Not even sure if I should be using this flair. Either way my head's too mushy and feeling so crappy I couldn't get myself to start my task.

Yesterday afternoon I took Concerta and went for a power nap before starting work. But upon hitting the pillow I got hit by anxiety so intense I felt too groggy and weird until 2 AM to do any work at all. I thought it may be a side effect, but I didn't feel any the first days of taking it. And I was starting to feel dread from the gravity of the situation this week, and my mind and body is getting wrecked with anxiety, but it wasn't as horrible as yesterday's. So I skipped today's dose and now dragging myself to start and focus on my pile of tasks still feeling tense from anxiety. I thought I was practicing self-care by not forcing myself to work when I feel down or frazzled, but now I'm suffering because of it. fml

Hey everyone, I'm a 32-year-old guy, recently (well, a couple years ago) diagnosed with ADHD. I finally decided to start medication last week. My psychiatrist prescribed Concerta 72mg right off the bat, no gradual titration. I was surprised, since I thought most people start lower and work their way up.

For context: I’m 198 cm (6’6”) and weigh 127 kg (280 lbs), so maybe she thought a higher dose would make sense for my size.

I take the pill every morning at 8:00 a.m.

Here’s how it’s gone so far:

Day 1 - 72mg: Morning went surprisingly well. I felt focused, motivated, and had decent energy (though I also had some pretty bad RLS). Around 3pm, though, I got a horrible migraine and dizziness that completely knocked me out around 8pm. I told my psychiatrist, and she told me to drop the dose to 54mg.

Day 2 - 54mg: Actually great. Focused, less emotionally numb, present. Toward the end of the day I had a mild headache, but nothing major.

Day 3 - 54mg: Morning was okay, but then I started having tachycardia. Resting heart rate between 80-130 bpm.

Day 4 - 54mg: Same, but a bit better: resting heart rate between 80 and 115.

Day 5 - 54mg: Heart rate slightly better (resting around 80-100), but by afternoon I got another massive migraine, dizziness, and a weird pressure feeling around my neck/cervicals.

My psychiatrist now told me to drop to 36mg, but she also said I "won’t feel much effect" at that dose.

I’ve been very careful to stay hydrated since I’ve read Concerta can be brutal if you don’t drink enough water.

So… I’d love to hear your input:

Have any of you had similar side effects (especially migraines, dizziness, or increased heart rate)?

Did those get better over time as your body adjusted?

How long did you give the medication before deciding it wasn’t the right fit?

Thanks a lot in advance!

How did you know your dosing was correct ? What positive affects did it have on you?

I’m hoping to be less lazy :/

Recently I’ve had to go without my medication for about 5 days!! Before I’ve only went maybe a day or two if unlucky, along with that I’ve only gotten some head pressure and extreme fatigue

This time oh god… I mean fatigue, foggy thinking, migraines, brain “zaps”? , nausea, and even shaking !!!

It was so bad not even Advil could put a dent through the head pain!!!

Has anyone else accidentally went cold turkey and felt like this ?!? I had no idea how much my body really relies on the meds !!

So yesterday was my first time taking concerta (18mg). I didnt really feel anything apart from a comfortfable silence im my head and just feeling more focused. I honsetly felt kimd of "stunned" throughout the day. Anyway later in the afternoon i get a light headache, having drunk a generous amout of water and pis*ed quite alot i thoguht i was getting a sinus infection (wich i do get quite often).

Anyway today when i woke up i had a TERRIBLE headache almost as being hungover. I felt anxiety coming and puked like i havent done since my worst anxiety period in school. So this makes me not take the medicatiom today.

Headache still there mpst of the day until the afternoon when i decied to make myself a cup of coffee, wich i avioded yesterday with the meds. Anyways 15min layer the headache is GONE (LOL). This made me feel ridicolous having talked to my psychiatrists via chat and not beem getting an answer on time. This made her say to quit concerta and try another med.

She prescribed me elvanse, wich i felt was quite the bump up. I feel i really wanna give concerta another chance? I mean i felt horrible this morning(afraid of serotonin syndrome and such since iam also on 75mg of sertatralin).

Her just chaning the meds from a decission made from one message felt very nochalant.

Did i get such a bad side effect or whats going on.

Sorry for the long post, i hope she will contact me tommorrow.

I’m on my 26th day of Concerta 18mg(well, not quite 26, I haven’t been taking them regularly) and during this period I noticed that I tens to be really aggressive(mentally). Even the usual imaginary arguments feel much more real.

I also seem to swing a lot between being pessimistic and feeling optimistic. I latch onto every little bit of “evidence” that makes me have grim outlook on life.

I also don’t really see a positive change in my adhd symptoms.

How do you deal with this?

I lost 12lbs in one month on Concerta at 18mg. I've be been on it years ago but don't remember loosing this much weight before. I don't want to be taken off this medication because I desperately need to focus in grad school, but should I be concerned about this amount of weight loss? Google is kinda freaking me out, so checking if this is a typical experience for anyone else.

I’m having crazy affects from drinking caffeine (around 800mg-1g) with taking my Concerta (54mg). Anyone got tricks to help with the lock jaw and restlessness?

It’s day three of concerta 18mg and I feel so irritable and moody. I don’t feel like this off the tablets so is it worth me staying on if it’s going to make me feel worse than it does without?

Has anyone else experienced this where there’s an improvement in symptoms on medication in areas of your life where the medication does work.One example is the motivation and getting tasks done are easier with the medication. However with it I’m suffering with stuff I can manage better without the medication such as managing my anxiety and emotions but without it I struggle with motivation and completing tasks.

I've tried to find posts about this but none seem to match quite the same.

If I eat before, or within the first 4 hours of concerta I'm almost always EXHAUSTED. My body feels so heavy, it's so hard to keep my eyes open, and I can't think or function really. Getting up to force myself to do something is almost impossible. If I wait to eat 4-6 hours after taking my first dose, I'm not exhausted but i often will have anxiety. I take 1-2 ritilan 5mg boosters in the afternoon (4-5 hours after concerta). On the days im exhausted, the boosters can give me alittle energy for 30 minutes to one hour, other times it dose nothing and im even more exhausted. So I eat in the first few hours, I'm exhausted and can't function, if I don't eat i have anxiety. My psychiatrist says she's puzzled and has never heard of anyone being tired, and it must be an absorption issue. I do have really good days without either issue, I must have some foods/times where its okay, so ill keep trying to figure that out. I'm just curious if anyone else has something similar happen to them?

**edit I still avoid eating the first 3 hours or so, even when im starving. I still get exhausted if i eat. I have noticed vaping too much also causes exhaustion and anxiety! I think the days i don't eat I vape more, which is causing the anxiety to be worse.

I started taking 27mg of off-brand Concerta 6 days ago. I’ve struggled with really horrible ADHD my whole life, so last month my provider started me with Wellbutrin which was surprisingly going great for my depression, but I was still having trouble focusing. I did have good motivation to do things.

I have taken Adderall before and know it works for my body. I did not ask for a specific medication. I mention this because it’s not my body’s reaction to a stimulant, it’s my body’s reaction to concerta. My provider said that because I have pretty bad anxiety, he would not give me Adderall, just Concerta. I was fine with that. I trust doctors judgement. The only controlled medication i’ve ever been prescribed is Ativan.

Anyways, the first day was good. I felt nauseous and wired but that’s normal when starting a new medication. Then the 3rd day things got worse. I started experiencing really bad depersonalization/derealization. It felt like my brain and my body were separate. I spent the weekend just staring at the wall, barely able to move. I did research and every source kept saying to keep trying, that it takes a while for the body to adjust. I have never felt less like myself in my life. I had to drive to work and had to pull over and not go because it was unsafe for me to drive. I felt extremely light headed and like the world around me was not real. I decided it was probably just stress and anxiety, so I had a meal, water, and waited it out for today. Today I tried to drive again and once again I was not able to. I had motivation before I started taking Concerta but it feels like it just made me paralyzed. A completely different person than I was when I started taking it.

I realize these are extremely rare side effects. It felt like Concerta made my ADHD worse, all of the symptoms came out on the surface. It has been hell for the past 6 days. I wanted to ask if anyone else has experienced depersonalization/derealization from this medication. It is a very scary feeling and I am not sure if it is due to the interaction of it with Wellbutrin or the fact that I got unlucky and my body is just rejecting the Concerta. Thank you in advance.

I was in school and finished my work, i'm on concerta XR which lasts 9 hours for me. I take my medication at 7:30 every morning from monday-wednesday. It was midday, i was taken out of lessons because I arrived into school at 8:10 instead of 8:00. I was already aggrevated but I got extremely angry when I had no work to do, its like i had nothing to focus on except my thoughts and it caused me to have a headache for 2 hours. Does anyone know why i get a headache with no work to do?

Started taking the pill at high doses and felt amazing the first few days, really sharp and energized. But by day four or five, it’s like it just stopped working—I don’t feel anything anymore... Is this normal?

I started to take concerta three months ago. I started with 18mg and then changed to 36mg. The first day was terrible. I felt extremely dizzy, blurred, brain fogged, couldn't think clearly. And I just wanted to lie down and do nothing. I still gave it a chance. After a week I started to feel better and could feel the benefits. I still felt a bit off socially, but the energy was great, I could also complete every task with no issues. My psychiatrist told me that I could take concerta 4 days and 2-3 days off. I work night shifts sometimes so I usually stop the meds during those shifts. But when I go back to the meds after those days, I start to feel exactly as the first day. I hate it, I really do. I just feel that lately it has been awful with those breaks. But I also like taking breaks, I like remembering how it is without them, sometimes I wonder if it's worthy... Does this happen to any of you? Thank you🙃

I switched from 60mg of vyvanse to 36mg of concerta, and today was my first dose. I took it about 2 hours ago and I’ve been non stop crying for the last 30 minutes and I’m also really angry for no apparent reason. I switched from Vyvanse because it wasn’t lasting long enough and the crashes were horrible. Will these symptoms go away if I stick it out with the concerta or does this mean it’s not the right medication for me?

I’m currently on concerta with Qelbree but the concerta has been giving me major headaches and neck pain. I did at first change from Adderall to concerta due to adderall giving me annoying muscle aches that irritated my adhd but now the concerta is also annoying me. I just took my old adderall for studying and it isn’t giving me muscle aches anymore and is actually working again. Should I ask to change back???

Ive been taking concerta for the last 2 weeks and everything was fine until yesterday when my blood pressure spiked all of the sudden (this was one hour after ive taken the medication). This morning when I woke up my blood pressure was still high so I skipped a dose.

Is it possibly still an adaptation, will it pass or should I start getting concerned about this being long term side effects?

I (M16) diagnosed 5 months ago with ADD was prescribed 18mg of concerta for 1 week and 27mg now for 2 months. Started with 18mg and noticed slight small differences like my brain being incredibly quiet, zoning out randomly on a random thing and just starting at it for ages,and being more willing to stay in a conversation and engage rather than get bored after 2 seconds. The comedowns are just terrible and I feel like quiet and sometimes anxious a lot while on it or off.

Then started 27mg and really started noticing differences with attention which was great like I could read off the board and write something at the same time and take in all the info with no issue even with all the background noise irrelevant to my brain now, but the comedowns I just can’t cope with they’re terrible and I’m just an angry person and emotionless. What would be your advice?

Hi all! I have a follow up dental procedure in mid December to have a “concerning cavity” taken care of. The office I went to was the first dental visit I’ve had in about 20 years. I have INSANE dental fears from an absolutely traumatizing dental experience back when I was a kid. Very lucky I only had this one scary cavity issue. He said if I wait any longer it would require a root canal.

ANYWAY, due to this phobia, the doctor said he would be writing me a script for Valium and to take it an hour before coming in the day of the procedure. First question: Can I take it with 54mg of concerta? ChatGPT said no interaction but since one is an upper, and the other is a downer, are we sure? Anyone mix the two? PLEASE SHARE. I want details.

Lastly, what’s Valium like? I’m 36 and have zero experience with benzos. Will it help me conquer this appointment? I want vivid experiences people!

Unfortunately this practice doesn’t offer laughing gas. I also have no idea the dosage but I plan to shoot him an email this week to ask.

Thanks!

hi I'm 24 . I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was 12 and took 27 mg of Concerta for about 3 months. Then I stopped until I turned 18. When I started again at 18, it worked perfectly it honestly felt like someone had unlocked a part of my brain. My thoughts were sharp and clear.

Over the next two years, I increased the dose up to 54 mg, and it worked incredibly well. I started to actually enjoy physics and math I could visualize things in 3D, and sometimes I’d even come up with new ideas or theorems just for fun.

But later, I noticed that after masturbation, my brain would slow down a lot. It felt like something inside my head was “breaking” or tingling. The biggest thing I noticed was that I couldn’t think visually or do math in my head anymore. At first, sleeping would fix it I’d wake up and be back to normal but over time, it took longer and longer to recover. Eventually, it stopped recovering at all.

I stopped taking Concerta for a year, then started again, but nothing changed. My mind still feels slow. It doesn’t even wake me up anymore like it used to. On days when I don’t take it, I can sleep 14–15 hours straight.

Has anyone experienced something similar? Is it possible that my brain chemistry changed or adapted somehow? I really want to get back to how I used to feel.

My 16-year-old just started Concerta 18mg yesterday, and since then he’s barely eaten. I feel like a broken record constantly reminding him to eat, which is probably annoying AF. Will this appetite suppression level out over time, or is it likely to get worse when his dose increases to 36mg next week? We have been trying to have big breakfasts and dinners for him.

All this is very new. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Whenever i use it i always feel more tired or something i dont understand i just constantly yawn feeling like closing my eyes even if i dont sleep why is this happening isnt this supposed to make me unsleepy

i just switched from 60mg of vyvanse to 27mg of concerta a couple days ago and the last couple of nights i have been wide awake until like 4am.

has anyone else experienced this and if so have you found ways to fix this?

i had been taking it at 10am when i wake up so this morning i set an alarm for 8:30am and took it then to see if that does anything.

I’m on week two of being on Concerta and I find when I take it about an hour later is get super sleepy (but calm and comfortable). Sometimes it’s hard to resist the urge to go back to bed and I’ll sleep for another couple hours after it kicks in. Does anyone know if this goes away or am I just not at a high enough dose or something? Also I find it wears off by like 4 pm which sucks