You might want to check out the Concerta board to get more info. My son is 8 and was just moved up from 18 mg of concerta to 27 mg as well. He was on the 18 for 2 months and I felt the entire time it was not high enough but I was afraid to move him up. He was doing well in school academically but still had problems keeping friends. He has only been on the 27 for a few days but he has passed two fast math tests that he couldn't do before. My big problem with him is that the 27 mg has made it near impossible for him to fall asleep. It's 11:30 now and he just fell asleep. He demands that I stay in his room until he is asleep so I have my computer in here. It just drains me though I can't stand waiting for him to fall asleep some nights. He had trouble falling asleep on the 18 but this 27 is just a killer. Plus the doctor prescribed a half tenex pill at 5:00 p.m. to calm him down and help him sleep. I'm going to ask if we can up that to a whole pill but it is a high blood pressure pill so I'm not sure they will like that.
this is probably silly to ask b/c i know concerta is not based on age/wt, but after 4 wks, needed to up concerta for my 9yo ds from 18mg to 27mg. now, 3.5 wks later, i'm going to up it to 36mg. is this a more typical dose? i'm so new to this i'm relying on those of you with vast more experience to guide me.
i'm a little nervous that i'm going up the doses quickly, considering he seemed to respond to the 18 and then the 27 initially, and then they seem to wear out.
how does this work?
thanks all for your wisdom
hi joejoesmom: where can i find the concerta board? also, my son too has probs w/sleep but it seems to improve after he's been on each dose for a while. maybe after a few more days, your son will adjust and sleep a little better? (good luck)
in my case, ds seems to be doing a little better socially but will still exhibit adhd symptoms on classwork (writing jokes, other innapropriate words on class work) and has not yet shown interest in correcting math probs, etc. i'm anxious too that upping dose will exacerbate side effects. i tried a 5mg ritalin tab the other day when his concerta was wearing off after 9 hours (it was lasting about 10-11 hours). it was great to see him calm down again so that we could go to sports.
The right dose is the one that works, each individual is different, and Concerta is dosed based on symtpoms, not age or weight. what confuses me however is that his symptoms did improve quite dramatically in the first week or so with each of these two first dose trials. but very slowly return until it is apparent (almost overnight) it just doesn't work at all. i.e. this morning his 27mg seems to be not doing anything whereas even yesterday he was responding to it.My 8 year old is on 54 mg Concerta. We started on 18 then within 2 weeks went to 27 which worked for maybe a year and now he is on 54. I read alot of info and asked questions before each increase and I find that what you are experiencing with it is normal. He probably needs to go to 36. My son also takes 1mg tenex in the pm to help him come down off of the concerta and help him sleep.
thanks wyatt's mom.
if this is normal, then okay i can deal with it now. i was under the impression that during this trial/error period that the dose would either work or not. thought it was a more cut and dry effort rather than what we've been going through which is good at first and then slowly fade back.
ps) is it more likely that a psychiatrist would be the one to do multiple meds? my pediatrician is very conservative with the meds and is only giving me 14 days worth of the 36mg right now b/c he's concerned with side effects.