Concerta and child’s mood | ADHD Information

also do check that it is not anything else causing her mood to change --- my 8yr old niece has never been on any meds and isn't ADD (altho she is dyslexic) but she suddenly quietened down a LOT and it turned out there is a new girl in their year who is quite a dominant personality-type and (intentionally or not - i am not sure) but bullying or intimidating, at least, my niece and it was just affecting her personality - making her very unsure of herself and clingy and worried and a whole lot quieter.  whereas she used to be so confident and happy/dramatic and laugh-out-loud (she has a brilliant laugh) and just full of fun.

now she still flings her arms around you - in her old-style actressy and loving gestures but it has that element of clinginess and panic/neediness on the top of it too.  a kinda "like me/like me/reassure me/partial desperateness" which as an adult i can understand and try to reassure her but as a child i could see that it can be desperately off-putting - creating a constantly deteriorating downward spiral of neediness causing alienation causing more neediness etc.!

i am sure it will all work out --- she gets on very well with her cousins and so at the end of this term, she will be coming for a couple of weeks to my other sisters so she can rebuild, hopefully, some of that confidence being around her cousins who love her company and herself!

i don't know whether this child at school means it or is oblivious to the effects of her actions --- but it just seems so sad to have these unhappy power games and personality manipulation at such a young age - who woulda thunk it!  so much nicer just to be nice!  well, enough about my neice - i just thought -

 - as well as the meds - it might be something situational.  then again it might just be the meds.  all the best with it.


My 12 yo daughter started concerta (36 mg) about 2 months ago. It has helped tremendously with school, focus, etc. She would actually come home from school and be able to tell me what happened and what work she had. It was actually quite shocking. She also scored much higher on her end of year assessments. Now to my concern. I feel she is a lot quieter and moody with the meds. I miss her crazy bubbly personality. She doesn't seem to notice the change but boy I do. She just seems to have lost that spark she always had. Since she is mostly innattentive, and I've heard a lower dose can work for that, do you think dropping her dose down could be a good compromise. She is so proud of her school accomplishments, but I want her to be "happy" too. Any advise would be appreciated.I think it's worth a try, or even trying a different med altogether. Your goal is to be balanced. Symptom relief with minimal to no side effects. Loss of personality is a side effect, IMO.