I agree with having a physical exam.
Who says Strattera and Focalin dont work as well? That is not true. Each medication works differently for each person.
My daughter could not tolerate Concerta, AT ALL, because of side effects. She did much better on Ritalin LA and even better on Daytrana. So the delivery method makes a HUGE difference in how your body reacts to the methylphedinate.
I guess it goes without saying that the quitting smoking would obviously help. I'm an ex smoker so I know thats easier said than done.
What does your doctor say?
I have had ADHD my whole life, but just started Concerta 18 mg a couple of weeks ago. I am a 32-year-old female, and I smoke. The first week everything was fantastic. I felt so good, I decided to quit smoking. As soon as I started using the patch with my Concerta, I started having heart palpitations, chest pains, and headaches. I have had similar symptoms from excessive caffeine and ephedrine in the past. I stopped using the patch and started smoking again, and everything was great again for about five days. Then two days ago the symptoms came back. I am very frustrated because I don't want to discontinue the Concerta. It has really improved my life. The symptoms seem to start around six to seven hours after I take my medication. I looked it up and this is when the concentration of methylphenidate peaks in the blood, although I woke up with the symptoms today. So, here are my questions. Has anyone had a similar experience? Also, has changing medications helped? All other forms of methylphenidate, including Daytrana, have higher peak blood concentrations than Concerta, so I don't think any of those would make a difference. According to these forums, Focalin and Strattera don't work as well. Maybe Adderall wouldn't cause the symptoms, but the internet seems to warn about cardiac symptoms more for Adderall than Concerta, so I'm not sure. Perhaps there is another medication I could take along with the Concerta to help reduce the symptoms. My sister thinks the symptoms are from anxiety, but I am going to monitor my blood pressure and have an echocardiogram to be sure. Please help if you can.Thank you for your reply. I didn't have any symptoms yesterday or today. Because of the variability of the symptoms, I get them on some days but not others, I think it must be the Concerta interacting with something else. I drank tea on Thursday and Friday morning, I ate very high sodium lunches on both days, and I took some new vitamins (Women's One-A-Day, Calcium+D, and Magnesium) on Wednesday and Thursday night. I made sure to avoid all those things yesterday and today and have had no symptoms. I am going to add the vitamins back in tonight to see how tomorrow goes, since that is the least likely culprit. I have a doctor's appointment in a week, and I am still asking for the echocardiogram. I also got my dad's blood pressure montior today, so if I get symptoms again, I will check my bp and heart rate.
What symptoms did your daughter have on Concerta and were they everyday? I guess I can try something else if symptoms continue. I was interested in Daytrana, but like I said it puts more methylphenidate in the blood, so I don't see how symptoms could get better with it. You could be right, though, maybe it's all in the delivery method.
She got overly anxious, tics, picking, terrible appetite suppresion. She has the appetite suppresion on Daytrana, but not as bad and tics are less, no picking, aniety not worse. We are switching to Strattera for now to try nonstimulant, but plan to add back a small dose of Daytrana if necessary. You may want to keep a daily log, what you ate, took for supplements, how you felt and bring it with you to doctors appointment.Thanks again. I will bring the log to my doctor. If you remember, could you let me know how your daugthter does on Strattera? Part of the reason I don't like Stattera and Focalin, besides what I've read about effectiveness online, is that I am a school psychologist, and students who take those medications don't seem to do as well as those who take methylphenidate. Adderall seems to make children much more emotional. I guess everyone is different, though. everyone is SO different. Stimulants make my daughter jittery, fidgety and cause increased anxiety and tics. She is already calmer off them and only three days low dose Strattera. We shall how her focus and attention are. Hopefully at least it can keep our stimulant dose down, even if we need to use it for school.