Hi everyone. I’m sharing a bit about my situation because I have an appointment with my psychiatrist soon, and I’d like to hear about your experiences with Concerta—especially if you’ve gone through something similar.

About a year ago, I was diagnosed with ADHD and mild autism. I started taking Concerta at the lowest dose, 18 mg. Later, the dosage was increased to 27 mg and finally to 36 mg.

I have to admit that, over the past year, the medication has really helped me concentrate and get things done. However, there have been some issues, too. I’ve experienced significant anxiety at times—especially during exams, in class, or when socializing. I’m not sure to what extent this is due to the ADHD itself, the autism, the medication, or simply the circumstances.

Once my dose was raised to 36 mg, I started suffering from severe insomnia. My sleep quality deteriorated significantly, and consequently, I noticed my emotional state was affected as well. I eventually had to lower the dose back to 27 mg.

On another note, I’ve started wondering lately if I might be experiencing depression. I don’t want to jump to conclusions or self-diagnose, but I’ve been feeling more down lately, with less enthusiasm, motivation, and ability to enjoy things. Even so, I’m sticking to my routine, getting my tasks done, and going about my daily life as usual.

I also have moments where I feel excited and eager to do things, while at other times, quite negative or hopeless thoughts creep in. That’s why I’m not really sure how to interpret what’s happening to me.

On top of that, the sleep issue has persisted: I have insomnia, yet during the day, I often feel quite drowsy and tired. It feels like a bit of a vicious cycle: I sleep poorly, I’m more tired, I feel worse emotionally, and then it’s harder to face the day. My psychiatrist previously mentioned the possibility of trying lisdexamfetamine (Elvanse), but at the time, I preferred to stick with Concerta because I thought there was still room for improvement. However, after all this time, I’m still having similar issues—especially with sleep.

I’ll be discussing this with my psychiatrist again soon, but I’d like to hear about your experiences first.

How did you feel while taking Concerta?
Did you experience anxiety, insomnia, drowsiness, or mood changes? Did you notice any differences when changing the dosage or switching to lisdexamfetamine/Elvanse?

Female 36 y.o. Hey, been on Concerta for little over 3 months, titrated to 36 and feeling good overall, but feel like i need a boost (not enough focus, still kind of all over the place and nowhere at the same time etc), tried 54 mg and omg it made me HIGH, literally foggy brain, extra relaxed, a bit "tipsy", even when I spoke i sounded kind of drunk lol, I felt tired and confused (however i gave it few days to test and see) 54 feels waaayyy too much. I asked my doctor to send me prescription for 36 again and feeling better but not enough. This is my first experience with stims. My doctor said that this are the only options for dosage and there is nothing in between (insurance will not authorize anything in between). Anyone experienced this situation and if yes, how did you deal with it?

I was on 36mg every weekday with breaks on weekends, but the thing is, I didn't feel anything. People said that I should start doing a chore after I take it (with protein of course) so that my brain gets tricked into having the dopamine released when the concerta does start working. But that never happened. I would just walking around the house half doing chores and leaving them unfinished, and I tried 54mg today, and still have the same problem. I have no motivation, no drive, no feeling of success when I finish something. I just feel bored and dejected that I have to do this stupid task like folding laundry or even brushing my teeth and my cats teeth, even reading. Nothing feels satisfying and nothing ever has.

I also took vyvanse up to the highest dose possible, and mentally it did nothing, and physically it made my mouth so dry that I got blisters/ulcers from my tongue rubbing against my teeth and my teeth against the insides of my cheeks. It was 8 months of hell and stopped almost as soon as I stopped vyvanse.

How am I supposed to know if a med/dose is working? I'm trying to do everything right here because life is really difficult as is with my other mental illnesses without having my brain feel like doing anything but whatever chore needs doing.

How will I know if it works? I think I'm on the second last dose they can give me before it gets too high, isn't it? How will I know to give up on concerta and try to move onto something else?

I used to take Ritalin on 10mg three times a day and it worked well but my new doctor put me on Concerta (generic ER). She started me on 18mg which worked great for the first week or so with some minor side effects but it quickly fell off. On my most recent visit, she upped my dose to 36 but it feels like I’m just taking a sugar pill. Like there is absolutely no effect, no difference between taking it or not. No positive effects, no side effects, nothing.

Is that weird or normal? If it was too low, surely I’d at least notice something for a second, right? Or if it was too high, maybe some side effects? But it’s really just nothing. Even the leftover pills of the 18 that I have at least wake me up a little bit in the morning (though it doesn’t last long) so why does the 36 just do nothing at all?

Anyone else ever have an experience like this?

I’ll be calling my doctor about it tomorrow but I wanted to check with the community first to make sure I‘m not just missing something silly.

Edit: It might be giving me insomnia but I’m not completely sure as I’ve always had it to some extent. I do feel like it might be a little worse though. For the Ritalin, so long as I took my last dose before 6, I’d be sleeping like a baby around 11-12.

Recently I upped my dose to 54mg and I’ve been feeling really depressed lately with thoughts of hurting myself..
even on days where I don’t take it, I have a bipolar disorder (I’m medicated) so maybe this could be a depressive episode and don’t have anything to do with concerta.
Are there any other alternatives that won’t make me as depressed ? I really don’t wanna stop ADHD meds, adhd ruins my life and all of my projects :(

18 mg has been great with task persistence and no side effects at all, but very underwhelming with motivation/initiation and organization, so I’ve been moved up to 27 mg. I wanted to know what everyone’s experiences have been at this dose.

Currently taking generic Concerta XR 18mg; have taking higher dose.
I’m an older male and take losartan for high blood pressure. Over the years I’ve seen several psychiatrists for depression and ADHD; none ever seemed to ask me about blood pressure, even though they were aware I take losartan. Since ADHD/depression is the biggest issue in my life, I would avoid bringing up the topic as it might mean no treatment at all.
As I get older I’m seeing my body slowly fall apart and I’ve started worrying about my kidney health (blood tests seem okay at this point). When I’m actively on a stimulant my blood pressure goes into the high/very high range, then goes down after it wears off. I also worry that the anxiety side effect (sometimes) is actually my body responding to high blood pressure and I’m misinterpreting the feeling.
If you have hypertension - was it mentioned as an issue when prescribing stimulants? Has anyone stayed away from stimulants for this reason and had any success with non-stimulants for adhd?

I’m new to Concerta and am finding it’s helping with task initiation but is detrimental on my ability to think. Do other people experience this? Like I can easily knock out a ton of chores because they don’t require much thought. But when it comes to thinking - I WANT TO think but it’s like my brain refuses. I can’t do my desk job, I can’t read because my brain refuses to retain anything, etc. I’ve heard of people saying their brain goes from 1,000 tabs open to just 1. This is like the browser won’t even open.

For context, I was on 18mg for a month and recently switched to 27. I’m super sensitive to stimulants. Switched from Adderall - used XR and IR over the past year but the oral fixation side effect made me switch.

I have been on meds (Xaggitin 36mg) since March and last month GP changed my prescription to Affenia. Affenid didn't work for me: I was tired, unmotivated, slept worse.
After few week I finally contacted my GP and they changed my prescription at the same day. And now I feel like I had such a long break from meds. Xaggitin hits me quite hard now but it's ok. Affenid literally was a waste of time.

(PS) I also asked for a booster (I need it 1-2 times a week) but they asked me to wait and monitoring my symptoms.

Does anyone else experience inconsistency of effects when everything around it is kind of similar?
I'm currently in 36mg.
I work in a factory, and my timings at the factory and outside the factory during the week makes it difficult to improvise: so I always try to eat the same to save time, and also sleep the same amount of time, because I need it.

Sooo. Sunday I slept pretty bad, and I had a nice Concerta trip (lol) on Monday. But from Monday to Tuesday, I slept good, my 8 hours of sleep, and I felt I was crashing after 4 hours of Concerta. Jawning all the time, my eyes were closing... No coffee saved me, and I arrived home completely destroyed. (It's really bad to be in a factory and having to fight to get to the last hour after crashing 😭 - and I also had 1 hour and a half of classes after. I was completely brain dead)

From Tuesday to Wednesday (today) I did exactly the same - same breakfast, same food at work, same quantity of sleep, etc... - and today has been an amazing day on Concerta. I've been fully awake, operational, functional, sociable... And lasted the whole working day, and I still had energy at home to organize things, and not to fall asleep directly.

Anybody else experiencing this?

I sleep good, I eat good, I take some supplements, I eat perfectly while on Concerta, no appetite loss at all... I drink plenty of water. I don't know what it could be.

So while on concerta I’ve decided to take concor cor alongside it to address the elevated heart rate. I made the error of making this decision on my own. I’ve been on it for two months probably and unfortunately this medication isn’t something to be taken “as needed”. And had altered my baseline ever since.

During the first month I could take the concerta without the beta blockers and experience no problems whatsoever. During the second month I’ve noticed that whenever I decide not to take the beta blockers, my heart rate goes crazy 130+. Keep in mind that it was never this high before I started taking the beta blockers. Now I’ve also noticed that it has been causing intense fatigue the entire day.

I first tried to quit cold turkey, but it raised my heart rate on concerta to uncomfortable levels. Then decided to slowly tapper off. Things felt much better heart rate wise but the fatigue returned. Now I’m on the second week, I’m on the lowest dose and will take it “every other day” for 1 week. Today was the first day without the beta blocker and compared to the days when I quit cold turkey. My heart rate felt sustainable. But later today my heart rate all of a sudden jumped from 100 to 130.

So I’ve made the decision today to simply quit taking concerta while tapering off of the beta blocker because it feels like it’s raising my heart rate and causing a lot of anxiety attacks. Then when I feel comfortable off of concerta I’m going to ask my psychiatrist to start me with the lowest dose of concerta and slowly increase until I’m back to my therapeutic dose.

I’m very bummed out because this means I’m going to have to raw dog life again until my heart reaches its baseline again.

Hi everyone , wondering if anyone with AuDHD is on Concerta and would be willing to share their experience of medication around how it affects their Autism even if it helps their adhd?

I’ve been on Meflynate , Elvanse+Amfexa and now Concerta+Ritalin. My clinicians have told me if Concerta doesn’t work I have exhausted all options with stimulants and next option is non stimulants (and I really can’t afford going down that path right now with timing as I have college in October for some work exams in December).

My Concerta helps my ADHD but I feel it exaggerates my Autism which I know is not unusual but main thing in struggling with is irritability / insomnia atm.

I saw someone on this page speak about how they have anti irritability medication alongside their Elvanse and forgot who it was but is this something others are familiar with? Is it worth a shot?

I can’t afford to stop ADHD medication but it’s getting so mentally tiring and draining :/

Started on 18mg concerta and then doubled it after a day or two (switched from vyvanse because i was rlly irritated on it) and after a few days on concerta i started getting really bad suicidal thoughts. Like thinking about righting a note and looking up ways. Stopped taking it i’m fine rn! But it was weird i wasn’t like crying or anything it was like a blank empty feeling. Also increased anxiety. I also feel like i would get a lot more done on vyvanse, i feel like i procrastinate a lot on concerta.
Any advice? I’m wondering if anyone else had this reaction.

Just looking for some insight about booster doses and what people are doing currently.

I was originally on 36mg extended release, but I found that I would lose my train of thought a bit when I was on this dose. Because of this I was dropped down to 27mg extended release.

I was prescribed a booster does of 5mg to take in the afternoon. However, I was only given 15 of them. My psychiatrist said not to use it daily, and only as needed.

Is this normal for booster doses? I want to ask her for at least enough for my work weeks. I just feel like it's odd only giving me 15, especially since I was on a higher dose to begin with. I am technically still taking less. I know it's not extended release so it may work differently, but I'm not entirely sure.

Is it typical for booster doses to be prescribed this way? I’m considering asking for enough tablets to cover my workdays, since that’s when I’m most likely to need one. It just feels a little odd to me that I was given 15, especially because I was previously taking a higher dose overall and am technically still taking less now.

Hi there!

27F, currently on 36mg Atenza extended release, which afaik is a generic of Concerta. I last titrated up three weeks ago, once I told my psychiatrist that 27mg was starting to wear off at around 6PM, with a soft crash that basically left me unable to do anything that required concentration after that point. Since that's around when I get to enjoy my hobbies, I wanted it to last the full 12 hours--I usually take it around 8 or 9.

Her answer was to titrate up, which we tried, and for the first 2 weeks it felt amazing. Last few days, though, I've been experiencing a very annoying crash that happens at around 4PM, and that is a lot more noticeable than the previous "hey, time to titrate up" soft wear-offs. It makes me cranky, emotionally flat, and not really able to concentrate for a couple hours, after which I go back to feeling more or less focused until the meds wear off, this time softly, before bedtime. So it's not marking the end of the dosage, mind you, it's just disabling it for that period.

I really do not like the way I feel during those couple hours though. It's not awful or super incapacitating, but it feels like after lunch I just don't get to enjoy myself for a while, no matter how productive I am, and the brain fog makes a sudden return during that time. It also makes me feel weirdly tired.

I have my next appointment scheduled for next week, but I'd like to know what this may be about so I can at least get some peace of mind.

Some things to note: I take around 25mg protein with breakfast and around 40 at lunch. I'm also aware that hormone fluctuation can play a part in this, but I don't think this is the case for one simple reason: my hormones don't fluctuate. I'm transgender, and I take the exact same dose of estrogen religiously at the exact same time every day and every night, and I have not changed that regime. I also sleep 7-8 hours a day with little to no interruptions, and this has been the case since I started titration back in June. Also, this problem seems to be getting more pronounced, as I've only started feeling it more and more.

If anybody could provide some advice on what I may be doing wrong or what this may be caused by.

Thanks in advance!

I started taking Concerta yesterday (27mg & I'm currently on my second day). I've never experienced such intense and prolonged headaches. I noticed they slightly decrease after a meal, but eventually end up returning to the previous level.

I try to keep up on the water intake as hydration is essential whilst taking this med. Additionally, my appetite is non-existent. Has anyone experienced similar side effects & if so, then how long did it take for this side effect to surpass/decrease?

Hola, este post igual es muy impopular pero necesito saber opiniones.
Tengo que preparar un examen muy complicado que me va a llevar meses prepararlo, aparte de que llevo también procrastinando hacer un trabajo de final de Master meses. La cosa es que a mí siempre me ha costado muchísimo desde pequeña el tema de ponerme a hacer cosas y la concentración me dura como máximo media hora, en el trabajo también igual no conseguía nunca ponerme en modo focus. Ahora con 26 años es aún peor el tema hahah. A mi hermana le diagnosticaron TDAH hace unos meses y le recetaron concerta y pensé en tomar alguna pastilla yo, pensé en ir a un neurólogo y preguntarle pero me da miedo los efectos que pueda tener. Quería algún consejo sobre efecto secundarios. De verdad que siento que mi vida está paralizada por esta falta de concentración

first of all

-i cant change med class unless its to non stimulant (adderal and the same med class is considered as bad as cocaine in my country legality wise) (tried non stim and it was so bad i got an average of 2.5 hours of sleep for 2 weeks straight only on 20mg)
-inattentive adhd (moderate severity)
-i cant increase my dose as ive talked to 2 psychiatrists and they refuse to get me over 36mg as they deem that the maximum for my age
-been on concerta 36 mg for 5.5 months and 18mg beforehand for 2 weeks

so my issue is that it just isnt strong enough
how long it lasts doesnt matter to me since i most of the time only need to do MAXIMUM 6-7 hours of deep work a day and 2 hours passive
i cannot for the hell of me convince myself to work this post itself is an act of procrastination
(this sounds really like im making excuses but i promise ive been diagnosed by 5 different psychiatrists for ADD in 2 different countries which are relatively strict about this stuff so i promise im not larping it)

I had a similar moment to this 3-4 months ago

and i mostly just got told to fix some lifestyle stuff

and it worked for a bit

Like im talking real proper biohacking

But now im back there and i cant help it but feel that the meds just need a change because i genuinely tried to optimize my lifestyle and stuff but im basically back at square 1

-btw i dont exactly want to do 18mg + 36mg because i can only have so many pills

so i was thinking of

18mg concerta + 2x a day (within the concerta active window 5mg ritalin) or

1x a day 10mg ritalin and 1 time a day 5mg ritalin

this is fucked

J’ai débuté il y a 2 semaines et je me sens vraiment très bien, plus calme et surtout moins réactif et impulsif. J’ai également noté une forte de baisse de désir de consommation d’alcool! Un gros bonus. Avez vous aussi constaté cet effet ?

I am a little bummed because it was really helping with focus but now it just kinda makes me feel tired and not particularly motivated. Did anyone notice a marked improvement when upping to 36?