Overall, we like Concerta. Our inital dosage was too low, so we had lots of iritability and grouchiness in the afternoon. Once we upped the dosage from 18 mg to 27 mg, this has pretty much gone away.
The advantage is that is gives us good coverage but with the disadvantage that she doesn't really want to eat until early evening and then eats a ton.
Our sleep issue aren't any better or worse on this med.
HorseMom39439.0002199074I telephoned the pediatrician. She suggested giving him 15 mg. instead of 10 ritalin LA. My husband and I agree that while the meds. are working he is okay. It's when they wear off. We are going to suggest a longer lasting medication. I heard other people mention Concerta. Is it good? [QUOTE=HorseMom]My daughter was pretty successfull with Ritalin LA. The main draw back for us was it didn't last long enough. She is currently on Concerta and now that we have found a good dose, she is doing really well.[/My son is on 10 mg. Ritalin LA. and it is not lasting longer enough. How are you liking Concerta. Any tantrums, rebound problems, etc.?QUOTE] we tried that, using concerta instead of RLA for the longer lasting, but she could not toelrate due to an increase in side effects. For her they were much worse on Concerta than RLA.For some weekend breaks are not good it is like starting over every week with the med. It does take some time to work out side effecs. But I agree with other posts the rebound can be horrible anthough we were on Focalin anothe form of Ritalin the rebounds were bad at the begining.My daughter was pretty successfull with Ritalin LA. The main draw back for us was it didn't last long enough. She is currently on Concerta and now that we have found a good dose, she is doing really well.My daughter was on Ritalin LA and she was fine some days and horrible others. The horrible days started to out number the good days. The rebound on Ritalin(when the meds run out and they hit the wall of no meds) were absolutely horrible on the Ritalin LA. She'd run around in circles screaming and flopping herself on the floor having tantrums for no reason. And so we went back to the phsyciatrist...we changed the med to Concerta. It lasts longer and we're still working on getting the dosage correct but it works longer and leaves the system slower so the wall isn't as steep when the meds release from her system. So you may want to go back to the doctor and possible change the med. It's all trial and error with these meds.
Keep your head up! Kim
There is usually a rhyme and reason! If it's that inconsistent, the med or dose might not be right. Also, I used to give my son his medications during the week only but have found that consistency with the medication is very important for consistent behavior. You will also figure out much more quickly if it's working.