Day 6 on Concerta 18mg. Requesting experienced feedback.

[nvuletich]

Hello all! My 6 year old son is on day 6 of Concerta 18mg. He is still being disruptive at school, so not sure if it’s fully working for him. He seems to have better emotional regulation during the day, but I notice the crash period around 3 when he becomes very emotional about trivial things. One thing that greatly bothers me is his nighttime falling asleep has changed from 8:30 to 9:45-10:30. Has anyone experienced this on Concerta and from your experience does it go away? Is there an adjustment period? Also, I don’t expect perfection (he is still just a kid) but how have you measured success on this medication? Thanks!

[Happle]

Our daughter was on concerta. Although we saw improvements immediately, she was staying awake much longer, and having the headache right when I picked her up from school. Although my "mommy-gut" was telling me that it was not working quite right, I was told to keep trying. It seemed like, at least for my daughter, the concerta was taking longer to metabolize (i.e. not working within the 30-45 minutes, taking longer to "kick-in", but giving her a larger "surge" in the afternoon (and later into the night). Concerta is one of the longest acting ones on the market. I asked my physician about ones that were slightly shorter-acting (i.e. 8 - 10 hours vs. 12+ for the concerta). We switched to the Focalin XR and she is doing much better. She is more alert in her morning classes, no mid-afternoon headaches, and going to sleep at her normal time. Don't be afraid to talk to your physician about trying something else, dosage adjustments. You should not have to wait weeks to see results with stiumlants. Good luck.

[Specialneedsmom]

So my son has been on concerta 27 mg for two years in the beginning it worked awesome but I also noticed he was super emotional coming down from meds and very detached he could not wind down for sleep until maybe 11 pm so we are now trying adderall which I don’t care for I’m already noticing ticks or tremors not sure if that’s the right word but keep trying until you find the right dose and meds momma

[Acbr09 in reply to Specialneedsmom]

Did you notice any tics with Concerta? My daughter has been taking 27 mg for a month and has developed vocal tics. We haven’t tried Adderall.

[anirush]

My grandson switch to concerta of when focalin xr stopped working. It was a disaster for him and we had to switch to Intuniv. Medicine works differently for every child so you just have to give it a chance. But if things get worse instead of better contact your doctor immediately.

[klr78]

My grandson started on the first generation generic Concerta 18 mg ER, and did great for the1st few months. But we did notice that he had a difficult time going to bed at his regular 8p and wasn't eating much. So we implemented a wind down time of story book reading to relax him, we also started giving him a big breakfast. A few months later the pharmacy started using a different generic version of Concerta that totally changed his behavior. He started being very emotional, crying, stubborn and difficult. After much arguing with the insurance company he is now on the non-generic form of Concerta which has helped. But we are still seeing some lack of focus and inability to stay on task. We are seeing the doctor soon to determine if he needs a medication change.

[Aniusia]

Concerta made my son mean, sarcastic, angry and sad. We stopped after a week, since he was just getting worse

[Alwaysasking]

Our son was on concerta last year for a few months. His personality changed in school. I would see his teachers in the hall and they stated he was showing signs of being mean, argumentative and always picking at kids. She said its not the sweet boy she knows,who never acted like that and asked if the meds may be affecting him. We were glad for the info and asked other teachers who said the same. We removed him right away, bc we even noticed he was becoming mean and very emotional. Once he switched to another med, I was so relieved, even his teachers said they were so happy to have their sweet student back!.

[nvuletich in reply to Alwaysasking]

Just curious which meds your son switched to. We continue to see the same signs on Concerta. My son is happy go lucky and so sweet off meds, so it’s a huge change to see him so agitated, sad, and anxious.

[nvuletich]

Thanks for all of your input. A few more days in and we noticed he has been super emotional on the meds all day. Crying and overly sensitive to everything! Called the Dr and he said it’s because it’s the wrong dose. So we are going to try 27mg today (vs 18) to see if it helps. Wish us luck!

[Specialneedsmom in reply to nvuletich]

Wishing you luck

[Pennywink in reply to nvuletich]

fingers crossed!