My son is 8. He started on 10 mg of Ritalin in April and then went to 27 mg of Concerta for half the summer and this fall. The last few weeks a lot of the old ADHD behaviors were coming back - not answering questions, not following directions, refusing to participate, argumentative, noise-making, bouncing off the walls, etc. I talked to the shrink and she upped the dose to 36, which she said is a little high for his age and size (he dropped from 50 to 47 lbs during this 7 months). Today was the first day and his teacher said he was productive, but then he refused to do some work, got into it with the art teacher, and then fell asleep in the car on the way home. He took the pill around 6:45 and we drove home at 5pm. Was he crashing? Does that mean it's out of his system for the evening?
I guess I'm wondering why Concerta jumps from 27mg to 36mg?? Has anyone had a child who might need 32mg? Also, is the first few days on the meds a time of adjustment? I don't want him to develop a tolerance if this is actually too much for him. Yet the 27 wasn't working anymore. Does 36 mg seem like a lot for a child like him? Any advice is appreciated!
Concerta is not based on size or weight. He may need a med adjustment, or a different med altogether.My son was on 72mg at your son's age. The dose mg's don't matter. What matter's is that your son is successful at the dose. When he isn't, then move him to the next.
I did make up my own dosing, like taking two pills a 54 and 36 to get to 90, which is where he is now. I also gave him two 27 and 54m to get to 81, seeing if that was better before going to 90, and his doctor knew that I was doing this. It is all trial and error.
The doctor also has him on tenex since way back when we began concerta, which also helps - it is the icing on the cake so to speak!!
My son was just diagnosed about a month ago ( 3 days after his 5th birthay), and since then we've gone from Ritalin 5 and 2.5 , Ritalin 10 and 5, Concerta 27, and then Concerta 36.