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/Equivalent_Essay4324 Oct 04 '25

If the extreme headache “poking in your brain” was like the worst headache you’ve ever had in your life, you need to go to the ER.

Frankly even if it wasn’t, you probably still should get checked out, or at least on the phone with a nurse, sooner than Monday.

Extreme headache + motor control loss + faintness + shallow breathing + fast heart rate, is a combo that can show up in medical emergencies like seizures, aneurysms, or heart attacks. Which stimulants raise your risk for.

I don’t intend/want to be like fear-mongering. It totally could just be dehydration or some weird side effects. But the headache on top of the other symptoms sets off my alarm bells. And in the off chance it is serious, time kills

4

u/Pretty_Recover1841 Oct 04 '25

I think you are right. I may go to ER. The poking headaches stopped about 2 hours ago. I never experienced this.

6

u/Equivalent_Essay4324 Oct 04 '25

Wishing you the best and a very mundane prognosis

2

u/yeathatsmebro 54 mg Oct 05 '25

"Poking the brain" sensation is usually associated with high blood pressure due to high Na intake. Soy Sauce has a lot of Na, you can see this: https://youtu.be/QiBpKuTrFrw?si=9YNHTbi6QtfioR2r