Alright. I'm glad this thread is here, this is my situation:
148lbs. 20 yrs old, university student.
I was always under the impression I've had either ADD or ADHD. I was never diagnosed with it because my parents didn't think I was "bouncing off the walls" when I was a kid - because I wasn't, and my grades had never slipped in my entire life (at least 80% marks) so I showed no signs of struggling in school. However, I'm intelligent - and I don't mean that in a weird bragging way.
Although I got my work done, good grades, the work that I was doing wasn't "challenging" enough to my logic/ability to reason/intelligence/concentration, to lets say, make my ADHD problems noticeable.
Let's skip to university - where it's a different ball game.
1st year, typical ADHD problems start to arise, but I/my parents dismiss it as typical high school --> university transition - plus, my marks didn't drop a bit.
2nd year, work gets MUCH harder, MUCH more challenging. ADHD problems are becoming definitely noticeable. Marks start to slip - not much, but when you've had A's almost your whole life, its weird to see 1 A, mostly Bs, and 1 or 2 Cs.
3rd year, now.
I went to the doctor I basically explained what I just wrote, but obviously much more condensed. He prescribed me Concerta - 18mg, once daily in the morning.
I've taken dexedrine (XR, and IR - because I crushed the little balls), and Ritalin (IR).
Let me say concerta is fucking weird. I'm not sure if its the time release, or the dose being too low (high? - doubt it), or maybe it's just not for me. I felt like I was going up and down all fucking day, and I could mainly tell because I would suddenly get the urge to just "wanna move" - and not like bouncing ur leg, it's hard to explain, but it wasn't enjoyable. Then I would go "down," and feel a little crappy, then back up to before.
My heart rate never went too fast, I didn't get jittery. Although I would get really cold, and still sometimes sweat. This is why I don't think that it's too high of a dose. Actually, I've taken 72mg of concerta before (recreational intentions), but I took as much of that time release shit off as I could - ate the outer shell, cut out the green "pusher", cut/peeled off the clear wax coating around the white/yellow part, and even chewed them with water (gunked up a bit in my mouth). And I felt fine. It wasn't too strong, I didn't get uncomfortable, no "need to move" feeling, although as others have said - the comedown was quite a bitch.
I am left to wait about a month to see if I should be switched to another ADHD medication (dexedrine worked complete wonders for me when I took it properly - they were like 10 or 15mg XR, reddish orange and blackish/brown capsules).
If there is anyone that has had any similar kind of "experience" as me I'd like to know.