I was just diagnoised (sp?) with Adult ADD, and my doctor prescribed me Concerta 36mg. I don't feel like it's helping me concentrate at all. Does it take a few days to kick in, or should I ask my doc to up the dosage?

I think you should tell him exactly how its not helping and hope he sugests upping it wich i gues its quite likley hel do anyway, rather than risk looking like a drug seeker like i was. if you stil dont get anywhere theres always options.

First off all you should consider how much you weigh, as weight maybe a good indicater of dosage (apparently it can take up to about 1 mg of Methlyphenidate per kg of body weight, although this isn't always the case, and it maybe helpful for your doctor to at first asses how much difference it makes, also if you were to take a too high dose at first you will probably feel quite uncomfortable and exhibit many side effects), secondly try not to give it up at the first hurdel, thirdly do not increase your dose without prior consent from your doctor as if you only have 36mg tablets and you double up to 72mg it can be quite an unsettleing step.
With all medications I can find it it quite distressing when I don't feel as though it is working, this results in me giving up and then I usually learn the hard way that I was better off on it.
Do your best to remain relaxed remembering that there is no easy cure.
If you can try and work out some reasons behind your short attention span, such as sleep, diet or the intake of other drugs.

I had similar results with concerta 54mg (weight=148lbs). I took it for a little over a week, the only thing it did was keep me up until 9am & suppress my appetite.

9am? What time were you taking it? That sounds abit excessive... If you wee up until then I'd ressume you were probably taking it in the evening!!!

I have noticed a trend in adults who take concerta they seem to respond only to high doses.

Recent ADHD practice guidelines published by CADDRA - the Canadian ADHD Resource Alliance, suggest that teens and adults with ADHD may require up to 108 mg of Concerta daily.Concerta 36mg is actually 8mg of Ritalin 3 times a day which is 24mg that is not alot most patients average 40mg of Ritalin a day.


- Christine

First off all you should consider how much you weigh, as weight maybe a good indicater of dosage (apparently it can take up to about 1 mg of Methlyphenidate per kg of body weight, although this isn't always the case, and it maybe helpful for your doctor to at first asses how much difference it makes, also if you were to take a too high dose at first you will probably feel quite uncomfortable and exhibit many side effects), secondly try not to give it up at the first hurdel, thirdly do not increase your dose without prior consent from your doctor as if you only have 36mg tablets and you double up to 72mg it can be quite an unsettleing step.
With all medications I can find it it quite distressing when I don't feel as though it is working, this results in me giving up and then I usually learn the hard way that I was better off on it.
Do your best to remain relaxed remembering that there is no easy cure.
If you can try and work out some reasons behind your short attention span, such as sleep, diet or the intake of other drugs.


see im 5'7 and around 200lbs. I dont think my doctor realized how much I weight because I dont look like I weight 200lbs at all. I am going to bring it up to him about how I feel the same on my next visit.
Thanks

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I have noticed a trend in adults who take concerta they seem to respond only to high doses.

Concerta 36mg is actually 8mg of Ritalin 3 times a day which is 24mg that is not alot most patients average 40mg of Ritalin a day.

I would definitely try 72mg before calling your family physician. Call your physician before changing doses of medications.

- Christine

I believe a doctor had prescribed Concerta for me a while back when I was younger and I also found it to be ineffective. It just gave me headaches and didn't help me concentrate at all. Just tell your doctor that the prescribed dosage is ineffective and either increase it or its time to try a new medication.

Exactly. I said to the social worker the otherday that in canada they can prescribe a 100mg +. He said 'Well this isn't canada.' Which is quite right, and I understand. He would like me to move down to 54mg as he says I'm not as bad as before. Which to some extent is true, but too high a dose at times makes me inflexible and alot more sideeffects.
It really is advisable to up the dose without any help from your doctor.
Also I'm quite suprised your doctor didn't check your weight before hand. The shrink I saw did, as it can cause weight lose so next time get him to do that.
Look up some infomation, but print it off and show it too your doctor so he can check to see that it's not just some idiot spaff that some pleb has written, also many doctors vary on the aims of the medicine.
Some prefer a 'lowest dose as possible but with still some benefit.' As I remember reading that one place thought is was more important to work on the attention span rather than zombifying the patient or something.

I have my next appt. tomorrow, I will update afterwards.
Thanks for the advice!

Ok Good luck!!!

Ok so I told my doc yesterday about how Concerta isn't helping at all. He increased me to 72mg a day. So we'll see how this goes. He told me that he can increase the dosage up to 108mg, i think, but he wants to see how this goes, and if not he said we might try something else.
Thanks for all the advice everyone!:)