Concerta 18 mg x 2 vs. 36 mg??? | ADHD Information

I don't think it has anything to do with the fact that you are giving one 36mg vs. 2- 18mg.  It probably has more to do with still tweaking the dosage.  It is not uncommon for a dosage to work for a week or two, then stop.  It usually just means that the dose was not yet at the best level.  Perhaps you could try either 45 mg (1 18mg + 1 27mg) or 54mg and see if one of those dosages work.  Once you hit on the 'right' dose, the positive effects will not go away as time goes by.

It depends on how the medicine is metabolized.   When we were first trying meds for him we tried Concerta then we moved to Strattera.  The 25mg was too big for him all at once and it made him zone out to where he had to lay his head on his desk.  So she divided the dose to 18mg in the morning and 18mg in the afternoon. 

I agree, the body seems to adjust to the med, then you need to up the dosage.

Hi.

My 8-yo son (ADHD/inattentive) started on Concerta recently.  Ped started him at 18 mg.  Helped some, but not as much as I hoped.  Ped had me try him on 2 18 mg. tablets per day.  BINGO!!!  He stopped forgetting things, stopped making gazillions of careless errors on school work, stopped taking three hours to do thirty minutes of homework. 

Then I finished up the bottle of 18 mg. tabs, and the ped. gave me a month's scrip for 36 ms.  Makes sense.  Only-- get this-- he now seems like he's back to his old ADD self-- forgetful, careless errors, homework meltdowns, etc.  Teacher has noticed it to (and had previously noted vast improvement.)

Has anybody seen this happen before?  It doesn't make sense.  I'm waiting for the ped to return my call so we can brainstorm.

Thanks!