Last month I knew nothing about Concerta. I was at the doctors office a few weeks ago talking to him about some tendon issues in my arm when my wife and I talked to him about how scattered and how funny it is that I bounce from thing to thing all the time. The doctor started asking some questions and thought I may have adult ADD. Here are the types of questions that the doctor asked:
- Do I have trouble finishing larger tasks?
- Do I lose concentration easily?
- Am I forgetful?
- Do my moods bounce around a lot
Well I seemed to qualify on all the points and on the way home my wife and I talked a bit and as much as I like being clueless, distracted, and happy go lucky I really could do a lot better things in life if I could just complete a lot more tasks efficiently instead of having a lot of open loops of unfinished stuff (you should see all the unfinished posts I could publish on this blog).
Anyway last week I went back to the doctor and started with Concerta, which is an adult ADD drug that is taken once a day in the morning. The way I started was with an 18 mg tablet in the morning and then after a week (three days ago) went up to two tablets. The change has been striking to say the least.
What is Concerta?
Concerta is just one of a whole bunch of ADD medications that include methylphenidate such as Ritalin. The advantage with Concerta is that is is time released so there is no ups and downs and the morning dose really helps me starting about 30 minutes after I take it and goes for about 12 hours. Many of these types of drugs get confused in peoples minds as antidepressants but it will take several weeks for an antidepressant to really help where with the Concerta I found that it helped me right away on the first day with what it was supposed to do.
First of all I want to dispel one myth. There is an attitude out there that ADD drugs make people lethargic and quiet and kinda dopey but I have found that this has not been the case at all. I guess if I had ADHD (the hyperactive version) this may be the case but I am always very creative and very talkative and live a life where I tend to be very excited and this has not changed.
My Concerta for ADD Experience
So what has Concerta done for me? Well I get up and go to work. I will surf around a bit catching up with news and tech and fitness stuff and then will dive into one of ten projects on the go. I now can keep my concentration on one subject for hours if needed where before I would just lose interest and move onto something else pretty quickly, this is classic ADD behavior apparently.
Also as far as posting to blogs is concerned I have a few blogs with this Fitness blog being my main one and have probably 100 or so ideas in various states of completion. What I have been able to do is start to knock off a few posts a day and not have much trouble completing things.
My wife is really happy as well with the effect of the concerta on me. I have things that I always talk about wanting to get done and on the weekend I am just running through them and still have lots of time to hang out with the kids.
Downsides of Concerta?
So far no downsides. This newly diagnosed ADD and the Concerta that I have been taking for it have been fine with no side effects. Some people report having trouble sleeping but I find that I sleep great although I should probably be going to bed earlier with the damn dog getting me up so early in the morning for his walk. If you do have any of those symptoms above or can relate to what I have been writing about here in this post let me know. Also talk to your doctor. I find that this for me has been a bit of a lucky break from an offhand comment at the doctors office and a prescription for Concerta and has really turned my life around so if the story helps anyone else I would be glad to hear it.