Need to switch from ritilin to ??? | ADHD Information

Lauralee...

My grandson is in the same shape, he is on 54mg of concerta, which wears off by 4-5...causing him great distress doing his homework, and plain getting into trouble till bed time.

He won't be going back to the doctor until after school is out, and his mom..(my daughter in law) is alittle concerned as 54mg seems high to her. He's worked his way up to this amount..so we are searching of what might work better, for longer.

I'll be watching see if anyone comes up with anything.

KathyZ

well in the mean time you could ask the doctor to double the daily dose

my doctor feels that a SRelease dose every 6 hours or so is avisable .. i must say its a lot better to dose every 6 hours than to dose only when you feel like you need it because dosing on need gets to be like a rollercoaster and is stressful and confusing ..

I havent tried any of the other options but  unless there is a reason not to  taking a second dose about 6 hours after the first could be a good first step ..

what time does he take the first 20mg ?

For some people concerta lasts 10-12 hours. I believe it is a form of ritalin, so it may work for your son, lauralea. have you tried ritalin LA?  It lasts almost 8 hours.  I would try that before Concerta.   orion8838787.1881481481

MY SON IS ON RITALIN LA AND IT WORKS WONDERFULLY.  HOWEVER, JUST BECAUSE THEY SAY IT LASTS 8 HOURS DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN IT DOES.  MY SON IS ON 80MG IN THE MORNING AND SINCE IT WOULD WEAR OFF 5 1/2 HOURS LATER HE ALSO TAKES 80MG AT LUNCH TIME.  YES IT IS A HIGH DOSE, BUT HE METABOLIZES IT SO FAST SO HE NEEDS TO BE AND YET THE NOON DOSE STILL WEARS OFF BY 6:00 PM IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO SETTLE DOWN FOR BEDTIME.

Try talking to the doctor about adding an afternoon or evening dose. My oldest had to take multiple doses of even the long acting medications because he metabolized so quickly. The short acting needed to be dosed every 3 hours to have an even effect through out the day. Ritalin LA worked well with a three time a day dose (7 am and noon) and then a short acting Ritalin at 4-5 to get us through homework and the evening.

Concerta provided the longest acting coverage for my son.   However, it does tend to lose its effectiveness after a while, so a change for a few weeks is a good idea if it begins to lose effectiveness.My son is 11 and has been on Ritilin for a few years 20mg. once a day. It works well for him in school and we just manage the rest of the time. However, we really need something longer lasting and I am taking him to the doctor in a couple weeks to discuss this. The Ritilin wears off by 3:00 and so getting homework and tasks done in the evening is a challenge (actually it is impossible). I would like to try Adderral or Concerta as I have heard they are the longer lasting type of med. Any suggestions????Thanks