I had posted recently about how happy I am with the recent switch we made from adderall xr to concerta. Well, the effectiveness is already starting to wear off, and the prediatrician wants to increase. **sigh** I do like the Concerta b/c ds seemed to behave less "medicated" and seemed happier. I'd love to stick w/it a bit longer, but I am very concerned about his sleeping. He still falls asleep fine (with the help of a 3mg melatonin) but wakes very early (5am) or wakes in the middle of the night and has that over-tired wound up energy all day. Tried a time released melatonin last night, but I don't think it helped, but I do think I have to move him from 3mg to 5mg time released to help him out.
Sooooo now what? Do we increase him and risk his sleep? Change meds AGAIN.....bah humbug
It is very common that you have to up the doseage of concerta, especially in the beginning. What dose is he on? If you liked his reaction to concerta I would definitely up it and see how he does.
If he is waking up the Melatonin may be too high. It generally works better with a smaller dose, 3mg could cause waking and night mares. I know you say 3 mg but our child phych told us to go as high as 10(which I think is too high). Since my son has been on 5mg melatonin he is sleeping better and longer than when on 3mg. He woke all night. I am afraid however the 5 won't be enough if we up his stims(might next week), and I don't want to go higher with the Melatonin. We may have to look for another alternative for the sleep problem.
Hi all. Thanks for listening. DS has been on 3mg melatonin for 2 years now and was doing fine til the med switch. What I've done now is give him 1/2 a 3mg regular tab, and then the 3mg extended release. Since we started doing that he's doing much better. I think part of what had me freaked out was that with the adderall he was on 10mg and the lowest dose of concerta is 18mg. I know its not apples to apples b/c concerta is not weight based, but just looking at the numbers can scare me.
[QUOTE=spamula]I know you say 3 mg but our child phych told us to go as high as 10(which I think is too high). Since my son has been on 5mg melatonin he is sleeping better and longer than when on 3mg. He woke all night. I am afraid however the 5 won't be enough if we up his stims(might next week), and I don't want to go higher with the Melatonin. We may have to look for another alternative for the sleep problem.[/QUOTE]
have you considered 5mg melatonin in time released formula? Helped us. regular melatonin helps to fall asleep, but does not mimick the bodies night-long melatonin release. The extended release types do just that. there are a bunch at www.vitacost.com. Just a thought......