Moving from Concerta to Adderall XR

[Anonymous]

I’ve been taking Concerta for 6 months, 54mg after being diagnostic of ADD at the age of 40.

It’s been great except for feeling hot for the initial 2 hours of taking it, but my life came back to order. I got myself some major certifications of my work field, accomplished more than ever before at work and in my personal life.

My body got used to it after 6 months, to a point where it seemed I came back to what I used to be.

My family doctor wasn’t keen to upgrade my Concerta dosage, and was asking me to stop using it on week-ends instead.

I did convince her to get a different drug, and I got Adderall XR, 10 mg.

The problem is that after taking it, I feel more energetic, but I wasn’t there yet.

I took today 20mg, and now I feel much better. I am unsure if I should go to 30mg.

So here’s my question. Does 20mg of Adderall XR the equivalent of 54mg of Concerta?

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[Anonymous]

It is roughly 2:1 so that 20 mg of Adderall XR would be getting close to 45 mg of Concerta but 30 mg would be close to 54 mg you had previously taken. but you can step wise up by 5 mg.

Always speak to your doctor before making any changes to medications. Dr. Jain provides advice generically and not for any one person. Advice does not constitute a therapeutic relationship or promise of care. Please consult the privacy policy for more information.

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[Anonymous]

Thank you very much. I am going to my doctor later on today and discuss about my dosage. It seems I don’t have the right concentration with Aderall XR, and unsure if it’s the medication itself or too low dosage. I’ll keep you posted.

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[Anonymous]

I seem to be in the same situation, i’ve been on methylphenidate for about 4 months now starting with ritalin and switching to concerta 36 mg after a month and then to 54 mg a month after.

After a little more than 2 months, i feel that im losing a bit of the effect that i was getting initially. I’ve also incorporated in the process the holistic approach with some coaching and evaluating my symptoms daily while monitoring the number of hours I sleep which as I have found out has a very significant effect on the adhd symptoms I feel during the day.

What I find is that although the concerta helps, I do not feel that my mind is as alert as it was when i started taking the meds, organizing my thoughts before speaking is more difficult, my memory doesn’t work as well, data processing seems a bit slower and i’m more impulsive then when i started and i find that although i my mind functions better most of the times, sometimes it feels as you said like it did before….i’m hoping that aderall xr with its combined effect on both dopamine and noradrenaline will wake up my brain to the level I feel I should function at.

I’m curious to know on your end how different the aderall xr feels in comparison to when you started taking concerta so far?

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[Anonymous]

I guess I’ll answer my own question for those reading the thread…I went to the doctor’s today and told him the effect of concerta seemed to be wearing off with time so we switched to Adderall XR….now if there is one thing I learned by reading the different posts on this website is that no med feels the same for everyone…

So anyways, here’s my experience so far :

Whearas Concerta and Ritalin seem to bring the “cup of coffee” to the Nth power feeling, the adderall XR has a bit of that feeling but mostly it makes everything around me slow down. Its hard to describe, i’ve been a bit anxious recently for different reasons which is probably part of the reason why i feel my concerta is not working as well and I have to say since taking my 10MG Adderall XR this morning and 10MG at 4:00, i have had a day which has been completely anxiety free. I have the impression, that a war could be going on around me and I wouldn’t be so panicked…I say this in a good way as I often feel that with my adhd, things around tend to go a bit quicker than they should.

I’ve also noticed that the adderall XR doesn’t seem to last as long as the concerta….the concerta was a good 10 hrs and i would say that the adderall xr is more 7-8 hrs.

Anyways … Im quite happy so far, no negative side effects so we’ll see…time will tell if this is the right medication…. ill keep you guys posted!

Lately I’ve been a bit anxious for different reasons

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[Anonymous]

please update!! i’ve been on adderall xr (5 mg first three days, start 10 mg tomorrow) and immediately (within an hour) noticed a calm and focus i’ve never experienced. (!!) however, i’m worried (as the medication only seems to last a few hours) (and i’m a totally anxious person- full of doomsday scenarios and worries- normally) that my forgetfullness and absentmindedness is actually WORSE after the medication wears off than i was prior to using the medication. i get a few hours of calm and focus, but i feel even more lost after the medication wears off . . . i’m worried about what is happening in my brain. i look forward to your updates!!!

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[Anonymous]

My full apologies for not getting back earlier.

The first thing about when I started with Concerta is that I started to dislike having things around me hanging around. It looked like Chaos to me. So I started to be less messy and putting things at their place because if not, it would not feel right to me. That’s a first for me since Chaos seemed the norm for me.

Then at work I started to put priorities on my tasks without being impulsive and do things as they come. I started saying to people things like “Sure… I’ll finish this in an hour and then I’ll be right with you” as supposed to start doing it right away, tossing away my current task.

Then at home, I would finish what I started without jumping from things to things. My wife told me that I stopped looking like I’m spaced out when talking to me.

But the best of all, is that I was able to start reading books for the first time in my life and be able to finish an entire chapter without spacing out. I loved it so much I was only stopping when my brain felt tired. A feeling that I loved having.

Then I passed exams and got certificates where without the medication, I could have never got them.

Then my body got used to it after 8 months of using Concerta. So I switched to Adderall XR. Here’s the difference.

1. More energy in the morning because of the 50% initial delivery as supposed to Concerta at 22%

2. That energy made me stopped drinking coffee immediately.

3. My symptoms of not being organized and being impulsive is still under control, but not as strong as Concerta.

4. My symptoms of not being able to read is still very present. I wasn’t able to study much during that time.

5. Conversations with wife still really good. No spacing out.

Conclusion: I am now starting Biphentin tomorrow. My doctor thinks that 30Mg should the dosage, starting at 20MG for now. It’s a “Concerta” like medication that will give me a 40% delivery at the beginning, and 60% later during the day. Ritalin like medication seems much better for my body, I will keep myself in that direction.

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[Anonymous]

The feeling of “withdraw” with Adderall XR is something I got as well at the beginning, but went away with time as my body starting getting used to it.

I strongly believe that it doesn’t damage your brain, and I wouldn’t worry about it.

There are different medication for different type of metabolism. If Adderall XR doesn’t give you what you desire, you can request to your doctor to switch to a different type (like Concerta) and see if that is better for you. They are normally not against requests like that.

Another suggestion would be to have Adderall XR 10mg in the morning, and have Adderall 5MG at dinner. Since Adderall without the XR last for 4 hours, that will give you less of a crash when going down from the 10MG one. I’ve seen people doing that in other forums.

Keep us posted.

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[Anonymous]

Hello, Dr Jain. I am considering going back on medication. I have not been to a doctor for over 10 years since I was in middle school. How do I go about choosing a new doctor? I am located in the Silicon Valley where there are a number of doctors but none the same. Should I look for an institute or single person? Thank you for your suggestions.

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