DD(14) has today been diagnosed with ADHD - Concerta XL advice

[SmaugMum]

As the thread title suggests, my DD1(14) has today been diagnosed with ADHD and is being prescribed 18mg daily of Concerta XL. I’d love to hear of any experiences- good or bad - of this medication and how quickly or not it starts to make a difference.

DD also has a diagnosis of severe sight impairment (she is registered blind), neonatal abstinence syndrome and binge eating. Her school SENCO wants to get her ADHD stabilised and then she is keen to pursue a diagnosis of ASD/PDA.

My DD and I joke that she will soon tick off her own A-Z of diagnoses. (Please take this light-hearted and flippant comment in the spirit of which it is intended; there is no offence meant to anyone and my DD and I find that black humour is a key component in us grinding through all the hard life stuff that comes with so many disabilities).

Medication in our case helped DC to tackle their other conditions. An untreated ADD comes with very high levels of stress and negative experiences (which never get forgotten).
Only with medication for ADD was DS able to participate in measures to learn to handle the problems his AS brought thim, so he could go to school.
Only with medication was DD able to successfully learn to handle her severe dyscalculia.

Just wondered how your DD is going on Concerta XL? My DS, 14, has been on Medikinet for nearly 1 year and his psychiatrist has now recommended switching to Concerta as it's longer acting. I'm reading up on it and am quite worried about the long list of potential side effects including depression. Has your DD experienced any of these? DS does not seem to have had side effects from Medikinet although we also haven't seen much positive benefit either.