What to Expect with Concerta

[arbeiterbiene]

Hi all! 12yo daughter is diagnosed with ADHD, inattentive presentation and started Concerta approximately one month ago; she takes it every day, no weekends off. Prescribing doctor said it would take about three weeks for the medication to reach therapeutic levels. Her symptoms are primarily noticeable at school: inattentive, perfectionism, inability to complete assignments on time. Ironically, her teachers noticed an upswing in her attention just several days after starting the medication, but none of us were sure if it was a placebo effect or not. As it turns out, Tumblebug is still struggling at school to the point where her IEP caseworker reached out to me recently and said that Tumble "just doesn't seem present right now."

That being said, what am I really to expect from Concerta? We have a medication management appointment with the prescribing doctor in several weeks, but for now, I'm looking for anecdotal information. When did you notice a change in your child? What was a noticeable change that you observed? I just get the feeling that it's not doing much for her and that maybe she should be on a higher dose, but I'm concerned that the doctor will think I'm looking for a miracle. I'm just looking for this kid to succeed in school. She was a straight A student until this year; we've never pushed for As (not even now), but we know what she's capable of and her teachers keep telling us how bright and capable she is. Now she has so many missed assignments don't know if she can dig herself out of it. So from a parent's viewpoint, what changes should I be seeing?

[Isabellarose]

Concerta was a nightmare for my son (He is hyperactive type) it made absolutely no difference to his symptoms and also made him more aggressive, the aggression was so bad. We tried higher doses, lower doses until I got to the point of saying no more. He then started Ritalin (and even tho it’s the same active ingredient) this was like night and day, my son can sit and focus in class, he is calm and can control his impulses. The rebound when meds are wearing off is still hard for us but he is at home by that time so we can handle that.

If you are just staring the medication journey it can be a roller coaster, every one reacts so differently what works for some doesn’t for others. Was your daughter started on 18mg of concerta (the recommended dose for starting) or higher? As I would be concerned about her teachers comment of “not being present” if a medication dose is too high it can cause the zombie effect. Good luck I hope you can both find what works for her. Seeing our children struggle at school trying to keep up with the main stream system and neurotypical children is so hard.

[arbeiterbiene in reply to Isabellarose]

she was started at 18mg, one tablet daily. i interpreted "not being present" as the dose may be too low. you are absolutely correct about it being a roller coaster. i just hope that her pediatrician (the prescribing doctor) is open to working with us regarding medication. we've only recently begun seeing this specific doctor, and she's already made some comments regarding the use of ADHD medication that have left me wondering. thank you for the insight!

[Mamamichl]

I know the struggle. It’s sometimes hard to know what works or not. Stemdad knows the percentages, but I want to say meds only help 60 or 70 percent of the symptoms. I didn’t notice any change in one med, and the second stimulant made me more anxious. I took a gene sight test and it said that those meds had adverse effects. What did work for me is stratera. Of If I recall, there is an average of 4.2 medication tries before people find the right one for adhd.

[arbeiterbiene]

thanks for the feedback! i will definitely keep it in mind as we walk this journey. can i ask what a gene sight test is?

[Periwinkle10]

I had to try 2 medicines so far with my 13 year old daughter....she is on adderall at the moment and it seems to be helping....we just upped her dose to xr20mg. The idea of starting over with a new medication is daunting to say the least....good luck on this journey you are not alone!!

I would be interested in what a gene site test is as well?

[Pedro0617 in reply to Periwinkle10]

Can you give specific examples of “seems to be helping”? Just asking for my own knowledge.

What exactly is being helped.

[Periwinkle10 in reply to Pedro0617]

She says she feels less distracted in school…less forgetting homework….it ebbs and flows, but I would say consistently better than before medication

[Scatter13]

Hi there, my daughter is 15 and also has ADHD inattentive she’s currently taking concentra and it worked for her the first few months, just recently we had to increase the dosage because she didn’t feel it was helping her anymore. But more than anything else I wanted to share with you that no meds will help your daughter more than herself, it’s super important that she understands how her brain works and that it’s not a disability but more like a different way of thinking from most of the other people. Also, my expectations changed, I wish I had that kid with straight As but I don’t I have a kid that is smart but will only be interested in what she’s interested and nothing else no matter how much I push her or how much I help her. I highly recommend for you to have a lot of conversations with her and not about what you want her to do but more about how she sees things, life, people, the world! I don’t think it helps them when you tell them they are smart but I don’t understand why you can’t do this or that! Instead try hard to understand why she does what she does! It’s not easy I’ll admit it but once I started looking through my daughter’s eyes I realized she is just trying as much as those that don’t have ADHD! Sorry this was long! I wish you the best of luck! 😉