I've found for a long while that Concerta is much less effective even at 72mg I no longer have the same degree of improved forward thinking and I find I just act alot of how normally would alot of the time. There still are benefits but it's not as beneficial.
Last time I saw the social worker he put my dose down to 54mg. My friends said the past two days I was practically going back to the same, alittle better today though, as before, and at work I would just get really disorganised and find it hard to think what i need to do next and I'd feel pretty beat.
I asked about dexedrine as i thought it'd be more effective he said at first I should be consistant with medication and said there wasn't a great deal of difference.
But if the lack of incredible benefit continues this month I'd like to be able to ring him up and in a considered way that I think it;d be better to ive it a shot.
Also Id probably not need a high dose at first and probably not need to take more than 30mg a day once the dose is built up to that, but I can;t say for certain.
So if there is anyone who can compare the two, what would you say are the differences?
Are the sideeffects worse?

I have not tried concerta. Have you ever tried dex. since you are asking about it?
Adderall was what I started on but i did not like the "racey" feeling and I was switched to Vyvanse which worked alot better in terms of concentration and it is a smooth med. I recently got a dex as well as either a booster or just dex alone. It works great as well with concentration, organization and getting things accomplished in general. If you are asking about dex. it works great for me.

Well I havn't tried Dexedrine in the clinical sense, although when I did regretablly abuse drugs I have tried some sort of amphetamine sulphate.
From what I found was that the amhetamine I brought (was a white/off white putty that is supposadly known as "base"), this ofcourse was probably impure, and would vary in amounts, and often lead me feeling anxious, blank, sick, incredibly dehydrated, incapable of eating, palpitations, at worst a panic attack, emergency room visits, sleepness that would last a day or two (though I wouldn't need a great deal, often you'd buy it a gram amount, and the people that I woulod be around didn't have the same view of it, and would ingest large amounts, whereas I was going for the stabilising effect that I had received from concerta), though some would see me say at the begining of the evening and not quite believe I had ingested amphetamine as often I would be quite calm, and the only noticeable side effects would be a dry mouth, slight bruxism, and slight pupil dilation, and they'd expect a manic/over sctive person, though I could hyperfocus much better, but often this would be excessively (I would write for a long while, about 2hours later realise that I had lost myself in what I was doing, then also realise that the side of my gums were bleeding). Also it cleared up any colds or nasal congestion I had.
Ultimately I guess that is one barrier as to why I probably won't get prescribed Dexedrine, though I have no given up the abuse of stimulants (the abuse began as miss use which with the wrong encouragement, and lack of support became abuse which I can say the use of psychostimulants differs markedly from abuse,notably in the side effect profile, which is often why people I know who have abused drugs seem to think the prescription of Methylphenidate, and also other stimulants is 'dirty' or 'bad', this comes from their warped perspective of the use of that drug they would use large amounts and insulfate it. Notably when ingested orally stimulants, unless larger than theraputic amounts rarely cause a 'high' or manic behaviour, and in my case it tends to make me withdrawn, more alert, and generally almost feel as though I havn't ingested a drug at all due to the lack of bothering sideeffects, and most would not say that I was on a stimulant, though the funny thing is that my general 'shifty and akward' body language, or the proness to outbursts, or bursts of excitment lead people to think at times that I'm on a stimulant when I am not- this was prior to any abuse of stimulants).
My presumption is that the stimulants that I would abuse were probably stronger than dexedrine, maybe Methampetamine (as supposadly methamphetamine is in particular easy for the clandestine chemists to create), as the effects would last a long while, and consuming more than a few 'dabs' would cause a strong effect, that I would find discomforting, and methamphetamine from what I've read tends to require less to produce a strong effect.
Sorry to go on about illegitimate drug use, but this is my experience.
One other drug that is supposadly similiar to Dexamfetamine that I have tried is Benzylpiperazine (which apparently is ten times less potent that Dexamfetamine), in america this a schedule 1 drug, however in england in certain (I think they're called 'head shops', they often sell uv lights, and hemp seeds, and other drug related items such as pipes and what not) shops you can purchase 'Piperazine Derivatives' legally (this may have changed recently, although about two months ago they were still on sale in one shop that I used to buy them from), when I had first tried this on the day of my 18nth birthday I found I became incredibly focused, to the point of obssesive and at first I had spoken to my psychatrist whether it could be used to treat ADHD, and over the past year I'd say that I am uncertain, as many of the brands have unclear labelling, often stating that it is 'Piperazine Blend', meaning that it could include other drugs like TFMP, and often the exact dose was unclear. So at first when I tried it would produce focused, withdrawn, akward, and inflexable behaviour, however when I tried larger amounts, it would produce slight hallucinations (trails, slight warping of objects, closed eyed patterns, the feeling that water was dripping from my skin), restlessness, increased body temperature (noticable redness), nausea, bruxism, pupil dilation, a feeling of uncertainity, anxiety, arythmia, insomia, dry mouth, feelings of calmness, clarity and understanding (at times, but in general there were alot of sideeffcts and it mostly wasn;t that enjoyable on a functional (also confusion and short term memory problems during the drug effect) or recreational basis). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benzylpiperazine

Hey man,
Watch out for the methylphenidate/ethanol combi. The resultant is called ethylphenidate. As a student of Pharmacy I advise you to avoid the co-administration of alcohol and concerta wherever possible (at least keep it to a minimum) as you are going to sensitise your dopamine transporters very quickly. I think that your problems with decreased response to the medication are at least in part due to this effect.
Hope I've been helpful. Let me know how it all goes.

P.S: I take Concerta myself. I seldom drink during the day (when the concerta is acting) but when I do, there is a massive synergy between the two. I imagine that doing such a thing repeatedly would almost certainly lead to a diminished response, at least for me

Cheers I've been aware of this, and did worry. In fact I'm quite worried as i seem to have a persistant tremor all the time, and some twitches and can say that my short term memory, and focus is worse nowadays.
Fortunatly I seem to be moving outta the whole drink/drug abuse of the past year (admitedly it's only been since sunday when i drank, and monday when I last smoked a cigarette).
The dilema I always have is the whole 'Man we've got some free time on our hands lets' spend it in the pub.', my friends would then be like 'I'm sure you'll be fine, come on I'll get you a guiness.' (considering that some of my friends would be drinking on medication, especially my pal who has epilepsy then this risk didn't bother me so much, I know sounds weak willed and an excuse, but that voice that wanted to take part would then say 'See, you can and it'd be OK, and you're not taking part if you're not drinking...')
Also friends would preach that if I can't drink occasionally then I have no self control over it and consider myself to be a born 'alcoholic', instead of a young adult who has a drinking problem, that isn't a 'problem' because everybody at our age drinks and does stupid things, though having discused this with my substance abuse counsellor that although alot of what i do when drunk is expected, alot is also quite 'dick head things', this is true. Alcohol I think is contraidicated in me, and many of my real friends knows' that although it is the norm to go against the grain when drunk, there comes a point when that is one flow pot too many that's been smashed or whatever.
I'm fairly confident that this time I can stop drinking and smoking over this month, and at the end of it I think I might be able to drink occasionally and no more than 4.5 units over a period of four hours no more than about every two weeks, this is my ambition for the moment, after this has been achieved I can get back to my childish impulses, but hopefully be able to make something of them.

Hey man,
Watch out for the methylphenidate/ethanol combi. The resultant is called ethylphenidate. As a student of Pharmacy I advise you to avoid the co-administration of alcohol and concerta wherever possible (at least keep it to a minimum) as you are going to sensitise your dopamine transporters very quickly. I think that your problems with decreased response to the medication are at least in part due to this effect.

Serious? Is it permanent? I rarely drink but when I do, I don't notice any thing "off" or weird if I had taken Concerta the same day.