Hi, i got ADD and i started taking Concerta yesterday (18 mg), and i feel my concentration boost itself :).

The only side effect i has have is that i only sleept for about 4 hours this night :/, but as soon as i took it this morning i immedietly woke up and i'm not tired at all, is that normal?

But i can still feel myself drifitng away sometimes tough, should i ask for a bigger dose? And if so, how should i ask then? I'm 17 so i fear that the doctor will think i'm gonna abuse it.

And is it a must to take Concerta on weekends?

Excuse my bad English, i'm from Sweden...

//Björn

And one more question, is it important to take it with the breakfast? Or can i just take it with a glass of water?

Hey Sweden Rocks.Great Metal and some of the best hockey players in the world.The best way to approach your doctor is to tell her/him that you're still drifting and any other symptoms you may have noticed and let them decide(that is from my wife who is a nurse).I started taking concerta yesterday and all ready notice my mind doesn't wander as much.I'm taking I believe 36mgs.

What time do you wake up? What time do you take Concerta? What time do you go to sleep?

I ask because Concerta lasts for anywhere between 8-12 hours. And no, you do not need to take it with breakfast. BUT DO NOT SKIP BREAKFAST for you health's sake! :)

For me, Concerta tends to last 10-12 hours and I'm one of those people that can take stimulants before bed and still sleep nice and sound. Once I took concerta at 6pm only to fall alseep at midnight. I also used to buy a 2-liter of Mountain Dew at 5 pm, drink the whole thing by midnight, and fall asleep at 2 am. Thank God those days are over.

Be warned though, Concerta can cause the CNS to be over stimulated or at least help make this happen. Even on Concerta, my mind is fast and thinking in 4D and I am still walking around in circles a lot with a running mouth at 90 mph. However, I am more clear in my thinking. But after a few days I may start to feel over stimulated because of the Concerta and the fact that I still don't know how to take breaks (I work 6 days a week, 50 hours a week, no lunch breaks, and no 15-minute breaks). So I find it helpful to take a day or two off of Concerta. Talk with your doctor about taking breaks, though. You are only two days in and you will get used to it, though. After a few weeks I found that I don't notice Concerta much like I used to.

If you are concerned that your doctor will think you are a drug seeker needing a high, then don't be. Well, if after two days you already want to call up your doctor and ask for more than I see why he would discontinue care.. lol.

I sort of came off as a drug seeker by both my GP and psychiatrist. This was because I had a friend give me a bunch of Adderall and years ago I had a boss give me an Adderall XR... on all occaisions I noticed that my brain fog seemed to disappear so I went to my GP to talk about it and I told him about how I used them in the past and how they helped me. Even though I told him how I wasn't addicted to them and I told him how easily I quit smoking ciggarettes cold turkey, he still didn't trust me. He felt that I could use some "mental help" so he refered me to my current psychiatrist. He thought I was a druggie, too... since I wasn't scared to tell him everything... I smoked for 3 years (and quit cold turkey), abused alcohol for a WHOLE week... lol, used unprescribed Adderall many times, SERIOUSLY addicted to caffeine (the one addiction I have failed to end for years). While he didn't trust me, he put me on Strattera for two months I think. I hated it and it took all my physical energy away from me. Finally, he trusted me enough to let me try Concerta 18 mg after I told him that during all this time, I complied with his wishes to stay away from Adderall (he said this because the way I framed my disussions about it made me look like an addict even though I used it a total of about 10 times spanned over years...).

He said that the conditions to my use were that I may be drug tested at random.. which I said is fine. Over the last year of being on Concerta I have yet to be drug tested.... I think he trusts me and I vow to never break that trust.

MY ADVICE is to NOT go to your doctor saying that you want more. I went from 18 mg to 27 mg because my Doctor suggested that I double up on 18 mg a few times to see how well it goes for me. I said that doubling up was too powerful but 18 mg did not feel like much. So he gave me 27 mg.

If you get used to your dose, ask your doctor if it's ok to "double up" a few times to judge how it feels. Don't tell him what the treatment plan is. If he says it's ok, you need to be aware of what's going on when you double up besides just the mental effects. Concerta raises blood pressure for one and I noticed that sometimes, doubling up causes me to feel strong ocular hypertension... this is bad because I don't want to go blind.

Also, be aware that the more concerta you take, the more stimulated your CNS becomes. In the short term you may find that a higher dose works great for your concentration... but in a week or so, you may become dead tired and find that you microsleep even after 8 hours of sleep. This has happened to me a few times.


Sorry I went on for a long time... lol. Please don't take anything I said as medical advice.. TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR.. HE KNOWS MORE THAN YOU OR I...

:)

But i can still feel myself drifitng away sometimes tough, should i ask for a bigger dose? And if so, how should i ask then? I'm 17 so i fear that the doctor will think i'm gonna abuse it.

Psychiatrists start patients out at low doses of stimulants to determine if that will be sufficient. It is nothing personal. Allow yourself the time between now and your next appointment to adequately assess how 18 mg of Concerta is affecting you: make notes about any improvements you've made, specific things that you are still struggling with, side-effects you've experienced, and any questions that you have. Leave it up to the doctor determine what to do to based on the data you provide him with.

And is it a must to take Concerta on weekends?

No, it is not necessary to take Concerta over the weekend. It is up to you whether or not you want to.

And one more question, is it important to take it with the breakfast? Or can i just take it with a glass of water?
You can eat whenever you want with Concerta.

If you get used to your dose, ask your doctor if it's ok to "double up" a few times to judge how it feels. Don't tell him what the treatment plan is.

I need to add to this for just a bit. Maybe you are lucky enough to have a doctor that wants you to be a part of the treatment plan. A lot of doctors tend to think they know everything and don't want to here your own suggestions. I am lucky... my doctor actually listens to me and takes my suggestions into consideration. A lot of this has to do with the trust factor. For the first few visits you need to establish a great deal of trust. You have to remember that everyday, they see patients looking for drugs. True, I was going to see my doctors for drugs, and they knew this. However, I got my psychiatrist to see that while I was looking for drugs, I was also looking for someone to talk to. I also got my psychiatrist to see that I was doing a lot to better myself along side the Concerta. With it, he has seen that my school work got better and that I am doing a lot to build up my self-confidence. Basically, our relationship is this: my psychiatrist will write me a prescription and listen to me talk at 90 mph for 10 minutes about what's been going on my life and what I have done to improve myself in that time. When I am not seeing him, I am buying books, listening to audiobooks, and learning to make better use of my time. I don't think he's very good at designing an over-all treament plan but I believe he trusts me and likes me because I do such a good job at filling in that void for him.