A WARNING to those taking Concerta

[Maui]

I was prescribed Concerta several years back, and up until recently, took it often. Apart from ADD, a problem that I had was that I was a procrastinator. So I would often take Concerta to pull an all-nighter. Because I have a heavy courseload, I would often take two in a 24-hour period. I would take one at maybe 2 PM, and then when I was feeling it wear off around midnight, I would take another one. Before Concerta, I would take either an Adderall or Ritalin every 4-5 hours, sometimes for up to 24 hours, in order to maintain maximum focus. I did this often during exams. I knew this is not the recommended way to use it, but I didn't consider this to be "abusing" my medications. I didn't think I was doing myself any hard, until I started getting my blood pressure checked. To my alarm, I had a blood pressure of around 138/82. This is very high for me, considering how I am a college student who is, if anything, underweight. I now regularly have a blood pressure around 140/84. Concerta is the only suspect, as it is a stimulant, and there is nothing else unusual that I do which would contribute to my high blood pressure. I have stopped taking stimulants entirely, but my blood pressure is still high and I worry I have done long-term damage. If you're using any kind of a stimulant, PLEASE follow the prescription to avoid doing any long-term damage like I may have done.

[Driver]

You've unlikely done any long-term damage to your system.

Just keep your electrolytes in balance, eat well, sleep well, exercise well, and your BP should come down to normal.

[SfumatoPants]

You abused your medication and then you offer a weak warning to people as what? Contrition?

"Concerta is the only suspect"

No. You are. YOU abused your medication. Concerta is an inert substance, it has no choice in the matter. It's people like you that make it harder for people like me to get real treatment for their real problems. I have more choice words for you but I don't want to be banned, and anyway, as above, you haven't done yourself any permanent damage as you would like us to believe.

[Lunacie]

I don't know how long it takes one's blood pressure to return to normal after taking too much Concerta, too often.

I was having problems with Chronic Daily Headache (related to Migraine Disorder) a year ago and was taking too much Advil and Excedrin. My blood pressure was much higher than yours, and when I saw the doctor, I told her that I had been taking those OTC meds but she never cautioned me or connected my high blood pressure with those meds. After adding two more meds for hypertension to the one I had been taking (which had been managing my blood pressure before this all) with no lowering of my blood pressure, I got busy on the internet and did some research myself.

When I read that taking these OTC meds can definately raise one's blood pressure significantly I stopped them cold. Within 3 days my blood pressure was back to normal. I hope your's also returns to normal quickly - but there are a lot of things that may be contributing to your high readings, like caffeine and OTC meds and diet choices and not enough exercise. Yes, Concerta can raise your blood pressure, but it may not be the only cause in your case, eh?

[Marspider]

Anxiety also plays a large role. I'm a very anxious person and last year was battling with my doc who wanted to put me on BP medication because I was getting BP readings of 150/100. And doctors before that. 140 was a good reading for me.
It turns out that part of it was yes Effexor did raise my BP but another part was that my BP shoots up when measured in the office. I got a 24 holter and my GP didn't say anything after that.

You may be underweight, but how much exercise are you getting? I believe my BP is very exercise related. When I was exercising regularly and intensely, I never had any problems not even with office readings. It was when I stopped exercising as much was when I started getting more problems.
Weight is not necessarily the issue. Regular exercise is important. You can be underweight and unhealthy.

A mediterranean diet is also one of the best for lowering blood pressure. That means lots of veg, fruit, nuts fish, garlic and olive oil. Olive oil and garlic are the best. Beetroot apparently is also good for your blood pressure.

Also getting enough Vitamin D is important for your blood pressure(and even more so for any dark skinned person at temperate latitudes). I took Vitamin D regularly over the last year. Part of my depression makes me stay at home and that means I don't go out and get enough Vitamin D. If it gets really bad, I've stayed at home for months and months and only went out for work so my sun exposure included going to the bus stop and occasional shopping. That was it.

And SLEEP! Lack of sleep will make your blood pressure shoot through the roof. Going 56 hours without sleep like I did is not good for your blood pressure.

I bet when you were taking lots of your Concera to concentrate, you weren't paying that much attention to your diet and eating lots of crap with lots of salt, and not getting enough exercise and staying inside the whole day. And all this with very little sleep. And you were panicking and stressing out.

Concerta will raise your blood pressure all stimulants do but what's more important is what you are doing in your lifestyle. If Concerta really is bad for you because you are sensitive to it (some people are) then that means you really have to watch your other habits. More garlic, anyone?