My husband is in his second week of concerta 36mg. He says that the main thing that he has noticed is that when he gets frustrated/angry he is more able to figure out a reasonable way to resolve the issue as opposed to just blowing his stack as he would have in the past.
He says that he is not noticing a lot else, but we as his family have noticed his moods are a little more stable, and he is a little less grouchy. I have noticed that he no longer snores like a buzz saw at night....he still snores, but it is gentle,quiet and very unobtrusive as opposed to before....I couldn't hear the TV over it if he was snoring!
He is gonna call the doc on Monday to see if he can try 54mg to see if that improves things before he moves on to try another drug.
Others have told me that family members notice a difference before the patient themselves notice. What have your family members noticed?
No one has really said anything. I did mess up about a week ago or so. I got off of my hormones thinking I was feeling alot better and didn't need them so I weaned myself off to save money. In starting a new med for ADD and going off of the hormones I think I may have delayed the effects of the med. I have started to take my hormones again and will stay on both to see if I am getting better. The only thing I have noticed is that I am calmer less stressed, but with thanksgiving I found that my concentration is still not good. I have about a week or so before I go back to the DR and I guess I will see what he says. I don't think he is very knowledgeable in this area.Neither I think is my hubby's doc, but he is all that we can afford...
My husband says that his concentration has not really gotten better either, but he too says that when he feels stress, he is better able to seal with it.
My son is on concerta as well, and on 36mg, he gets frustrated to the point of tears quite easily with his older brother, and with homework, but on the 54mg he breezes through homework and can tolerate the brother better. (Older brother is very good at incessant talking which drives Chase up a wall!)
We recently tried to lower his dose to 36mg, and on the first day of the new dose,he got into a fight on the bus! Now this child that he fought with has been pushing his buttons for the whole school year, but Chase could tolerate it.....until we lowered the dose....coincidence??? Who knows. That coupled with the frustration with homework convinced us to put him back to the 54mg.
I think that they start out at the low doses and then work their way up, because Concerta is not weight based as far as how it will affect you. By that I mean that some adults may respond well to 18mg, and some will need a higher dose. Some children will respond to 18mg (the dose my ped started my son out on) and some will need more. I know of one boy a year older (but much taller and heavier, and more hyperactive than my son, who is mostly inattentive) that was on 72 mg last summer during baseball season. But I know of many adults that do well on 54mg, the dose my tiny 10 year old son is on.
It is always safest to stick with the lowest optimal dose, so the doctors generally start out low and titrate up through the various doses til they get to the one with the best effects.
HTH
I wonder why my DR put me on that low of a dose. I guess maybe that is best to see what effects it would have on me.