Concerta vs. Adderall | ADHD Information

In the year that Beth has been in therapy, I have never heard this term and had to look it up.  In first grade her school diagnosed her with a auditory processing problem.  We had her tested and she was diagnosed with an visual processing problem instead and ADD.  Now she is 16 and this has never come up again.  Will have to do some research on this.  Any info you can give me would be great.

I myself am a teacher of 4th grade.  I know how important school is for children and for your daughter.  I have worked with children with and without ADD and ADHD.  It is amazing how the drugs can help them.  I have a hard time watching the students that I can tell probably have ADHD and to be able to do very little for them.  The schools I have worked in shy away from diagnosing anything about a child due to fear of being sued.

Anyway, I took Adderal for over a year and then it wasn't working so well for me.  It would wear off toward the afternoon and I would be forever getting home after school.  I tried a smaller dose in the afternoon to keep me going.  During winter break I decided to try an herbal formula to see if it worked as well.  I found it at the local health food store.  That helped me very much for about 6 months and then it felt like it was wearing off.  I didn't dare up the dose, so I just went without anything for a while, another couple months.  Then I found a different doctor (mine took an early retirement due to health problems) and now I am on Concerta.  I have only tried it this week and have found it to be as affective as Adderall.  I have to be more careful about eating because I feel nauseated if I eat too many carbs. 

You could also check into a book called Stopping ADHD.  It gives some exercises that you can do with your daughter.  They are all described in the book.  They did an experiment in a school and found great results with the exercises.  If they work we could all be helped.  I have not tried them yet.  It does take a lot of work and time and effort on the part of the parent and the student.  But worth looking into in my opinion.

Good luck.

 

My 15-year-old was just taken off Adderall because we finally found out that her excessive moodiness and sleeplessness was related to the Adderall.  Now she is gunshy about starting any new medications.  Her new doctor wants to put her on Concerta starting at 18 mg and going to 36 mg from there to see how this works. She won't start it until after summer is over so she can take a break from the meds, but I am already seeing my fairly normal 15-year-old again off all meds.  Unfortunately, she cannot concentrate in school without meds (her words). Has anyone had any experience going from Adderall to Concerta?   Could she have SPD also?