Concerta and coffee….?

[jdwdallas]

So I work nights, I just began treating my ADD with Concerta 18 mg yesterday. Felt great, no anxiety, could focus, it was wonderful. Today I get up I took my Concerta after I had drank 2 cups of coffee already. I love coffee and Starbucks, so I stopped and got a double espresso. I feel really pepped up and slightly anxious. I just finished up something at work and found myself chatting nervously with someone and couldn’t stop rambling. I was a little embarrassed. I’m not used to being talkative to begin with and when I couldn’t stop talking it was like I talked even more because I was nervous and wasn’t maintaining eye contact. I finally just said well time to go and left, I think I was more self conscious of it than anything.

It’s great to be able to focus and carry on conversations now, but I think with all the caffeine plus the concerta was a tad too much. Anyone else have something like this happen before?

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[Rick Green – Founder of TotallyADD]

I was told that the caffeine in coffee will speed up my metabolism, so I end up ‘metabolizing’ the Concerta faster that is intended.

I’ve also heard that Orange Juice can Concerta don’t mix. Anyone else heard that?

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[harry1]

I’ve heard a lot about grapefruit juice and a LOT of medicines.

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[donsense]

As a certifiable expert on the value of coffee for focus, I am a raging ADHDer who was a succssful Actuarial Pension and Benefits Consultant VP and Wildly (in my mind and pocketbook) successful entrepreneur who drank 1.5 to 3 litres a day 20 to 30 cups.
Coffee in those quantities worked well. But as I aged and reacted from rage more often and slept less the drink became counter productive. When it worked It kept me on focus without losing our creativeness, but the LFT and the loss of sleep was not worth the price. Eventually Depression and even a psycotic episode came along with a Thyroid storm. (Graves) and eventually after correcting that Depression. And finally a decaffe addict.
Orange and Graefruit Juices have the neat feature for me anyway of speeding up foods journey through and eliminating ….food and the pills much faster.. if you get my drift. As I undestand it I produce a ton of Insulin on their introduction and or bile which is much like the two part flush of new toilets and this would be a number 2.
I was also tested as Hypoglycemic many decades ago. Seems like my pituatary gland is severely challenged or maybe dysfunctional.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 12 months ago by donsense. Reason: Typos

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[dougdougy]

Coffee gives me a buzz but actually aggravates my ADHD symptoms. I get more fidgety, scratchy, restless etc.. I found information online about adhd meds not being as effective when combined with coffee. So I tried taking my dex with and without coffee as an experiment. For me Dex works noticeably better on its own. I just feel clearer and not restless & scratchy. Check this: http://www.addforums.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-15930.html. =] (ps: I know dex isn’t concerta but they are both adhd stims.)

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by dougdougy.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by dougdougy.

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[sdwa]

I read this post because it had the word “coffee” in the title. I love coffee. Long before my ADD diagnosis, I used to drink 10 cups a day. After I started taking Concerta AKA methylphenidate (27 mg seems to be my upper limit), I find that I don’t need anywhere near as much coffee, and can usually keep it to 2 cups a day. The Concerta works better – or rather, quite differently – from caffeine. It makes me feel calm, I can get things done, and can interact with other people with less irritability and sensitivity. That said, I still CRAVE caffeine. I’m super addicted – today is my second day trying to keep my intake to one cup, and I do not like this feeling! Maybe tea for the second cup? Except that tea is a lot like dirty dishwater.

To answer your question, I don’t think methylphenidate and caffeine mix particularly well. The caffeine seems to make me grouchy. It’s also very dehydrating, which can lead to fatigue, which makes me want more coffee. Right? At best, I’d say the caffeine doesn’t help, or is not necessary, and my guess is that it would be better to get the right amount of Concerta than it would be to combine the two.

But you really have to feel out for yourself how the two drugs hit you, try going with the caffeine for a day maybe – and see what works best for you, because everyone is different. I see big changes in how I feel as a result of what I put into my body – whether it’s dietary, or medication, or other drugs like caffeine and alcohol – even minor changes are noticeable. It’s hard to get the internal radio station on the right frequency, if you know what I mean. It’s a delicate operation.

I’ve been experimenting with “mindfulness” (I hate that word) – meditating only on my breathing, focusing on the in and out of the breath (they say the breath is always with us, so it’s a handy focal point to take anywhere)…just noticing how fleeting thoughts are, how they arise on their own, seemingly from nowhere. I don’t have to believe or act on everything I think. A lot of it is just noise. I’m getting better at watching the thoughts, labeling them as thoughts, and letting them go. What does this have to do with anything? Not much – just another tool.

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[donsense]

My solutiom to the 1.5 litres at home and another at the office has been to switch to just 1.0 litre of decaffe. A few years later i added 10to 15% Ground hazelnut (my favorite caffinated) to the mix. The addition is recent and has helped immensely with my 73 yr old golf game lol. One thing i have learned, is to take my meds a good half hour before. Yesterday i had the orange juice first and coffee. The concerta and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor wore off much earlier. It had me wide awake at 530 this morning….normally 9 am.
This months AARP journal suggested adding a spoonful of straight cocoa to the coffee pot as producing exceptional health benefits

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by donsense.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by donsense. Reason: Typo
• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by donsense. Reason: Added pot

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