Hey everyone. I'm a 28 year old male and I was just diagnosed this last month with innattentive type ADHD. I took concerta yesterday for the first time (36 mg). It worked pretty good. In general I was able to get things done (in fact I got my whole work "to do" list that had been confounding me for a month done in a couple of hours!!), it eliminated my boredom/depression and gave me a lot of energy and made me much more cheerful and outgoing with co-workers. The only problem I had was that I felt like I had taken 5 shots of espresso all day, even after the meds wore off 12 hours later (and from judging from other people's posts, I'm pretty lucky it lasted a full 12 hours). Does this "wired" feeling continue or is it temporary? Is this a sign that the dosage is too high or too low?

Overall I was pretty happy, but the coffee OD thing has got to stop.

Any insight would be appreciated. thnx.

hi xd581.

Try ritalin.

Its tried and true. I have never had a problem with it. ! pil 3-4hours. gone. OK? No coffee with stimulants. And stop smoking if you do.

If you drink and have kids then stop drinking too.

That's all.

Oh yeah drink water and get your ears and nose checked for blockages.

Or don't It's your life man.

And you should be working with your doctor to optimise dosing. Or do it your self. but optimise. Don't just take it man , optimise. appreciate your brain and respect it.

Use when needed.
Monk

In my case that gritty coffee OD thing was a stage that passed. I felt it every time I upped my dose, and every time it eventually passed :) I now take 81mgs total per day, doses staggered out for maximum relief. When I tried taking all 81mgs at once, the gritty coffee OD feeling did not pass, so I began staggering my doses and it promptly vanished.

HTH!

Thanks! Days 2 and 3 were definately a lot better. By the third day, the wired feeling was almost gone. One thing that I found helpful was excercise. Going to the gym and buring off some of that energy helped a lot. And now, b/c of the meds I actually have the energy to go to the gym.

Aaah. It came back on days 4, 5 and 6. This is really starting to irritate me. Crazy-feet, how long did it take each time you got this wired feeling for it to go away?

I think sometimes what you do during the day and your stress can affect how the meds work. I know some days I don't feel like it is working at all, but most days I feel it working fine. (The days I don't feel like it's working are high stress days).

I had the opposite effect from Concerta. On days when I don't get enough sleep, it actually puts me to sleep. When I have enough sleep, I feel focused and calm on it.

It does take time to get used to the medication, but some days are better than others. I would say if it's not a health risk, give it a bit of time, then if you still aren't happy with Concerta, there are other meds that may work better for you. For some reason people seem to respond better to some medications than others.

coffey is very bad for you id allways say defc coffy works better for me dorm

so yeah hi. I've had nothing but high stress days lately. And the meds aren't working so well. I think I'll stick with the ritalin though for now.

My 6 year old boy has started taking ritalin as weel. Monday. Should we consider concerts? What's the scopp. It was suggested by the specialist that he might respond better to it.

Coming out of the fog....

On another note any response to what monkeyche said about avoiding caffeine, No Cigarettes, and the nose andears thing sounded a bit bizarre.

Boots

Yeah that was a bit bizzare! Talk about wired! Anyway xd581, I'm not sure why your doc had you start out at 36mg. I started out at 18mg and worked my way up from there. Eventually, I settled on 27mg as the optimum. I'm pretty sure the wired feeling you have is because the dosage is too high. Other things to watch for when the dose gets to high are dizziness and mild headache. If you're taking 2 18mg a day try going to 1 a day and see how that goes for a week. If it doesn't give you enough lift then you'll have to settle halfway like I did.

Good luck man - the **** really works....

I actually asked him why he was starting me out on such a high dose and he replied that 36 mg is a low dose. Anyway, the wired feeling went away after 7 days and seems to be gone for good. I'm on vacation now, so I have no idea if this thing is actually working. My mood problems are starting to come back, but that may have nothing to do with the meds (or their inneffectiveness). The doctor did say he thinks I have a slight mood disorder accompanying the ADD (which is not unheard of it seems). Or it may mean I need to go up to a higher dosage and go through this all over again! We'll see on monday.

I actually asked him why he was starting me out on such a high dose and he replied that 36 mg is a low dose. Anyway, the wired feeling went away after 7 days and seems to be gone for good. I'm on vacation now, so I have no idea if this thing is actually working. My mood problems are starting to come back, but that may have nothing to do with the meds (or their inneffectiveness). The doctor did say he thinks I have a slight mood disorder accompanying the ADD (which is not unheard of it seems). Or it may mean I need to go up to a higher dosage and go through this all over again! We'll see on monday.Hmmmm well for many people 36mgs. IS a low dose (would do doodly for me) and while it seems odd to me that he began there and not in the way the manufacturer recommends (which is start as low as possible, 18mgs. and titrate up)-I suppose it is not outside the realm of possibility that to this doc 36mgs. seems low?

Could be a mood disorder along with the ADD too, so yea, that's been known to happen. Not at all uncommon :) you're OK.

Let us know what happens on Monday!

Crazy :)

It's not as effective this week. In the morning I could be a little better, but it's certainly a lot better than before I started taking the meds. I notice I am fine in the afternoon, which is when the medication is supposed to be peaking. So I guess, I may need a slightly higher dose to carry me through the morning. I go to the doctor next week, so we'll see what he does. Strangely the wired feeling came back for this afternoon. I think it's because I mistakenly had an iced tea with lunch (forgot that tea had caffein!!!). I think I'll lay off that stuff from now on. Speaking of mixing meds with other things, I notice alcohol has the opposite effect: it blunts Concerta so that I feel spacey and tired again. Like my ADD came back! This is probably a good thing, b/c now I'll drink less!

Hey xd, glad ya kept us posted!

Kid and I had some degree of tolerance until we built up to the dose we are at now. Hang in there! Yes caffine will impact and so will alcohol, as will lack of sleep and hpoglycemia. Its a balancing act, wanna borrow my pole for balancing?

If I can spare it that is ;).

Crazy

Any more information on the "wired" side of Concerta? I just tried Concerta again after a long while. First there was a couple hours of nice mental clarity, during which I completely cleaned out my wallet of all the old accumulated receipts as well as filled out some forms I'd been wanting to get around to. But then, after the two hours, I had racing thoughts, muscle tension in my back, and general irritability.

Any thoughts on dealing with this and how long it takes to go away?

Wow!!! How different doctors can be!!! In my neck of the woods, doctors insist 36mgs is a semi-HIGH DOSEAGE!!! No doctors I know of would EVER, EVER even consider starting ANYONE higher than 18mgs.

Any more information on the "wired" side of Concerta? I just tried Concerta again after a long while. First there was a couple hours of nice mental clarity, during which I completely cleaned out my wallet of all the old accumulated receipts as well as filled out some forms I'd been wanting to get around to. But then, after the two hours, I had racing thoughts, muscle tension in my back, and general irritability.

Any thoughts on dealing with this and how long it takes to go away?
Could be that you don't do well on concerta and need to try one of the others like adderall, strattera or something. I never get those symptoms until the concerta wears off in 8-10 hours.

The wired feeling went away after 1 week on the 36mg. The med kinda conked out shortly thereafter. Last week the doctor upped me to 54. So far so good. I did not have much of any re-emergence of the wired feeling. I guess it's gone for good. Hopefully the med will keep its effectiveness.

As for the racing thoughts, that is a separate problem, not the wired feeling I was describing, which was a physical effect similar to coffee. What is the nature of the racing thoughts? Is it worry or rumination?

I have started to have problems with excessive ruminations/obsessive thinking. (Hyperfocus is another word used for it). Actually I've always had the problem, and the Concerta has made it slightly worse. Anybody have a solution for this one? My therapist said adding an SSRI should help because its most likely the result of dysthymia.

Racing thoughts might indicate that you have developed one of the lovely coping mechanisms we ADDers can develop during years of untreated symptoms, mainly anxiety. Revolving on anxiety causes an adrenaline cascade in the brain and acts much like stimulant medication. Problem is it becomes an ingrained habit and a co-morbid condition.

Do your thoughts specifically race from one perceived problem to another?

Hyperfocus and excessive rumination are not IMO the same thing. I define hyperfocus as a state of laserbeam intense focus that completely shuts out all logical distractions around me. I would probably allow the house to burn down around me in a state of hyperfocus...that is if the stench did not first activate my sensory integration dysfunctions regarding olfactory input.


Crazy

My therapist and I have narrowed my mood disorder(s) down to 2 problems:
(1) socially, I always assume others like me less than they actually do. Thus, if someone compliments me I actually feel a little surprised (this she says is the dysthymia). It has the effect of making me more socially withdrawn in groups and a bit less successful with the ladies than I ought to be (the ADD probably started this problem, as I can "space out" in group situations or say off-key or off-color things.) It also contributes to some social anxiety problems, though I don't by any means have any kind of social phobia (I rather look forward to social situations, I'm just not very effective in many of them.)

(2) I attempt "social problem solving". So that if I have any problems in my social life, I try to solve them intellectually, by thinking about them endlessly (and many times supplement it with endless internet reseach). The only thing that can distract me from one of these ruminations is a new problem to ruminate on! So back when I had a girlfirend, and we started having problems, I would think about those problems endlessly, all day for months, trying to solve them. If I'm having a problem (or a percieved problem) with a close friend, I can do the same. Another example: leading up to my getting prescribed concerta, I endlessly researched ADD meds. I am now doing the same about SSRIs since my therapist reccomended one. BTW, this is really bad for me since the internet is filled with even more SSRI horror stories than stimulant horror stories!!! Luckily I did try Paxil years ago, which is considered one of the worst in terms of side effects, and I didn't think it was that bad. So I don't believe the crap on the internet.

So yeah, don't know what will help with these problems. Its sounds like the SSRIs are pretty much the same, effectiveness-wise. So I'll just have to try them. I've heard Lexapro and Cymbalta have lower side effect profiles. Maybe I'll ask for one of those. In a couple weeks I'll start cognitive therapy, maybe that will help as well.

hi xd581,

That was and is my issue exactly. My mind constantly scans for some problem to worry about and when it finds one (always does) it latches on like a pitbull and then analyzes the problem a million ways to sunday. The thing is - being on Concerta has calmed this down. It's when the Concerta wears off at night that this problem resurfaces so I lay in bed with my mind swirling around problems/issues that my mind makes bigger than they really are. Like if I say something to someone during the day I'll later analyze what I said and beat myself up for not being more clever/tactful/etc.

So I'm still not sure the Concerta is right for you. All the stims and ssri's work slightly differently so one may be a better fit over another - but it's more of an art than a science trying to find the right one. Many folks on this board have said that they switched drugs many times until they found the right one. So don't get discouraged - it may take a few tries....

I take a large dose of Concerta so that I never get the rebound effect and can sleep without the channel-switching brain syndrome. I also take 60mgs Cymbalta a day and have Xanax that I always split in half doses for emergency uses. I virtually never need that whole dose of Xanax unless I want to drool more than I did when I was off meds completely.

Crazy

I went to the doctor today and she gave me Lexapro, which I will start tomorrow. Hopefully this should balance out my mood problems. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! (for six weeks, since that's how long this stuff usually takes...ugh)

the channel-switching brain syndrome.

Been there - done that...:(