep or eating but she was moody in the begining. That too has gone away. She is now doing excellent. I was also amazed that she could sit and eat a whole meal. Before she "didn't have time. " She was scanning the room for something else to move on to.
2 weeks into the first grade before her meds I had 3 notes from the teacher about her inabilty to sit and focus. Now she is the student of the month. I would Give it time. It takes about 1 month for the body to adjust. If you still see too much personality missing then I would look into other options but for us it has all worked out.
Good Luck!
I agree, it seemed to take a few weeks for it to totally kick in. I remember after we switched to Concerta, my sons teacher said maybe we should go back to the other meds. I explained that the Dr said to wait it out. I kept getting distress notes that first few weeks until I suggested we take him off everthing and see how that went ?
Needless to say we waited it out ......it's worked great for us.
I did notice he was very sensitve. Cried at the drop of a hat. But that passed too.
MrsRed38205.7970486111My son is starting back on Concerta today. He's 13 years old and started school today. We're nervous. Hopefully we'll see some improvement from last year. Wish us luck
We started our 7 year old son on Concerta approximatly 2 weeks ago. We started at an 18 mg dose. I see some improvement in his ability to remain focused, he can sit still for longer (i.e., he can stay seated at the table long enough to eat dinner - this is a new experience for us - LOL!) I still see some impulsivity, and I was hoping to see a little more improvement in focus...
The doctor's initial plan was to start him on the 18 mg dose, then up the dose after 2 weeks as long as there are no major side-effects on the 18 mg dose. I will talk to the doc about increasing the dose tomorrow. As far as side effects go, so far I don't see a big impact on his appetite. Initially it did seem to affect his sleep a little bit, but that seems to be getting better. However, the thing that really concerns me is that I think I am seeing an increased level of moodiness/emotionality/irritability. I'm wondering if others have seen this on Concerta, and if it is something that improves over time. He's always been such a happy, good-natured kid. I think the meds are helping him in many positive ways, but I don't want to loose that happiness that I love so much about him.
Any thoughts/advice?
hi jsMy 8 yr old son is not on Concerta, but is on Metadate CD (also
methylphenidate, just a different form). We also see slight
improvement, mostly in memory and attention, and no effect on
appetite or sleeping yet (it's been 5 days). He does have a
definite "crash" period when the med wears off--after 8 hrs or
so. This is when he becomes moody/weepy/emotional.
There is a great thread on Concerta side effects in this forum
titled Starting Concerta--check out those posts for lots of info!
Good Luck
Good luck with the concerta. We put my 7 1/2 year old daughter on it and it seemed ok for a couple of days, but then she got really depressed and didn't want to play with her friends, would cry over silly things,wasn't her normal happy self, etc. I am not trying to scare you but if you notice your son is seeming a bit depressed watch him closely.
We have her on ritalin sr now and it is great. She is doing really well. The test will be when school starts in a few weeks.
Good Luck and keep us posted
[QUOTE=ray.leanne]Good luck with the concerta. We put my 7 1/2 year old daughter on it and it seemed ok for a couple of days, but then she got really depressed and didn't want to play with her friends, would cry over silly things,wasn't her normal happy self, etc. I am not trying to scare you but if you notice your son is seeming a bit depressed watch him closely.
We have her on ritalin sr now and it is great. She is doing really well. The test will be when school starts in a few weeks.
[/QUOTE]
We had the same situation with my daughter a while back. She hated Concerta because it made her not feel like doing anything. She also picked her fingers. But when we switched to Ritalin LA she said she felt great and noticed that she could focus better. Strange how two medications with the same active ingredient can have two entirely different reactions.
We're actually going to try the Concerta again now that we gave up on our trial of Strattera (didn't work at all). I'm hoping that now that she's older and has been on the Ritalin for a while she will be able to tolorate it better. She's going to middle school at the end of the month and she's not going to want to visit the nurse after lunch (LA only lasts 5 hours for her--very fast motabolism).
We'll see. Worse case, we go back to the LA and she needs to take it at school. At least we tried an alternative.
Maureen