My daughter's doctor has said that if we need to extend the concerta, he can add a low dose of a short acting form, or a second dose of the concerta. He was refering to getting her through homework time and any posible rebound.
We have never added the second dose because my daughter was losing weight (she is skinny and has no leeway for weight loss), so guanfacine was added to the concerta to help with weight gain and augment the concerta. HTH
I am a foster/adopt parent and recently had a child with ADHD move in with us. She is on Concerta, 18mg. It seems to be lasting about 11 hours. She is on Medicaid so I have to go to a clinic for a prescription/appointment. I have been reading the boards about magnesium and omega 3 supplements. Is there a way to get the meds to last 13 hours? Maybe take a different kind or maybe two pills at different times or maybe a different dosage. She has a really hard time in the evenings and I don't want to put her to bed at 6 p.m. She is 6 yrs old and gets up at 6 a.m. and goes to bed at 8 p.m. All I want to know is what your doctors have said, I am not trying to adjust dosages on my own. Do I need to pursue this stronger with a different doctor? Thanks for any help.All of the stimulants can make tics worse or bring out latent tics. Studies have shown that the meds do not "cause" Touretts. Guanfacine and clonidine can be given wtih stims to help reduce the tics in this case as a treatment option. Even the non stim Strattera can worsen tics. Everyone responds differently to meds and it can be an adventure to find the right treatment for the individual.you must be very careful with concerta. I have 2 grandchildern with ADHA. My 7 year old was given concerta about 20 minets after taken his frist dose of concerta he started making faces twitching blinking, sticking out his tounge. When my daughter and asked him what he was doing, he had no clue that he was doing anything. We stoppped giving it to him right away. The concerta was giving him face tics. We later found that Concerta can cause Touretts and also cause tics. So bewere what u give your childern.yes ,our dr told us it can makes ticks WORSE but it doesnt cause them. You cant take something that causes Turrettes syndrome, however, the meds can definatley cause symtpons that mimic Tourettes (sorry, i cant spell all htese words)
Concerta has been AWESOME so far. He eats more than he did on Methylin and sleeps fine, and it consistantly lasts 12 hrs. Its only been 4 days. so i hope negative side effects start.
Mt child has other issues (Aspergers, so the meds make that more apparent also)
But calming him from the ADHD, is a new life for al of us.
Thanks for your feedback. What did the Dr switch your granchild to?
After the first month of Concerta, my 58lb daughter lost 5 pounds. Because of that, the doctor did not want to raise the concerta any more. We started working at keeping weight on her, took a month break from the conerta (until school started) and added guanfacine. Guanfacine helps with hyperactivity, defiance, impulsivity, weight issues from the stims, calming and sleep issues, but not with attention. So rather than increase the concerta, he added guanfacine to help out the concerta. The down side is that you cannot stop it suddenly, but it is a low dose. We now have a handle on the weight and we never see rebound. She just returns to the old activity level when the concerta wears off. She has no problems sleeping (before meds she would stay up late and not be able to get to sleep).
Watch to see if you can tell when the concerta wears off. If you child just gets active like before meds then this is not rebound. You need to decide if the meds last your child long enough (school, homework, afterschool activities) and whether it interferes with sleep. If it does not last long enough, your doctor can add a secnond dose of concerta or a short acting form. Rebound is when the child gets emotional, more hyperactive than before meds, headachy when the meds wear off. For rebound, you doctor can see if it stops after your child gets used to the med, add a short acting low dose to ease the med leaving the stystem, or try another med. It will all depend what your child's needs are.
Tturner, after 2 days on you would have seen rebound if it were to happen. Look in the other threads for ways to keep weight on if you child doesn't eat much.
My daughter's doctor has described many ways to meet a child's individual needs. He wanted to make sure I understood that there are many ways to adjust things for now and for the demands of the future (puberty and high school).
vickie39004.4138194444guanfacine............ augment the concerta
what do these things mean? My 5yr old has been on Concerta for 2 days and ok so far.
Doesnt eat much, I will have to wait and see, but is there any tips for the re bound phase if this happens to him?