Is anyone’s child on Concerta 54mg

[Mpiening]

My 9yo. son was recently diagnosed with ADHD. He was first put on guanficine which really helped his impulsiveness however made him extremely tired- like a zombie. We are trying Concerta- at 18mg we saw no difference, 36mg also no difference. Our doctor would like us to try 54mg however I’m worried it’s too much? Has anyone with a child had success with 54mg? I’m ready to take him off medication completely because the side effects just scare me.

[HadEnuf]

While that's more typical of an adult dose, I do know of kids that needed that much (and more as adults—not much room for that in the case of Concerts).

For what it's worth, side effects are more of an issue with non-stimulants: where they're effective, properly-titrated stimulants often have no side effects. Whether to count them as effective when they provoke anxiety (only in those susceptible) is something of a personal decision.

However, there can be an unpleasant, *direct* effect when a stimulant wears off—basically, sudden fatigue and all that comes with it (crankiness, etc.)

For many, the stress taken out of the rest of like makes this worth enduring: as one can learn one's limitations and need for extra vigilance when the tiredness finally hits.

As with the anxiety some experience, this is very much a personal decision, to be made by the one taking the medication based on how they feel, not by others based on what they fear.

Not that I don't “get” the fear: it's perfectly understandable, especially after any of the “tranquilizing” non-stimulants (which made me severely depressed, as a child, to the point of crying despondently for no discernible reason).

I mean only to stress the importance of recognizing that only the one experiencing ADHD “from the inside” really understands what *they* are feeling.

It's worth teaching your son to articulate his interior experience, rather than going entirely on external observations: favoring these over simply “asking the kid” had been *the* principal mistake in ADHD treatment (under various names) for the last century (we've known about it at least that long).

Kids are people, so we shouldn't treat them as problems to be solved; but we've inherited an education system that does exactly that, and it has driven much of the handling of ADHD. This has proved to be to the detriment of adults who have grown up with no training on how to handle their own ”wiring”—they're only taught how to pilot a brain “almost, but not quite, entirely unlike their own”.

[TallGuy1]

If your son isn’t seeing ANY benefit from Concerta, that may not be the right med for him. (That class of meds did almost nothing for me)I don’t know how much you have gotten into the different types of ADHD meds. Unfortunately it’s all trial and error.

In regards to side effects, what side effects have you scared?

There’s something I heard that really has stuck with me - ADHD itself has MANY side effects, whether we like it or not.

With that being said, I’m not saying you should or shouldn’t keep your son on medication, but only to keep an open mind, make sure you have reliable information and not information from people who either don’t really know what they’re talking about or are against medication right from the start.

Try to get educated (I don’t know how much you have, I’m not trying to say you haven’t at all) and be able to make the best decision for your son and your family.

I hope this helps. Hang in there.