Concerta vs. Daytrana: Mommy's perspective

MOMMY: If you read Daughter's post last night, you know we had a considerably better first day on Concerta. Whew ... what a relief to both of us. What a curiosity as well. Why would two drugs based on the exact same ingredient (methylphenidate) have such vastly different effects on her?

The only thing I can figure is that the Daytrana Patch is not metabolized through the stomach and is absorbed straight into the system, thus giving her a stronger bolt of the drug. The Concerta though, which is an extended-release pill, is designed to be released slowly from the stomach. I'd think the patch would release slowly as well. But there must be something about the metabilization through the stomach that changed the way it is absorbed into her system. That's just doctor/scientist mommy talking. (And by the way, she's actually taking a few more milligrams of the Concerta than the Daytrana, so it can't be that she was getting more of the methylphenidate through Daytrana...)

Anyway, all I can say is that the two drugs had the complete opposite effect on her. The Daytrana Patch zinged her up like she was literally on speed, and that rapid heart beat and breathing scared us to death. Plus she was so wired she didn't sleep all night. But with the Concerta, she was really rather subdued all day (the desired effect). And she fell asleep easily. Good. Good, but weird.

We still dealt with her tummy hurting and difficulty eating, but she did eat more yesterday than she did last Saturday. I even took her out for ice cream, and she ate the whole sundae and said it really tasted wonderful - even though she had been afraid it would be difficult to eat (she hadn't been able to get down more than two bites of ice cream the week before). The appetite-suppressant issue is going to be a big one for us. Her doctor will take her off of the drug if she loses weight for more than two months because of her current size, so I am actively working on this issue. Here is what I'm working on:

1) I have to see that this helps her and that the good outweighs the bad or I'll take it off her it myself, but anyway ...
2) We're eating a very hearty, nutritious breakfast before taking the pill so that at least breakfast is not affected by the drug.
3) I'm trying to get in really nutritious snacks -- yesterday she did a great job snacking on raw veggies and ranch throughout the day, even though she did a rather poor job with lunch and dinner. I'm even going to send some snacks to school, and I think the teacher will be cooperative about letting her have these at recess. She loves cashews, so I think they should make an easy and nutritious, calorie-dense snack for school.
4) We're having Ensure shakes before bed at night. She really enjoyed one last night. So that worked pretty well.

We'll just figure this out as we go! But I sure do feel more hopeful today

And to answer your question yesterday, Good Fountain, yes, it's one pill a day. Thank you so much for reading and caring.