Posted by Ritch on June 12, 2002, at 9:48:28
In reply to cycling and stims... concerta » Ritch, posted by Krazy Kat on June 12, 2002, at 9:15:02
> re: worsening cycling - I don't know.
>
> Concerta is definitely making me irritable/anxious/jumpy by early afternoon. It's a bad feeling.
>
> No AD effect, but it is/was definitely helping with energy and focus.
>
> I did not take it this morning, and I am exhausted. I wanted to leave it off for a couple of days and see what happened.
>
> So I guess it will be adding something to counteract the side effects of the medicine I'm taking to counteract the side effects of the medicine I'm taking to keep me stable, OR try Welbutrin again, or Remeron...
>
> - kk
Hi,So you are saying the *cycling* you are experiencing is a thru-the day phenomenon? If so, it may be the sixth-hour blood level peak of the Concerta combined with the undulating levels of Depakote. Have you talked to your pdoc about a possible flip to Adderall or Adderall XR? I found Focalin to be a lot more nerve wracking than the amp. products. The least nerve-wracking of those was dexedrine. It didn't seem to help focus much, but at least I wasn't fatigued (or restless). Perhaps 2 or 3 5mg Dexedrine spansules through the day would work for you? I would try a flip to that before you add-on anything else or switch back to an AD. I definitely had much *less* of the "several days up, several days down" type of cycling with dexedrine. You really need to chart, IMO. You don't have to fill out something really complex, etc. For many years, all I did was write a positive or negative number on a calendar. I would put a number in the bottom left of that day for how I felt when I got up, then a number in the bottom right for how I felt in the evening before I went to bed (and as a gauge for how the day went). Then all you have to do is glance at it and you can see the pattern (if it is wide enough).
Mitch
poster:Ritch
thread:108313
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020609/msgs/109573.html