hey guys
i ran out of concerta 36 mg but i still have 18 mg tablets
i take one concerta 36 mg per day ... can i take 2 18 mg together instead of one 36 mg?
Thanks for helping

I don't see why not?

18+18 = erm ... , id check to see if theyre identical in other respects, release periods etc, pharmacist would probably tell you if your unsure ..

I dont take these, maybe some one else would be able to give you answer from personel experience.

when I was precribed dexedrine the doctor wrote out sript for x 10mg tablets, however they only come in 5mg tablets, but as its a controled drug the pharmacist wouldnt change it and just give me twice as many 5mg tablets as the law is a bit finicky

so I had to go back to the GP and get them to write a new script, there was only a diferent doctor there and they just blindly write a new one for tiwce as many 5mg.

not sure anyone tried?

Well I'm not entirely sure, but I take both a 18mg and 36mg tablet to bring it up to a 54mg dose (I've been on two 36mg before).
It should be ok, although I would assume it's not as smooth perhaps.

hey guys
i ran out of concerta 36 mg but i still have 18 mg tablets
i take one concerta 36 mg per day ... can i take 2 18 mg together instead of one 36 mg?
Thanks for helping

Here's my experience.

When I started out, I was given 18 mg to see "how it goes" by my doctor. He said that if I felt OK on it for two weeks that I should double up on them (that is, take two 18 mg tablets before 10 am at the same time) and see how I respond.

The initial "hit" I experienced when the two entered my body was very powerful.... much more so than when I was upgraded to simply one 27 mg tablet every morning (of course, not a total 37 mg).

Why is this? I experience the same strong hit if I take two 27 mg tablets to make 54 mg.

Well, I looked up how exactly Concerta works. Basically, Concerta is ritalin but it's delivered over a long period of time. When you look at the tablet, the outside coating IS ritalin.. and it's exactly 1/2 the dose you are prescribed. So if you have 18 mg, that coating is 9 mg of Ritalin... so when you take Concerta you get a booster shot of Ritalin immedietly and this lasts you about 4 hours I think. The remaining 9mg is inside the tablet and it's released over a long period of time through semi-permiable holes in "bursts." This explains why new users tend to notice a wave-like effect of stimulation while on it (as did I).

So in theory, two 18 mg tablets is the same as taking one 36 mg tablet.

However, the hit will be stronger because you aren't used to 36 mg.

I would've thought the first bit was like taking a third of 18mg, as I've read that it releases it about three times during the day. Though in the morning it does tend to me much stronger. When I'd be on 72mg I'd feel more 'jittery', and a little breathless though this would pass, and I would feel more alert and calm (though not all the time, especially if I smoked or drank caffeine).

I would've thought the first bit was like taking a third of 18mg, as I've read that it releases it about three times during the day. Though in the morning it does tend to me much stronger. When I'd be on 72mg I'd feel more 'jittery', and a little breathless though this would pass, and I would feel more alert and calm (though not all the time, especially if I smoked or drank caffeine).

I don't mean to derail this thread... sorry. However, take a look at this graph. It's a comparison of taking one Concerta pill versus taking 1 Ritalin pill every 4 hours with the blood plasma levels being the measurement. The second Ritalin is taking at the 5 hour mark.

http://www.drugs.com/pro/images/4a3f1deb-13b0-4253-b0af-7374880655d8/concerta-02.jpg

Concerta® uses osmotic pressure to deliver methylphenidate HCl at a controlled rate. The system, which resembles a conventional tablet in appearance, comprises an osmotically active trilayer core surrounded by a semipermeable membrane with an immediate-release drug overcoat. The trilayer core is composed of two drug layers containing the drug and excipients, and a push layer containing osmotically active components. There is a precision-laser drilled orifice on the drug-layer end of the tablet. In an aqueous environment, such as the gastrointestinal tract, the drug overcoat dissolves within one hour, providing an initial dose of methylphenidate. Water permeates through the membrane into the tablet core. As the osmotically active polymer excipients expand, methylphenidate is released through the orifice. The membrane controls the rate at which water enters the tablet core, which in turn controls drug delivery. Furthermore, the drug release rate from the system increases with time over a period of 6 to 7 hours due to the drug concentration gradient incorporated into the two drug layers of Concerta®. (source: http://www.drugs.com/pro/concerta.html)

So it does look like there are "3 releases." However, as the FDA sheet states, it's being released constantly.. but there are times of more rapid release.

Yes it's fine. When I was on 36mg concerta my doctor was prescribing me 2 x 18mg. Next time I was at my psych's he asked me how I was doing and it came up my doctor had been prescribing me 2 x 18mg tablets instead of 1 x 36mg. He laughed and said she's crazy........If she prescribed me 1 x 36mg then her surgury would only have to pay the £1 a pill once each time. Rather than twice.

I actually told her this and she said "Yes yes I know!"

Needless to say I got a 36mg prescription lol

I'm now on 54mg and I take 1 x 36 mg and 1 x 18mg

Yes, it's the same!

My old psych explained the difference between instant release methlyphenidate and Concerta using a diagram of flying fish. *note I can't remember what he said exactly but this is the general princple* 'Now imagine the AD/HD kids mind as this flying fish underwater, he doesn't like down bellow and wants to be above water. In the old days they would be given three doses of medication throughout the day and they would go up out of the water and about 2-4hours later they would crash down into the sea again and have to take another pill, and get grumpy in between, and this would take alot more effort. Now with Concerta it is not like that, the fish just has to take one tablet in the morning and they can above water for most of the day (12 hours).'
I really liked his way of describing it, although this simile was probably mostly aimed at kids, but still at the age of 17 the message resonated with me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_fish Heres' a bit about flying fish, maybe the doctor was aware about the lower lobe bit of the fish? No idea what this means, but seems like a reference to the frontal lobe, meaning that the fish explantion works even better... WAIT A MINUTE ALL KIDS WITH AD/HD MUST HAVE A DEFECTIVE FISH GENE!!!
Theories... Understanding about DNA and genes came into play in the 20th century, this lead to the CIA in america doing genome experiments on children to try and make hybrid fish soliders who could use their talent to swim/fly all the way to Cuba and attack it, however they didn't realise that they created loads of children who couldn't forward think properly, and after some escaped and bred then the defective fish gene spread, by some time in, oh lets say the '50s a cure had to be found and Ritalin was invented... THIS ALSO EXPLAINS WHY THEY'RE TRYING TO SHOVE OMEGA FISH OILS DOWN OUR THROATS!!! We're a horrible genetic experiment gone wrong... 'TOUNGE IN CHEEK' Or is it... Yes... OR is it really?... Well yeah, erm yes. OR IS IT?