hi. what are your experiences on either of these meds.

any one particularly more effective than the other? any side-effects that are unique to just one med?

thanks in advance.

My son has taken both, is currently on Adderall XR. The Adderall works better for him then the Concerta did. Our main problem with Concerta is that we couldn't get to a proper dosage with him. 27 wasn't high enough and 36 was to much. On 36 he didn't do well. Was extremely moody, bad headaches, hyper-focused most of the time, talked way more then he even normally does. On 27mg's he did okay, but it just wasn't enough.
I really can't complain about it, it just wasn't the right one for him because we couldn't fine tune the dosage as much as we needed to.

So far we are really liking the AdderallXR. The only problem there is that it doesn't last as long, but we could add a short acting pill if we feel it is needed. He can eat much better on the Adderal, then he did the Concerta, but seems to have more trouble sleeping.
He doesn't get the stomach aches and headaches like he did with the Concerta either.
Also he doesn't seem to crash as hard when the Adderall is wearing off.

Really though, you just never know until you try them. I have heard just the opposite from people as well. Some that hate Adderall, but love the Concerta. Everyone just responds so differently to each medication.

I hope that helps :)

thanks so much miss ladym.

i think most of your observations of concerta are similar to mine. i think i'm at a suitable dosage, but i've noticed that my appetite is quite low, i have occasional headaches, and i definitely feel a "crash" of sorts when the medication wears off.

it's interesting that you noticed that concerta lasted longer for your child than adderall xr. i think part of the reason i started this thread was my assumption that adderall xr lasted longer each day than concerta. i suppose i just don't appreciate the crashes i get on concerta, it seems. : P

i guess overall though, concerta seems to have lessened my anxiety, helped me(suprisingly) sleep better, and cleared my thinking significantly... so i suppose the benefits have been outweighing the disadvantages so far. : )

i don't like either of them i like the long acting dexedrine, with adderall xr it lasted 12 hours per dose for 3 weeks and caused anxiety, and Concerta made me grind my teeth and only worked for 2 weeks leading to highest dose no result (tolerance)