Anyone use Concerta in IB? How's your experience been?
Just got diagnosed with ADHD, and got prescribed Concerta extended-release 36mg for the same. I haven't started my analyst stint yet so don't know how it will suit me.
Is anyone using Concerta 36mg? Is it enough to last throughout the day? I will be in a very sweaty group and know that my analysts used to work till 2-5am on the regular so hoping this dosage is enough to last throughout my work time. Concerta is chemically similar to Ritalin (both based on Methylphenidate) so interested to know if you have experience with that too.
Bump
Huge (former) abuser of amphetamines here.
Anything with "Methyl..." in its name tends to be tweakier than regular amphetamine / dextroamphetamine (Adderall/Vyvanse) with a kind of odd feeling comedown effect. If I were you I would ask your doctor about also prescribing a low-dose instant release generic amphetamine too. Thus if you find the drug wearing off at 9:00PM and you still have 5-8 more hours of work, you can take a short-acting stimulant to keep you focused without having to take an extended release stimulant that late at night.
Personally, I recommend Vyvanse and Adderall IR (or a generic). Vyvanse has always been the smoothest extended release stimulant to me. Not a pharmacist but I want to say it has something to do with releasing a constant amount of the drug into your system over 12 hours whereas Adderall XR (and most other XR drugs) give you one burst of the drug in 1-2 hours and another burst at hour 6-8. I believe that is how it works.
Good for you on the former part man. Stay strong.
OP is probably based in Europe where amphetamines are not widely used to treat ADHD. Concerta is just a brand - the chemical compound is still methylphenidate, the same as in Ritalin IR. The only difference is that Concerta is extended release.
Compared to amphetamines, methylphenidate is less potent because it inhibits the recapture of dopamine in the brain but does not stimulate the release of dopamine whereas amphetamines do both. That's why people say that Ritalin makes people like zombies - if you're running on little sleep and are nearly burnt out, your brain will produce less dopamine and methylphenidate will have no effect on how much dopamine is actually produced - it only affects the recapture.
If OP is new into stimulants he'll get high and wired from methylphenidate, but after a few months in an IB environment Concerta may produce adverse effects - i.e., quickly deplete one's dopamine reserves and make him want to sleep.
But yeah Vyvanse is the shit, too bad it's so expensive.
You hit it on the head - got diagnosed in a country where aderall is not available. Will get a 3 month supply of Concerta (max I can bring in) but will need to be re-diagnosed in US where I will likely be put on aderall or an equivalent drug. The problem is I see myself really screwing up / not following through properly on the tasks without the medicine. I used to make such silly mistakes during the summer and that was part of the reason why I chose to see if I had ADHD.
My worry is I take the medicine in the morning after breakfast but it wears off before the evening / night is over and then I just go back to normal or worse experience crashing (don’t know if that’s the right term). Doc says it’s good for 15-18 hours tho so idk.
Extended Release (XR) meds don't cause hard crashes like Instant Release (IR) meds do, but as another guy mentioned earlier a solution could be to re-up with IR Ritalin 5 or 10mg around 8-9pm. It may be harder to get a prescription for IR though because those pills can be crushed and snorted so doctors are more cautious. Now 36mg XR is already quite a large dose, so be careful with adding additional stimulants. A solution could be to take 50-100mg of Modafinil around 7/8pm. Modafinil is only prescribed for narcolepsy though; however it's not a controlled substance compared to amphetamines / Ritalin so it's pretty easy to find online.
XR amphetamines/Adderall remain the best solution of course if you have access to that.
In any case, don't forget to drink a lot of water (more than usual) and eat normally to hydrate/feed your brain. FYI, citrus contains acids that lead the body to eliminate amphetamines and methylphenidate faster, so if you drink lots of orange juice it's good to reduce your consumption.
Gotcha - all very helpful info. Appreciate it.
Lastly, any idea what’s the shortest time it takes to get diagnosed with ADHD in US?
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