Concerta for 9 year old

[mom2877]

My 9 1/2 year old daughter was prescribed Concerta today. 18mg to start. Any other parents out there that have experience- positive/negative experience? I'm so nervous.

[Gelz68]

I feel the same way. We have an appt next week for our 7 yr old son and are nervous about starting medication too. I have heard many positive things about Concerta so don’t let the bad outweigh the good. If there are any unwanted side affects there are many more meds to try until you get the right one. Good luck to you all.

[Pennywink]

I remember being quite nervous when we started medication - and I was the one pushing for it.

My son has been on Metadate CD (similar to Concerta) for 1 year now, and we are thankful we took that first step. Besides not eating lunch (which we work around), we haven't seen too many other side effects. Fingers crossed things work out for you!

[RCJH8610]

My 7 year old daughter just started Concerta 18mg a week ago and we have seen tons of positives! Her teachers also say they can see a major difference and it doesn’t affect her appetite and overall behaviors. She’s still happy and talkative but just able to focus

[arleneamd in reply to RCJH8610]

I'm so happy I read this message. My son was just prescribed Concerta and I'm too nervous to start it.

[Doglady28]

Hi there Mom! We exhausted all non stimulant options first as I was nervous about stimulants. My son is 9 and has ADHD combined. It’s been a tough couple months for us but we are pushing thru. He started Concerta 2 weeks ago - 18 mg. Initially he was wired after taking it, but I think we weren’t getting enough breakfast in him first as he’s not a big eater. He is still eating some lunch at school and has more difficulty settling down for the night so now instead of an 730-8 bedtime it’s usually 830ish. After 2 weeks have gone by I am fairly certain he needs to go up to the 27mg. He’s back to having some trouble at school with his peers. It’s normal to worry, but just remember how helpful this can be to your child. Best of luck!

[Figureskater50]

We started concerta almost a year ago with my daughter (she was 7 at the time). We started at 18 mg and went up to 27mg after a month or two because there was a change but it was very small at first. The 27 mg did the trick.

Concerta made a huge difference in her anxiety, she had fewer tummy aches (at that point she was having stomach pain 90% of the time) her focus, her constant motion, and her social ability.

There are drawbacks. My daughter has ADHD, anxiety, I suspect giftedness, and I also suspect she may be on the spectrum. Shes an extremely picky eater, so right now our life revolves around me desperately trying to get food in her to battle the weight loss from the concerta. She's a competitive dancer and she needs her fuel. She sometimes gets dizzy from the drug, but it's not severe and it quickly passes. She also gets stomach pain about 20 mins after taking it, so we try to give it to her with a snack.

In the beginning, I gave her the concerta at 7:30 in the morning, but she wouldn't fall asleep until well past midnight.

My doctor suggested I give it to her later, so I experimented with times and right now I give it to her at 9:30 in the am, and then we start getting ready for bed at 8 pm, with 6 mg of melatonin before we start our night time routine, which helps her key down enough to fall asleep by 8:45 pm and she usually sleeps in until 8 am. We also use a weighted blanket that helps

All in all, concerta has made a huge difference. I homeschool, and the difference with her ability to learn and perform regular things like just getting ready in the morning is huge when she is on the drug.

I've noticed it's not working as well at this dose, but I'm reluctant to increase it due to the side effects. Hope that helps!

[fwhitt]

My son was 9 when he started concerta, he is 12 now and still on concerta (we just moved up to 36mg) . I was so nervous of all the side effects. Everything changed instantaneously for him-- his focus, his grades, his behavior. We didn't have major side effects, the only thing for him was when he would increase the dosage he would get a little dizzy for the first couple of days but as his body became acclimated to the increased dosage that would go away.

Just keep an eye on your daughter you will know if you need to change to something else. I will say if you get the generic form be careful not all generics are the same.

[christieb]

My 11 yo son just recently switched from medatate cd 30mg to Concerta 36mg.

The Medatate worked ok, but he needed something long lasting. Medatate would only last about 7/8 hours, and a higher dose made him “out of it”.

With Concerta it last about 12 hours which gets him through homework after school.

So far he’s been on C for almost a month and it’s working very well for him.

I make sure he eats breakfast, even if it’s a grab and go item. He says he eats the school lunch......and then around 7:30 / 8pm is when he starts to get his appetite back and raids the kitchen.

He has no issues falling asleep......I tried to get him in bed by 9:30/10pm.

The one thing I did notice is that when he was on the Medatate he had a very aggressive personality when it wore off. Thankfully I don’t see that with the Concerta.

[katcald]

My 7 year old was prescribed Concerta (the generic — Methylphenidate)

My husband was against the medicine but I finally convinced him to try it after diet changes, supplements, and therapy hadn’t helped

Less than a week after starting it, his teacher reported he told her “I can hear everything you are saying now.”

It was a life changer. As he’s grown (He’s been on it 5 years now) his dose has increased, and we have had to add booster doses, but he really can’t function well without it.

We were lucky — we found the right medicine first. Some families have to go through a long trial and error period. And it’s not perfect.

But I strongly believe that the right medicine makes a HUGE difference in the lives of ADHD kids and their families.

Good Luck!

[Adhdmama00]

My son has been on Adderall. I’m looking to possibly change to something else. He is on 15 mg and I’m noticing dilated pupils, fast heart rate. He also has to take melatonin at night to help him get to sleep. I sympathize with your nervousness bc all of these meds seem to have side effects. But the Adderall did help him focus.

[ProudMama]

My now 8 year old son is taking 54 mg of Concerta. We started with the 18 last year when he was 7, and were on it for some time before steadily increasing the dosage. He still struggles with impulsiveness, but he says he notices a difference in his ability to focus when he is on it. When contemplating whether to increase the dosage to 54 (the max), our pediatrician said that if his appetite is not affected, it's probably not a strong enough dose. And until he was on the 54, his appetite was not affected. I wish there were a 45 mg dose to try, but strangely there is not. He seems to have more of an appetite now than when he first began. We make sure he has some protein for breakfast and sometimes give him a bedtime snack with protein as well (based on pediatrician's advice).

I also was very hesitant to try medications at the beginning, but our son was starting to feel badly about himself b/c he was often getting into trouble for blurting out and other negative behaviors. I feel that these occurrences happen less frequently now and he feels more able to control his behaviors. Good luck finding the balance with your child. We're all on this journey together!

[christieb in reply to ProudMama]

Idk how you insurance coverage for Concerta is but our doctor said if the 36mg didn’t work we could try getting the 18mg and 27mg to equal 45mg, before jumping up to 54mg.

[Sunnylou]

We started the same thing a little of a year ago for my almost 10 year old boy. It worked really from day one! It was a completely different kid at school, was able to focus, grades went up immediately. We just now have had to add a little booster ( 2nd pill of the same thing after lunch) to allow him to get through the afternoon school care where they have to convince homework etc so we’ll see how that goes. I won’t do the booster /second pill on the weekends. Best of luck!

[Sunnylou]

Concentrate not convince...sorry for all of the typos! Ugh

[BigMama06]

Yes! We started my daughter on Conerta when she was age 7. We were hesitant to try meds, but felt reassured that the medicine would be out of her body in less than 24 hours. My daughter calls it her "pay attention pill" and has loved it since day 1. She is ADHD inattentive type and dyslexic. Her ADHD was impacting her ability to learn to read. Once she started on Concerta, she made 8 months of progress in reading in 8 weeks. We were amazed!

Best of luck to you and your daughter!

[jeanetterenee]

My son is on Concerta 36 mg and is doing well on it with Abilify. He is 11 and has adhd and anxiety. No side effects.

[virgo02]

My son is thirteen. He takes 2 36 mg concerta pills every morning before school and on the weekends. It works great. The only side effect is the loss of appetite. I give him big glasses of carnation breakfast essentials every morning and after school to help. Good luck 🙏🤞