Ill try to keep this readably short, but I am a bit confused so if you have experienced something similar I would appreciate your advice.

a bit of a background... I was diagnosed with ADD as a child and Bipolar as a teen. I have since developed a minor case of PTSD and I have experienced some things in my life that I feel set me back about 10 pases from the average 23 year old.

For the last 5 years Ive struggled with employment, motivation and concentration. I have recently acquired a new job, (doing data entry ugh!) and could really use some help with productivity. I could also utilize the appetite suppressant side effect as I am about 80lbs overweight.

So I started Concerta 18mg, its been 4 days and I feel like complete ****.



Feel really slow/ VERY tired. (heavy eyelids, yawn alot)



Totally unproductive, unable to concentrate and have a hard time even forming complete sentences without long pauses and "UM..." every other word. (bad case of the "brain farts")



Headaches and body aches in back, neck and jaw. (clenching)



Mildly anxious, easily irritated, and mentally uncomfortable.



Time moves by SOO SLOW!



Noticeably more quiet/ antisocial when I am usually very interactive.


I guess you could call it "adverse effects" but considering its supposed to have an adverse effect on people with ADD Im highly dissapointed with my results. Ive taken concerta before with positive results so all this really ****es me off. I even got a call from my boss warning me i could be fired if my productivity doesnt improve.

So Im just wondering If I should quit until I can see my doctor again and make a change or if I should just give my body time to get used to it. Ive also considered doubling my dose in the morning to see if it improves my productivity... I have a pretty high tolerence to most substances so I think this dose it just not doing it for me. I dont even give a rats *** about the "side effects" as long as Im seeing results and I am just not hopeful that this 18mg will just improve on its own. being as this medication cost me $120 I cant really afford to lose my job because of it.

anyone have a similar experience? is it common to want to quit in the beginning? Do you think switching meds might help?

Thanx everyone... sorry so long

What dosage were you on before? Also...are you avoiding citric acid while taking?

Write this all down in a journal ..so you can show your doctor next appt, too. It helps them to form a more informed opinion on your dosage.

I would say give it a couple of weeks... or you can call your doctor in the a.m. if possible and see if you can either up your dosage or do a split dosage. Just for a couple of days to see if it makes a difference.

Concerta may not be the right med this time... but I could be wrong. I would definitely make the call though... what can it hurt?

When I used to take it I was up to 34 or something?... the middle dosage (red pill)

Ive read about alot of people having crappy reactions to ritalin and concerta but had success with aderall, I wonder if i should ask my doctor about it.

Thing is, I dont really have the time or patience to be screwing around with my brain chemistry/ my life, so I really just want to get something that works. I dont think my doctor has the slightest concern with me and my situation honestly Im pretty sure she has no intention of getting to know me personally at all. She even made it mandatory that attend meetings and since i cant go to any of the support groups because of work shes requiring that i go to AA.... and im completely sober! Ill have two drinks on the weekend at the most.

Im just tired of my life always being lame, like everything has to go wrong. I just want something good to happen for once.

Hugs...and I can certainly understand that. Is there any possible way to get a second opinion? Or was it too hard getting to this point to begin with?

I agree.. why can't something good happen for a change?... been asking that question.. for the last 8 months.

Ladi,

I can connect with your desire to not put yourself through discomfort. Still, I would stick with it for about three weeks. The problem is you really don't know how a medicine will work based on 4 days. My first two weeks on Adderall were almost bizarre. My brain felt so quiet, but yet empty, almost broke and non-functional. I was chilled out but not really motivated. Also my heart beat seemed increased and I could feel some pressure in my chest. I was confused about the whole thing. But I had earlier experience with an anti-depressant that smoothed out over a few weeks. So I was pretty patient.

Starting week 3 things started to change. It's now been about 6 weeks and I can only begin to say now how the drug really affects me. The earlier sense I had that my brain was sort of dead--that's gone! Completely. So it's only now that I can really say how the thing works. I am considering a change, but I feel confident I've got a true sense of what Adderall can do for me.

You don't want to give up this quickly because you might have a system that will react weirdly to any new drug. There is no magical pill out there that will transform out lives without delay with no side effects. Some people have the opposite problem: the drug starts out amazingly and then declines in effectiveness.

It could be that you would do better with another drug. The problem is, it could be that the present drug is the ideal one for you, but you will only know this after a longer trial period. The problem with quickly switching drugs is that may end up back where you started. It's one of these situations where rushing can actually cost you more time.