This is my third day on Concerta...?

Question

And I have noticed a slight difference. I'm a little bit calmer and i can pay attention a tad bit more..When will the medication really kick in and ill be able to notice it?

btw. i was prescribed to 27 mg concerta. im 14 years old, 5'2" and 105 lbs..incase that had anything to do with it

Answer 1

The medication starts working about 1/2 an hour after you take it. It doesn't start to work slowly over several days or weeks like many antidepressants do, and it doesn't cure the underlying cause like antibiotics do. It just treats the symptoms while it's in your system, and nothing more. It's like drinking coffee when you're tired - the caffeine wakes you up a bit, but if you start drinking coffee every day you won't feel any more awake after a week than you did when you started drinking coffee.

Daily doses of Concerta can be anywhere from 18 to 54 mg per day for children or 18 to 72 mg per day for adolescents and adults. However, the most optimal dose for a given individual is not directly dependent on weight, severity of symptoms, or any other easily measurable factor. It has more to do with things like how their liver metabolizes the drug, and the molecular structure of receptors in their brain. There are small children who take 54 mg per day, and adults who need 18 mg to get the optimal effect. So figuring out what dose someone does best with is basically trial and error. Unless you're switching to Concerta from Ritalin (which is a short-acting preparation of the same active ingredient), you generally start with a low dose (18 or 27 mg) and if that doesn't help enough, then you gradually increase the dose until you find one that works without causing too many side effects. At too high a dose, you'll start to have problematic side effects.

Finding the right dose is a matter of balancing efficacy with side effects. Everyone responds differently to the drug, and what dose will produce what side effects is different for everyone, but it's also partly a matter of what you're willing to put up with in return for how much a higher dose works. While it's not the case that increasing the dose indefinitely will make it work better and better (there's a limit to how much it can help), you might find that, for example, 27 mg only helps a little, whereas 36 mg (the next possible dose after 27 mg) helps more but also makes you feel kind of tense and jittery, and it will be a matter of whether the improved benefit of the higher dose is worth putting up with the side effects or not. Provided that you stay below the maximum approved dose, and it doesn't cause any medically harmful side effects (like significant weight loss, etc.), what dose you end up taking is pretty much just whichever dose you like the most.

So the point is that if it seems like it's not helping as much as it should be, talk to your doctor about trying a higher dose. The next dose up would be 36 mg, then 45 mg, 54 mg, and 72 mg. The normal thing is to try the starting dose for about a week, and then increase the dose if necessary. Your doctor would probably have you try either 36 or 45 mg at that point.

Answer 2

That's good - you've noticed an improvement. I've been on meds for ADHD and so has my son - so I have some useful experience, although I'm not familiar with all the medications. Don't expect the medication to change you completely - it will improve your life, though.

Talk to your doctor, and describe the change. From what I can tell, some meds work with some people, and not with others. The fact that you're benefitting is good. In my experience they proper methodology is to slowly increase your dosage (under the guidance of your doctor) until there is no more benefit. Do not self medicate!

If my memory is correct, concerta is a stimulant. If you have too much, you'll know it - grinding teeth, feeling tense, hyper - like you've had too much caffeine.

These type of medications work when you take them. I'm pretty sure concerta is a timed release med, which means it will last for 12 hours or so. Then you're back to "normal". Your doctor should have told you this.

Remember, everyone is different. While body size can affect the dose size, it depends on how "severe" your situation is. When I was on Ritalin, I was taking about a quarter of the dose my friends young son was taking, and he weighed half my weight. If I took any more, I was uncomfortable.

When it's all said and done, you should appreciate who you are without medication, as well as who you can be with medication. One is not necssarily better than another. As an adult who grew up before there was something known as ADHD, I can tell you that self-medication with drugs, tobacco or alcohol is not preferable to the medical relief available today.

Since I've had to discontinue ADHD medication due to a recently discovered medical condition, I've learned to structure my life so that it doesn't get out of control. It takes work. Good luck.