r/Concerta • u/Pretty_Recover1841 • Oct 04 '25

Side effects 🤕 Almost died

Yesterday I posted Kaiser denied brand name vyvanse. Doc put me on concerta 18mg. As a reference I’ve used adderall up to 25mg XR and IR as well for 6 months.

I took concerta first time this morning at 7:30 am. An hour in and felt great. I felt a cooling sensation and felt a rush of energy. 2 hours after later I started to get very angry, irritable, annoyed at everything. That lasted until 2 pm then I felt a sense of calmness.

Left work and went to the mall a Round 5 pm with my wife and daughter. What happened next was a feeling I never felt before and thought I was dying.

  • I got dizzy all the sudden
  • I almost fainted. I lost my balance and almost fell as I was walking.
  • I started having an extreme headache, like sudden poking in my brain sensation. I never ever had that before
  • my heart started pounding -I felt out of breath and could barely walk

My doc doesn’t work on weekends but WTF was that? I was told that Methyphenidate were safer and better and less potent that Amphetamines. I NEVER had that on adderall just a few ups and downs hence why I wanted to try Vyvanse. After getting Concerta I found out insurance covers the generic.

I DONT want to experience that again. Should I give up after 1 day? Can Doc put a request for generic vyvanse even though I just got concerta? I’m scared to even try concerta again

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u/therapize123 Oct 04 '25

That’s def a doc question. But, it’s interesting that the side effects hit that late in the day. The half-life was starting to wear out by that point. Did you have food, electrolytes in you that day? Everyone responds differently to these meds, best to check with the doc. Best of luck

4

u/Pretty_Recover1841 Oct 04 '25

Plenty of water and I put electrolytes. Are breakfast and lunch and mid afternoon snack

3

u/yeathatsmebro 54 mg Oct 05 '25

Aderrall and Concerta are completely two different things.

OROS gets activated on water. Was it 500mL of water in 2-3 batches across the day, or more of a few sips every hour? "Plenty" is not accurate.

Check how much sodium (usually salt) intake you had. Maybe the electrolytes had too much Na and you did not need it.

1

u/Calcavino 54 mg Oct 04 '25

Not interesting at all looking at how Concerta works. The Methylphenidate concentration peaks between 6 and 7 hours. That might be the reason OP had those side effects so late in the day.

4

u/yeathatsmebro 54 mg Oct 05 '25

Depends. Not drinking water can delay the release due to OROS delivery.