concerta and feeling sleepy | ADHD Information

I know this is an older post, but I'll chime in...I've taken methylphenadate products and they make me sleepy within an hour or two.  Sometimes to the point of needing a nap.  Caffeine does a very similar thing for me. 

Sounds like your chemistry prof doesn't understand the effects of stimulants on an ADHD brain...thus his show of defensiveness by making you look like the uninformed one. 

Don't give up.

To Vet.

I'm an adult just diagnosed, and just started concerta last week. It is causing me to sleep constantly. Strattera was even worse...So, stick with it and see if this goes away. As for the proffess., you may wish to explain to him, that you and he should go immediatey to the principle's/Dean's office to discuss this further, as his actions and comments are illegal, and also liable. He can be sued and fired, for even inquiring/harrassing you. You need to immediately talk to your Parents or therapist about this and have them handle the situation.

BTW, do you feel the theripist is helpful in addition to meds? I'm considering it...

 

I think that the therapist is helpful. I've got multiple learning disorders in addition to the adhd. She knows more about the adhd than she does about the others, but whenever I ask her a question that she doesn't know the answer to, she gets me an answer within a week by talking to her supervisor. I'm in therapy to work on the adhd stuff but also to work thru ptsd and a lot of related issues, but I thinkthe most helpful thing my therapist has done for me is normalizing having adhd as an adult and normalizing being on medication for it. That being said, it did take me a LONG time to find the right therapist, so I'd say try it, but don't give up if it doesn't work out at first. Even with my current therapist, I HATED her for the first 8 months or so. Only stuck with it cuz it was more scary to leave and make a transition to someone new. I'm glad I stuck it out cuz it turned out to be a great fit. I've been on 36mg of concerta for a while, finally agreed (after a lot of pressure from teachers, my doctor, and my therapist) to try an increased dose. So my doc bumped it up to 54mg. I've been doing GREAT with it as far as my concentration goes and being less hyperactive and sitting still in class, but I feel so sleepy.

I was really struggling with feeling sleepy this afternoon at school, and one of the chemistry profs was giving me an overly hard time about it (I'm not even in his class, he was giving me a hard time when I was just hanging out around the department during a break in my classes), and that was just getting me really irritated. So I told him I was just adjusting to the new concerta dose and that I thought that was what was making me sleepy (because he was giving me lectures on how I needed to sleep more, when this morning when I woke up I felt WIDE AWAKE before taking the concerta. I had the same thing yesterday too, and when the concerta wore off I was wide awake and back to my normal hyperactive self). He started teasing me even more after that, saying that since concerta is a stimulant it should be making me have difficulties with sleeping, not helping me to want to take an afternoon nap.

I'm so frustrated with myself at this point. Maybe he's right, maybe it's not the medication, maybe I should give up now. I don't function off the medication, I function slightly better but still have issues with the 36mg and on the 54mg I get sleepy (though function great as long as I can keep myself awake). But is there any chance it really is the concerta making me sleepy? Why wouldn't it have done that on the 36mg though if it is the concerta? and if it is the medication, can anyone explain to me a good way to explain to this chemistry instructor why it's not me, it really is the medication (because I know this guy, and he's not gonna lay off til I can explain it).