what were your experiences with concerta slow release, my 6 year old dd is starting on it tomorow morning.
Also who has DX your DK's with ADD/HD?
My son has been on it for over a year and we have had alot of good luck with it and are very happy with it.My ds (7 yo) is on Concerta 18 mg and he is doing well. He has a bit of rebound so evening activities can be trying. It lasts about 10 hours for him. We tried the short acting stuff a few times but it seems to make him worse or just do nothing.
His teachers say he is doing great, sometimes he has trouble during art or music since there is less structure but nothing major.
xmommy
xmommy, yes it is the same chemical compound and like you say a different delivery system. This can make a huge difference to some kids. Children with ASD and ADHD notoriously have poor functioning intestinal systems - therefore the amount of meds can vary depending of where the medication is at the time. Therefore dosage and effectiveness can vary greatly from one child to the next and also the type of delivery system. So many kids after being put on ritalin and then on concerta find that they have to increase the equivilent dose of concerta greatly to reach optimal dosage. With my own children, learning has been altered greatly when meds have been changed from ritalin to concerta. So in some cases the concerta cannot be substituted for quick acting ritalin.
dd is still on 18mg, we are increasing the dose to 24mg on sat, so far she is doing super!!! her teacher is so impressed!
what can happend if you increas the dose, even if the lower dose seems to be perfect?
why are you increasing? Dose is all symptom related, your ideal dose is when you see symptom relief and little/no side effects. If that si where you are at, I wouldn't change a thing. Diane V39407.3210416667My daughter is currently taking Concerta. The jury is still out as if it is the right medication for her. She has been very successfull at school on it, though afternoons and evenings are still a little tough.
If you are getting symptom relief, I would also be hesitant to want to increase. However, I do see the point of slowly increasing to find the optimum dose. From what I remember from a talk one of our local area experts gave, he does this. His goal is to maximize the results that one gets. At a lower dose, you may get good results, but you might get even better results with a little more tweaking. I think it is really all about finding the right balance - results, side effects, etc.
My daughter has done pretty well on the lowest dosage available, but I have always wondered if she would do even better if we bumped her up a little. Our practioner has been a little hestitant to increase her dosages but that will be our next step if the next couple of things we are trying don't work. (We are going to try Daytrana - the hope is the more even delivery will help my daughter or an afternoon booster with the concerta).
Good luck.
My son was on Concerta during grade two, and it worked well with very few side effects, but like any slow release, there is a 'wave' factor to it (ups and downs all day in the effectiveness), and his teacher was having a hard time pinpointing when the 'ups' were going to be so she could schedule things that require a lot of concentration (ie journal) for those times. We switched him to the 3x daily version (8am, 12pm, 4pm), and now they know that approx 9am, 1pm, and 5pm are going to be his best times of the day. It's much less frustrating for him and his teacher now.oh i agree Diane, thats why i'm a little concerned, but my dd's peds gave a 3 week form for her teacher fill out as we increase the doses, and after the 3 weeks we go back to peds with the formes and then put her on the dose best for her, but if 18mg works, then i'm kind of afraid to increas it! kwim
I might just try the 24mg next week, and then if i find it's to mutch then i can always call her ped's and tell her i don't want to try the 36mg, i don't know, i'm all new to this!
It's so nice when our children can smile and laugh. They are so resilient in a short amount of time they forget the frustration they once felt. Definitely something to give thanks for.thanks horsemom, that makes a lot of sens, I'm just so happy now, my daughter is doing well and is happy, all these years of wondering what the heck is wrong with her and being so frustrated, she's so happy and looks forward to taking her meds in the morning, I have not had to raise my voice since last sat when she started taken them, and homwork is so easy now, she just giggles as she's doing them, it's great!!I can deal with the eating and sleeping side effects because they have been pretty manageable. I do not like the increase in anxiety. I see my son get so worked up about making mistakes when he practices piano in the evenings, that he is starting to cry and get angry about it. I see where he lets little things bother him a lot and gets more upset than usual. That doesn't happen excessively, so I thought I can deal with that and just reason with him. I can't handle if he becomes so negative and angry all the time, because that is not my kid. Before meds, he was a happy, confident kid but he had experienced years of trouble with attention, following directions, transitions, etc. Somehow, he still managed to learn and I guess it's because he is a smart kid and figures out out the parts he is missing in class. That will only last so long. He was also having lots of social issues. The 18mg of Conerta seemed to just awaken this other social side to him in the classroom. It was great until it seemed to not work anymore.
I will keep watching him on the meds and talking with his teacher (I work at his school, so it helps). It is overwhelming trying to figure out if I am doing the right thing with him.
When I see behavior and emotions getting out of hand in the late afternoon,I guess I was naive when I agreed to give Concerta to my son (beginning early October). I thought it would last 12 hours since it is an extended release version. I started my son on 18mg and he did well until recently when his teacher said all of sudden he wasn't following directions, was making lots of mistakes in his work, didn't put his name or date on one piece of paper...So we increased it to 27 mg. His doctor told me that most kids do not stay at 18mg and that eventually it can have a placebo effect. Between the holidays and weekends, he has been on it at school only 2-3 days. Last week during Thanksgiving, my mother in law thought he seemed more negative (he was also fighting a terrible cold). I kept him off this weekend because he was sick.
Should I wait to see how it really affects him this week before contacting the pediatrician?
Last week (one of the first days on the increased dosage), he had a terrible time at his piano lesson (which is about 11 hours after meds are given). He was short tempered and became emtionally upset when his teacher tried to work with him on a part that was hard. I wonder how long one needs to be on a new dosage before they become used to it and level off? I thought with the increase, it would probably last longer than the lower dosage.
My son has been on Concerta 36 mg. for almost a week. Not only am Ijeaniejo, I think it's a little of some parents just take what they can get and others dont have any problems. We saw the 12 hours on Concerta, but my daughter became quite restless and significantly increased anxiety with Concerta.
I think with inconsistent coverage it is worth increasing the dose especially if there are no side effects. You dont want to have side effects though, although I think for osme the benefit is so huge that dealing with some side effects are worth it.
You're the Mom do whats best for your child as a whole.
I am learning exactly what "family" meds does what to me daughter and how she reacts. It's helping me figure out what combination we need to do.