concerta

He is probably going through an adjustment phase as Concerta is a form of Ritalin but with a more sustained delivery but maybe he doesn’t need as much as Concerta is putting into his system. The Concerta only comes in 18, 36 and 35 mg pills at this time.. I would talk to your doctor about the OCD behaviors that you are seeing and see what he thinks as well..

Kim,

I switched my 9-yr old son from 5 mg ritalin twice a day to 18 mg of Concerta. He lost almost 10 pounds from August to February and he didn’t have it to lose! I didn’t notice any OCD behaviors though. Because of the weight loss I switched him back to the 5 mg of ritalin twice a day a couple of months ago. Lo and behold he regained his appetite and has gained over 6 pounds!

Sally

What does your son think? Can he tell the difference? We tried Concerta for my then 10 year old but went back to regular Ritalin as it didn’t work at all for him, plus gave him a headache and stomach ache. It also made him anxious but didn’t address his inattentiveness. We have just recently switched to Metadate CD, which has been wonderful. For my son, it works as well as Ritalin and eliminates a lunch dose.

Of course, meds work differently in different kids!

JulieinSC

Kim,

my nephew, 8 year old Dustin, had been on Ritalon for a while, and his mother did not feal like it was doing him any good. She switched him to concerta, and like may other kids I’ve heard of he started to lose his appitite and weight. He was a tiny kid to start wih so the weight lose was an unacceptable side affect. I’m not sure what the answer to your predicamentis but here is a web site that might be of some use to you and your child.. www.adhdhelp.org/concerta.htm
It compares some medications for the treatment of adhd as well as listing side afffects of certian drugs.

Hope it helps you out.

erikl

Kim, My son was on Concerta and he displayed terrible OCD traits. He was constantly crying and felt very depressed about the constant thoughts he was having. He also didn’t eat well,either. Our DR. stopped all stimulants because of these side effects and put him on imipramine. It is an antidepressant that is given for OCD,ADHD,bedwetting, depression etc. It has helped Michael a lot. He is not as attentive as he was on stimulants but we can live with it. At least he isn’t depressed and showing OCD symptoms now. It is definetly better than nothing. He can at least sit through 1 long division problem without getting up every other second. Please talk with your doctor immediately. My son’s symptoms grew much worse in a very short time. Good Luck, Jan

My 10 year old daughter was diagnosed as ADD/inattentive an placed a trial of Ritalin. I didn’t really buy into the diagnosis but agreed to a 2 week trial. She was 9 at the time and was given 5mg. in the morning and 5mg. at noon. The first week, even the school nurse pulled me aside and asked “where is XXX in this?”, as my daughter was a sedated zoombie. However by the second week we could see changes-she was happier, she related that the noise in class was less distracting and she was more able to focus. Her handwriting was markedly different-from hard to decipher, all-over-the-place to legible. She was far more able to function and as she was moer successful-I bought into the diagnosis and the need for meds (sigh). A couple of months into it, she developed a scary session of auditory hallucinations which the doctor said was a side effect. We took her off for several weeks and gradually eased her into the Ritalin again starting at 2.5 mg at am and 2.5 at noon which is way, way below the dose for her weight/size. We worked up to 5 mg in the am and 2.5 mg at noon and the same horrible reaction. At the extreme low doses of 2.5 daily there didn’t seem to be any effect whatsoever on her performance so we quit.
Last summer the pediatrician gave us Adderall which doesn’t have as positive an effect. We worked up from 2.5mg to 5 to 7.5mg in the am (goal was 10) but the 7.5 was too much to handle. The afternoon mood swings are horrendous- horrible meltdowns daily. We were advised that it was classic drop-off and to give her an additional 2.5 at noon. Well, about 2 am it was obvious that was going to work. We gave her a break and then reduced the med to 5mg but there are more stomaches/headaches, emotions and not enough of the good effects of the Ritalin to make it worth it.

Any ideas where I should look for more information? Any ideas on a more knowledgeable doctor in the Richmond, Va to Norfolk area?

You may need to talk to your doc about using something other than a stimulant medicine. There are antidepressants that can be used also. Depending on the behaviors you see that are representative of add, it could be possible that your daughter has something else going on and the stimulants are inappropriate for her. Try Children of the King’s Daughters children’s hospital (either norfolk or portsmouth, I can’t remember now) for maybe a ped. neuro, or ped. psyche.
Has your daughter had a school eval for any ld’s? Hope I helped some. I have a 13 yr old son with add/inattentive and auditory processing disorder. Let us know how things go. Best wishes.

I’d rather have crappy penmanship than the other symptoms you describe. I’d be scared if my kid was a zombie she might walk in front of a car. Put up with crappy penmanship and get her off the poison. She’ll have plenty of time to experiment with drugs in high school and college. Maybe her freaking out on the Adderall will scare her away from ever trying drugs. Try other treatments first. She has her whole life to learn to write. If she can’t learn to write pretty maybe she’ll become a doctor. But I suspect their poor penmanship has something to do with arrogance and greed.

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