Verbosity on Concerta

Aside from loss of appetite, I've noticed another interesting side effect of taking Concerta, verbosity! If you want to be a writer, take amphetamines. Seriously, I could write a book.

I'm not so sure that I could sit and read for longer than usual, which, incidentally, would be about 20 minutes on a good non-Concerta day. But, man, can I quickly compose long sentences, nearly every word of which I contend to be at least amusingly informative! TMI? Not on Concerta!

But I'm not upping my dose, I promise. It lessens impulsivity, remember?

Mood shifts

This is a chart of my daily mood average since May 15, so roughly 5 months. I track my mood with an iPhone app called MoodKit. I recommend it if, like me and many with ADD/ADHD, you find yourself struggling to control your moods.

This app has other tools as well to help manage how you feel. But the one thing it doesn't have is a way to track multiple moods per day. It could allow for that and still show a daily average. As you can see, I averaged an upbeat day this last month.

But that doesn't tell the story. My problem is that I have quick mood shifts lasting usually no more than a few hours. So, the first half of my day might be 9/10, while the second might drop to 5/10. But the average is 7, as if I had a fairly good day, which clearly isn't true.

Anyway, given the apparent prevalence of the problem, it makes sense that anyone with ADD/ADHD should track moods and I've found this an easy way to do it. If you don't have an iPhone, there are other options, like websites, forums, and, if you don't care about trees, pen and paper, that might serve you just as well.

Concerta x 2 – Day 3

I slept very well last night, just not long enough at only 6 hours. The worst part of staying up late is not knowing why. I bet a lot of people with ADD/ADHD say this. What do I recall? Well, I know I read about Steve Jobs and pre-ordered his upcoming biography. And I'm pretty sure that I read some posts in Google+. But that can't take hours, can it? Unless time is more relative than we thought, yes, it can! I slept around 12:30am.

But I feel good now. Maybe the medicine is kicking in. Because I slept so well last night, Concerta wasn't likely to blame for poor sleep the night before. I'm not sure what to blame.

And yesterday went well. I had no stomach ache in the afternoon like I did on the first day of a double dose. And, as I said, I slept well, which was the other potential problem. As for focus yesterday, while I can't prove that yesterday was an improvement over the average, it felt like it was slightly more productive.

Oh, and, because I felt so tired and irritable this morning on my way to work (irritable because of rushing, not that it's rare), I took piracetam and Alpha GPC again. I want to test the interaction and I feel confident, despite my lack of degree and debt from that degree, that it's safe to try. If it wasn't, I would have felt horrible the first time as Concerta works immediately.

Concerta x 2 - Day 2

I didn't sleep well last night, although I slept about 7 hours, which is usually enough to feel fine. So, I'm guessing that the double dose is to blame. But, to be sure, I have to take another dose again to compare. So, I took 36mg again today. If I have another stomach ache this afternoon and I don't sleep well again tonight, then I'll revert to 18mg until I see my doctor.

I should note, however, that I felt alert as late as 11pm last night and, before bed, played what I hadn't finished earlier in the day of a MindSparke session, doing very well compared to how I've done recently. So, if I can sleep but I also stay alert, even after the medication has supposedly worn off, then I'm happy! That is, assuming that I'm not burning the candle of my life at both ends.

I should also note that I worked out last night for about 20 minutes, doing mostly weights. So, however unlikely given the short length of time, it is possible, that this contributed to poor sleep.

This morning, I took Concerta with food and I can't tell any difference so far. I feel good, although a little less vivacious than yesterday morning, a difference that I, again, attribute to poor sleep.

Concerta x 2 - Day 1

Today, I took two 18mg capsules of Concerta. Surprisingly, I feel calmer than yesterday. I got close to 8 hours of sleep last night, so I expected to feel wired or jittery. But, no. I feel calm. And focused. Good. But, it is a bit scary to take double the first dose and see a better result. But, if, at the end of the day, my day has been productive, then this is the dose for me. At least until I talk to my doctor.

Update at 4:12pm
At around 1:45pm this afternoon, my stomach started feeling a bit uneasy. I wanted to describe it as jittery before I started this update, but it's really a slight stomach ache. I'm guessing that Concerta is the culprit and that I didn't feel this way this morning because my body was fresh and energetic. When energy slumps, maybe the stomach can't deal with the drug as well? I'm clearly not sure, so I plan to try again tomorrow. I really enjoyed feeling calm and I have felt more focused than usual today, even more focused than any day since Friday when I started taking one 18mg capsule.

Update at 4:45pm
It can't be this simple, and I should write a separate post to focus on the matter, but it seems from reading articles like this that ADD/ADHD boils down to low dopamine. And dopamine is what medications like Concerta increase.