So I got diagnosed with ADD (which I'm already questioning despite being certain enough of it to pursue a diagnosis in the first place thanks brain) and I got prescribed Concerta. When I went to the pharmacy to claim it the pharmacist offered a cheaper alternative that I was told is identical to Concerta, called Methylphenidate Sandoz, and I accepted (I should have asked what the exact price difference was. I'm kicking myself for that now - I'm willing to spend a lot more for peace of mind) Anyway, for the folks out there that take ADD medication - how do you know if it works? I took the first one a few hours ago and I forgot that I am extremely bad at telling whether meds are working or not. Is it even supposed to work straight away? I have never done this before. (I do plan to call my psychiatrist tomorrow and ask if I fucked up by accepting the alternative)
Methylphenidate is Concerta, Concerta is the same chemical with a brand name You were offered what’s called a generic. It’s equivalent to the brand name in every way (this is required by law) except cheaper
I haven't tried Concerta, but I have a lot of experience with drugs in that class. I'm wearing a Ritalin transdermal patch right now. Birdy is right about generics. There's absolutely nothing wrong with going with the cheaper option in this scenario. I found a study about absorption of Concerta. They saw the first peak at 3.3 hours after administration and the second, bigger one at 6 hours. That sort of thing usually varies by person at least somewhat, so your results may not be exactly the same. I find it can be hard to tell if the medication is working except by comparing how much I'm getting done and how easily it's coming. If the dose is right I feel a little calmer and don't have to fight so hard to focus. It's easier to be more engaged and less frustrated. If the dose is too high I feel tense, jittery, and have a lot of trouble shifting my focus from one thing to another even if I'm feeling uncomfortable.
It took me a little while to notice a difference initially. Then one day it occurred to me that I was actually paying attention in class instead of staring off into the distance six miles into a mental murder mystery. Edit: also, I think it's totally fine to accept the generics. In my experience, pharmacists won't offer you completely different drugs than the one you were prescribed. Actually sometimes they've given me the generic without asking (which is fine because it's the same drug and also I have financial issues and I'm sure it's troublesome for them when I cry at their counter, and they know I'm emotionally fragile and this is a real concern).
yea, go for the generics when you can. I take strattera and its more than 500 dollars for full price. Generic is... 150? I think. That's before insurance. Some meds can take up to a week to build up, which is how strattera works. It might also just take you a bit to notice anything different, the first thing different i noticed was that counting change at work was 250% easier because I wasn't trying to jump into 50 different thoughts at once.
Yeah, generics all the way. They have to have the same* bioavailability, strength, active ingredient(s), dosage, route of administration, etc.... So they're identical to the brand name, except not the brand name. Spoiler: i ended up rambling about how drugs are sold in the us Generally they're produced a number of years after the drug is introduced into the market, at least in the US, because there are certain protections in place to allow the pharmaceutical company to recoup its research and development costs by not allowing any other companies to produce the compound. After 7 (I think? it's been a while since I took Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry, where we talked about this, and it might vary by type of drug/etc.) years, other companies can start to sell the drug as well. In any case, you should be just fine on the generic. *within acceptable limits, if not virtually the same.
I'm taking Ritalin tablets (well - the generic, I think, but Functionally The Same), and I noticed after the first couple of days of taking it that it was way easier to keep myself on-task and not wander off with boring chores unfinished, or forget to do the boring chores entirely. It was also a lot easier for me to not get sucked into doing things that could wait or didn't need my attention right then (like scrolling through tumblr endlessly).
In my experience, I would start noticing the effects of concerta/methylphenidate about 20-40 minutes after taking it. Usually the way this would manifest was that I would become Extra Interested in whatever I was doing and hyperfocus on it, so I would have to start the task that needed doing immediately after taking the concerta (before it kicked in) or I would have trouble switching to it later. It was a very noticeable effect at first, a little less so once I started building up a bit of tolerance to the drug.
