Concerta? Does it work for you?

[Bibliophile]

I am on my second day of non-generic Concerta 18 mg and my last. It is making me sleepy and preventing me from focusing at all. My eyes feel hypersensitive and my memory is impaired more than usual. Thankfully I am only on a two week trial, but I cannot function. I took ritalin (methylphenidate) when I was younger, 24 years ago, and used to get headaches, but I don’t remember anything like feeling like this. I wanted to try the SSRI route as I also experience dysthymia and anxiety, but the psychiatrist wanted to start with the most common stimulant, methylphenidate, believing the comorbidities were being caused by the ADHD and not co-existing on their own. My son is on biphentin, and I sure hope he doesn’t feel like this on it.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

Odd how this stimulant is slowing you down. Dehydration can cause this and both dehydration and Concerta will increase mess with your BP which will cause you to feel tired. I’m in the same boat.

REPORT ABUSE

[Bibliophile]

I doubt it is dehydration as I drank quite a few mugfuls of water at work and still felt awful. The drug just makes me feel stoned and tired. Even if it were dehydration, I can’t drink anymore fluids than I already do so it is not a good solution for me.

REPORT ABUSE

[Bibliophile]

I am going to give the Concerta one last go today. I got a good night’s sleep last night so I should be well rested. I also wanted to try it again at work as that way I can test productivity on the med.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

Good luck, please share your results

REPORT ABUSE

[Bibliophile]

My 3rd day was no better for improvements to my attention. The drug actually clouded my thoughts. At least my eyes stopped feeling like my pupils were overly dilated. I am not taking it a fourth day.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

i’m a 39 yr old female that just recently figured i should address my issue of this ADHD stuff. when i was a child they use to put me under a desk in class to prevent me from being distracted from others and told my mother to give me coffee. she never did anything to address my issues and now here i am YEARS later, tired of feeling like i’m not normal (what is really normal) and need to function like a regular person. i’m starting a new job and really want to feel like i’m on track instead of all over the board. this is my very first day of taking concerta ER 18mg. i took it this AM around 10:30a ish. it’s now 2:18p and i’m not really sure what, if anything is happening. but i’ve been on the computer most of the time reading up on this stuff and what other people are saying about it and how it’s affected them. i came along this forum and really related to heather with what she wrote. i put together a list of random thoughts (surprise) that i feel are my ADHD issues. does anyone else feel/think this way as well? EEEKKK!

• adrenaline junky – impulse factor can be at times overwhelming, especially when i know i shouldn’t be doing something (like tell me no and i’ll want to do it more i.e. drive the speed limit… hell no. i hate rules)

• read and reread something because i can’t get it the first few times and or retain the info within

• have to take notes but not always sure what the real points of the action items are and have to look back or else I will forget – forgetting things is a big one. If I don’t write them down, I’m screwed!

• hard to focus, easily distracted, become board quickly if not interested

• have to do something but my the voice inside me says no and i know it needs to be done but i can’t concentrate to get it done so i just leave it/ignore it then my thoughts consume my head of how overwhelming it is going to be and another monkey on my back — back to being lazy and hating it then makes me feel depressed

• i’m funny and crazy, have no filter (not good), people love me for being who i am — not fake

• i can hyper focus on something i really enjoy and do it well (makes me feel great)

• can be a perfectionist and that can also be debilitating at times – when i do something i like it done perfect because it’s a reflection of me. which then causes the ocd of redoing and revamping and over and over process and wasting time on something that could have been done/completed in half the time. and then this becomes so contradicting because i love to simplify things/processes to make my life and others much easier. as is why when i’m crafting i do not like to make things in one offs but in an assembly line fashion

• chaos can confuse me but also make me work harder because i’m under pressure and then strangely I’m focused in a sense

• don’t know where to begin on something but once i do i’m all over the board

• sitting still can be a death sentence to me. tell me to no move and i might as well give up because i can’t not just sit there

• when drinking caffeine i can really get stuff done once i pick up the first thing

• very compulsive (adrenaline junky again), if i feel i need something i need it now, not tomorrow or 10 mins from now or no time to think about it… i need/want it now. same as doing something. instead of buying one of something i want to buy more because what if i use this one now i won’t have an extra. I have to figure out what to get it and go to great lengths to do so. i get a thought in my head and i have to react on it, no matter what it is and then a lot of the time I feel guilty for doing so

• hoarding for the benefit of needing to feel secure and or have options, maybe some OCD or experiences from my childhood — hard to get rid of things because i feel attachment towards them. i totally understand less is more but can’t grasp it in my own life. i like to know that when i’m ready to do something no matter what it be that i have everything i need to do it at my finger tips. and what it i get rid of it then i won’t have it and then i will have needed it. and then i bought it now i’m getting rid of it and that’s wasting money

• my mind runs a mile a minute thinking of things from all times of my life… from good to bad, happy and sad, current and past

• watching tv or listening to someone speak, i’m in my own world thinking about a million other things (unless it’s really interesting to me then they will have my full attention)

• great starter, horrible finisher. but when i do finish i feel like i just conquered the world — ideas rush through my mind of great lengths. if i start something and don’t finish it that same day then i know very well i most likely am not going back to it the next day because i’m board with it now

• extreme when it comes to certain things — gung ho! and not for the things i need to be extreme with/about

• love to help everyone but myself – giving and doing for others is my nature – makes me feel good and happy

• when i was in school, studying and test taking was monotonous (no focus factor) would fall asleep in class a lot and got bad grades

• i’m horrible with downtime. if i’m kept busy i am more likely to succeed. however, enjoy sitting and thinking which makes no sense (i.e. watching and smelling the rain, listening to the birds and squirrels on a sunshine filled day with my dog)

• when cleaning i have a very hard time staying in one place. i go from room to room because something will lead me in that direction and then it seems like nothing gets done

• talking to my counselor about my problems makes me feel better — getting things out

• i like to be proactive and a leader — far from a follower

• if i don’t like to deal with something or someone i avoid it or them — draw up a wall (i.e. my mother, bill collectors, certain task, certain people that drain me – suck the life out of me… etc) i know i have to do something but i will do everything to ignore it and or anything else but what i’m suppose to do

• i’m very creative — when i can focus, thoughts and inspiration pour out of me

• impatient – don’t like to read directions, rather just try to figure it out. don’t like to read the entire message and then don’t get the full story – maximize time causing missed things

now… maybe this will make some of you feel like you’re normal LOL!!

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

This link provided in an earlier post in this thread is very interesting. I suggest all in both Canada and the U.S. read it entirely. It provides a great deal of information re the differences in generic and original formulas of meds as well as the unique opportunities afforded to Docs and Pharmacies by using one over another. I would also suggest you look at the companies that produce the generics and there history as a reliable source providing a safe product and the flexibility that are afforded in giving you a medication that is a equivalent. It might not be the same as they are given ranges as opposed to having be exact in the medication …. Yes the videos here about Gens Vs Original are good but the more information you are provided u will understand why medications work sometimes for some and not others.

http://www.addadhdblog.com/generic-concerta-in-canada/#a8c9

.

REPORT ABUSE

[Anonymous]

I started taking Concerta 18 mg and i think it great so far .I feel i can trust my memory now because i’m more focus on what i’m

doing.

REPORT ABUSE

[Author]

Posts