My 7 yo daughter has been on generic metadate CD (methylphenidate SR 20 mg, 2 in the am) for 3.5 weeks. She gets very sleepy about 2-3 hours after she takes it. Since it says sleepiness is a side effect (rare) I didn’t do anything. Then our psychologist mentioned she may be over-medicated. So I called our pediatrician. Prior to this med she was on 30 mg of generic ritalin 3 X day but it was too much roller coaster. This newer medication has helped her be better in charge of herself. Problem one is it isn’t available in less than 20 mg increments. Problem two is that I have read as much as I can about inattentive ADD but things like this come up and I don’t even know what to ask.
Re: metadate CD, Ritalin and Concerta
Ritalin, Concerta and Metadate all contain the same active ingrediant. Ritalin and Concerta are made by the same drug company. Concerta and Metadate CD are both longer lasting meds than regular Ritalin, however they have very different delivery systems. My 11 year old son (primarly inattentive) did very well on regular Ritalin, but Concerta didn’t work at all. Metadate CD, however, has been very effective for him.
Re: metadate CD, Ritalin and Concerta
I should add that for some kids, generic meds don’t work as well as the “real” thing, so you may want to try the name brand meds to see if there is any difference. You may also want to try the Concerta to see if the delivery system in this works better than the delivery system of Metadate CD.
Unfortunately, there is no “one” answer. You might have to try several meds before you find one that works.
Re: metadate CD, Ritalin and Concerta
We only have ritalin and dexadrine here in Canada, thank god the dex works well !!!
Metadate CD is (to my knowledge) the same thing as Concerta which comes in 18mg increments. 2mg isn’t much of a difference but it could help.