Has anyone had a similar experience where concerta 27mg doesn't seem to be doing much and 36 is too high? i wish there were smaller increments. or is it possible that concerta is just not right in our case? we have a med check coming up soon and i'm going to inquire with dr. about this.
just wondering if anyone out there could relate.
Just a thought....mornings and all day are okay on 27, but my DS still has a lot of "symptoms". having to be redirected to tasks in class, controlling impulsivity, maintaining eye contact, etc. i find that a 5mg ritalin helps if he's got particularly difficult homework in the pm to help him get through. his symptoms are controlled much better on 36 (more focus, etc) but he gets too intense, easily annoyed by others. and emotional. i wonder if they made a 30mg would it be just perfect!
it's tough this time of year to tell what's really going on. it could be spring fever that's making him more distracted. nice afternoons are hard for homework and studying.
dear mars: so you're saying that the 36 might not be enough? i hadn't thought about that. i'll go over everything with dr. on thursday checkup. thanks for the help.
anyone know why underdosing might cause irritability?
When my daughter's dosage was too low, she was very irritable in the afternoon/evenings. Increasing her dosages (moving from 18 to 27), it went away. I wonder if on the lower dosage, they just get more frustrated because they aren't able to handle everything they can when the dosage is correct.katwal:
Not sure, but I would try a higher dose and see what happens. My son went all the way from 36 to 54 and it was great, he is now on 45 along with tenax because of tics. The tenax also helps with the moodiness and the rebound in the evenings and a little in the a.m. Concerta doesn't come in 45 mg though so your ds would have to take two pills; 18 and 27. If moving up to a higher dose doesn't work, you can either try another med or try adding the tenax to lessen the moodiness. Tenax is a blood pressure med that seems to help adhd kids with impulsivness, hyperness and in my son's case rebound/moodiness.
Good luck.
mars
I've been on 36mg for a long time now (over a year), but for the past 4+ months my instructors at college, my doctor, and my therapist have all been pressuring me to agree to trying an increased dose. The 36mg worked great at first, but I started having a lot more issues lately with behavior in class (impusivity, staying on task, sitting still, etc). I just increased to 54mg two days ago and am worried I'm in a similar situation where 36mg just isn't enough and 54 is too much. I'm planning on seeing how the rest of this month goes, hoping that my body 'adjusts' and how slow and sleepy I feel is just a side effect (or is what 'normal' feels like and is something that just takes getting used to). I've been REALLY productive on the 54mg and sit perfectly still in class, my instructors love how it's helped my behavior but I just feel so sleepy.Hi, my son has been on concerta for 2 years. We started out low and moved up to 36..on 36, he was focused, but argumentive, emotional, etc. So we increased to 54 where he stayed until about 2 weeks ago. His tics were getting worse so we lowered him to 45 mg with 1/2 mg tenax in the a.m. and 1/2 mg tenax in the p.m. It is working great!
Also tried vyvanse before lowering the concerta, but it was not the right med for my ds at all!
Hope this helps you out.
mars