Being hungrier on Concerta

Its normal the drug makes you feel full and stuffed not hungry at all so when it fades away you feel hungry as hell what you do is keep food with you or set times to eat and just eat don worry aobut gaining weight either if ur a girl ull burn up all the food because ofthe medication anyway just eat more than normal or just make sure u eat even if you feel full if you try to eat trust me when i say you will be able too

I understand you! I have all the opposite side effects than the doctors told me. On Concerta I eat like a pig (all day, and not only when the medication wears off). I'm a 5'5" woman, 120 pounds, and I can eat an astonishing 4000 calories a day on Concerta without gaining a single pound. I just eat all the time, every 2 hours or so my stomach growls and hurts very badly from hunger, and if I ignore my stomach I get hypoglycemia. I also sleep a lot more. I had insomnia troubles and then I started Concerta and it stopped right away, and I would sleep like crazy (like until 3 pm if I don't set an alarm clock to wake me up, and I used to wake up by myself around 6-7 am). My doctor is puzzled by this weird side effect, so I've got no explanation for you, but apparently it's possible. The only possible "answer" I could give you is that if your ADHD problems were causing you anxiety on a day to day basis, you might have had a very small appetite because of it, and now that the Concerta relieves some of the problems (even if not very effective on focus), the anxiety wears off and the appetite goes up. That's the only explanation I see, but that's just an hypothesis...

Same for me. I am so hungry now. And I do believe your thoughts to why are right as well. My anxiety is better so now I can eat. But yes, my blood sugar got really low and I got the shakes so bad.

That's exactly what I experienced

This is interesting! I am having the same issues. Have been on concerta for 1 year, and I am 5'5" weigh 110 and can eat 2500 calories + a day. I'm always hungry, and graze all day. Then my stomach looks like I'm pregnant. I don't think it's helping with my focus either.

I am also having this problem. Always hungry, and am 5’6” and 110 pounds. Also my joints are achy and I have hypoglycemia.

I am a 31 year old 5'10 145lb male who was on Concerta 18 mg for about a week when i began experiencing the same hunger pains that would come on rapidly, sometimes just after eating or when I'm completely stuffed and would not go away no matter how much I ate. These hunger pains typically started in the mid afternoon between 2-5 and would cause extreme agitation and irritability and even sometimes anger, all of which would stick with me until I finally fell asleep or had to go to the ER. I was hospitalized on and off, mostly on, over the course of a month with absolutely no answers and completely normal test results the entire time. I had an endoscopy in the hospital and was diagnosed with gastritis and was prescribed Protonix which did nothing for me. Finally after about 3 weeks, my gastroenterologist prescribed me Budesonide, a strong steroid for my bowels, which was odd to me considering that my bowels had never been mentioned before this moment. This medication seemed to help. Though I did stop the Concerta 18mg pretty quickly after those symptoms had started, my doctors did not believe that it was the culprit.

Here we are a month later, my doctor prescribed me Concerta 18mg again which I've been on for two days, and now all of a sudden I am experiencing the same hunger pains and agitation. The problem is, me not thinking about the fact that it could indeed be the Concerta causing this, I discontinued Budesonide yesterday due to other side effects. I now totally understand why doctors recommend only changing one medication at at time.

During this process, my gastroenterologist as well as all of my other doctors were almost certain this was my gallbladder due to the symptoms I was describing. After two Gallbladder ultrasounds and a HIDA scan, this was proven to be not correct. I am completely lost and terrified for another month of pain and no answers. Hoping someone can help. Thank you in advance. - Kevin

Same. Hungry, not focused. Just feel like it's made me lazy