I was just wanting your pros and cons (not a debate, just experiences) with your child being on Concerta

By Tarable on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - 10:08 am:

I have 2 DDs that both have ADHD. Concerta was the the first med that my oldest was put on and it works wonders for her, no side effects and she is still on it (a higher dose of course after 4 years). With my younger DD it is a different story. She was on concerta for a year with no problems. After the first year she was having problems again and we tried to up the dose. Well that caused more problems. She started being a totally different hateful and mean child. We took her off and put her on Focalin XR and she is back to herself again.

So I have lots of exp with Concerta and it goes both ways. I wouldn't give it up for my oldest but I would never give it to my younger dd again! Good luck.

I know that if you are going to use meds for adhd or anything like that you just have to try the meds your dr prescribes until you find the one that works right for you. If you don't like the way that it is working tell your dr and get something different.

By Tunnia on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - 01:02 pm:

Our experience with Concerta was not good and I almost hesitate to tell you about it because if you are considering this Rx for your child I don't want you to think that all children react this way to Concerta. Each child reacts differently to these types of Rx and it may end up being the Rx that works best for your child even though it wasn't for mine.

With our ds, the Concerta made him violent. Within the first day or two of taking Concerta he began going into violent rages, hitting, kicking, biting, screaming, destroying things, etc. It was very scary to see his personality change so quickly and drastically from a sweet little boy who wouldn't hurt a fly to an angry, agressive little boy who wanted to hurt anything and everything all the time. We will never give it to him again.

If you give any adhd Rx to your child keep an eye on him and watch for any negative changes and talk to his doctor asap if you have any concerns. Finding the right Rx is very much a trial and error process. It took five tries for us to find the current Rx for our ds.

By Rayelle on Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 11:24 pm:

I just saw this post because I don't check this board much. My son is on concerta and for him it has been wonderful. The only real side effect was it did affect his appetite for awhile but now he eats like a horse. He also needed melatonin to sleep after his rx was increased but now he doesn't need that anymore. It doesn't have the zombie affect I was scared of. For him it allows him to be him. I hope you find something that works well for you too.

By Jtsmom on Monday, June 2, 2008 - 09:25 am:

Hey, my son has been on it for a few months now, and it has done wonders! The only thing that is bother me is he doesn't eat well (never has really) and he doesn't sleep good at all. He goes to bed at 8:30 and it is usually 10pm or so, before he even goes to sleep. Then of course he is up again at 6:30am, whether it is a school day or not, just because that is when his little internal clock wakes him up. So he is certainly not getting enough sleep.

By Tunnia on Monday, June 2, 2008 - 12:15 pm:

I'm so glad that it's working for your ds, Joelle!

For the sleep you can give him melatonin. That's what my ds has been taking for several months now and it's great! Before the melatonin he was waking up at daylight and staying up until at least 11pm every night and not getting nearly enough sleep. Ds's pediatrician recommended it (as did a couple of people I know with dks with adhd) and told us that we can give it to him any time he needs it. We just watch him and if he still looks pretty alert and says he's not tired when we give him the "half-hour til bedtime" warning we have him take a melatonin. We started out with the 1mg (as the ped suggested) and now we are down to the 300mcg. I don't want to medicate ds any more than necessary and if needed we can up the dosage with the 300mcg until we get up to 1mg. You can get it OTC at Walmart or any drug store. We aren't having any problems with ds not eating so I don't have any advice there. Good luck!

By Tink on Monday, June 2, 2008 - 04:04 pm:

My ds doesn't have ADHD but his ASD can also cause sleep issues and we have him on 250mcg of melatonin every night. We bump it up to 500mcg if he's especially wound up at bedtime but that's rare. He's been on it for about a year I think and it has completely changed our nights. My ds didn't fall asleep until 10 or 11, would wake up twice a night most nights, had night terrors a couple of nights a month and would be awake at 5am for the day. He now sleeps from 9pm-6:30 or 7am without waking for any reason and he's not groggy or out of it in the morning. It might be worth talking to your pediatrician about it for your ds. Good luck with the Concerta. I've heard good things about it.

By Rayelle on Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 01:30 pm:

Joelle, I wanted to tell you about something that might be an issue. The first year my ds was on concerta he had little appetite especially at lunch. Sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night to eat, I guess the meds wore off by then, I don't really know. In the first year he only gained 6 ounces. The doctor said he was growing so it was ok but I should give him some pediasure or something like that. I started giving him muscle milk for kids and he put on a few pounds. He loves it too! That's something else you might want to ask the dr about. Good luck.

By Jtsmom on Friday, June 6, 2008 - 07:58 am:

He eats very little during the day but, it never fails that at 10pm at night he is always starving. His bedtime is at 8:30pm, so I don't know if it is a stay up tactic or if he is really hungry. Should I fix him something to eat at 10pm at night? Also, he loves those Carnation Instant Breakfast drinks, the doctor said that they are really good for him. We have a doctors appt next month, so I am looking forward to addressing these issues with him. Overall the Concerta is doing wonders for him, as far as his ADHD though.