Concerta and Weight Loss: What Users Say (Page 2)

• Jen...
• July 13, 2011

For ADHD "My 8-year-old daughter has been on Concerta for 2 years, and it has worked great for her. When she was 5, her teacher could not handle her, she was getting in trouble every day (literally). So I had her evaluated by her doctor, and she was diagnosed with ADHD. After she got put on this medicine, she started listening, sitting still, and was able to comprehend information. She was just a new child, and she was even able to get along with her siblings. Since then, she has been an honor student with straight A's. The only side effect we deal with is loss of weight due to lack of appetite. Mind you, she's 8 and wears size 5T clothes, so with this, it was recommended she not take her pill on weekends, holidays, and during summer break. This helps balance her weight."

• Lov...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• December 3, 2019

For ADHD "This drug is atrocious, especially if you also suffer from bipolar disorder with psychotic features. I have increased anxiety, hallucinations, paranoia, and mood swings from this drug. In the meantime, it has done some things for my severe attention deficit disorder symptoms. Nevertheless, the side effects are horrible. I am cold, constipated, yet sweaty. I am in pain. I have extreme bloating whenever I am late by a few hours for my dose. The insomnia is unfathomably severe. I have undergone rapid weight loss on this drug. I have no appetite and must force-feed myself despite also being on antipsychotics. Do not even use methylphenidate stimulants if you have psychosis."

• Anonymous
• May 25, 2010

For ADHD "My son is 7 and was diagnosed a few months ago. He started with the 27 mg Concerta, and that didn't seem to help at all. Moved him to 36 mg, and he's doing a little better. There are a few concerns, though. Around 5:30, 6:00 in the evening, he will have emotional meltdowns. Cries at the drop of a hat. Also, I pretty much have to bribe him to eat, and he has lost so much weight. I am thinking about trying to switch to something else, but not sure what to switch him to."

• Viv...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• March 6, 2018

For ADHD "It did help me to calm my brain, but it gave me a very fast heart rate, anxiety, and caused me to lose weight. My normal weight is about 140, and at my lowest on Concerta, I weighed 123. It did help with the ADD, but didn't work completely, so I stopped taking it because the side effects outweighed the help."

• How...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• August 31, 2021

For ADHD "This drug (and all drugs used to treat ADHD for that matter) is dangerous. I was on it for almost 12 months and ended up seriously underweight, depressed, and feeling like I was losing my mind. I lost all sense of my personality and basically became a ghost human. Tapering off was a whole other story that actually landed me in the emergency department, I was so mentally unstable. I’m not anti-medication at all, but these drugs are absolute band-aid cover-ups for something that can be managed in many other ways. A high-protein diet, proper cardio, routine, sleep, dietary supplements, THERAPY!! have all helped me learn to live and even excel without stimulant meds. Please educate yourself on the long-term effects of these drugs, and please, please, please don’t medicate little children with them. Stimulants change people's personalities, and you only start to realize once you're way down the rabbit hole of suffering."

• jea...
• December 27, 2009

For ADHD "Very bad side effect: insomnia, depression, important weight loss..."