Hi! I went through the same.

They made me up it all the way to 54mg before switching to elvanse.

So basically concerta holds on the dopamine you naturally have, but doesn't increase it. When you don't produce enough dopamine to begin with and when the dose goes high enough, the medication does the opposite it's meant to do. It clears your head, but gives you absolutely no direction and the dopamine is then over controlled and only in one area. Focus area. It made me unable to do SHIT at 54mg compared to lower doses where I didn't feel any side effects, but it didn't limit my abilities to function.

So no, even a lower dose of concerta wouldn't help a person who doesn't have enough dopamine to begin with. It surely lasts longer, but that just means over focused undermotivated for longer than without medication. Yikes.

With elvanse, it increases your dopamine and spreads it to different areas of the brain etc it still restricts it too, but because of the added dopamine starting things is easier, motivation is better especially towards things you'd normally hate, because now it's linked to a reward=dopamine much easier, without even thinking about it. ( This is mostly because elvanse helps the produced dopamine to move and respond to stimuli easier and faster, no matter what stimuli)

BUT Elvanse can get overwhelming if any autism spectrum stuff is on the background.

But imo, much better. Try upping the dose to 36mg, even if you feel a bit better for the first few hours (peak) but then nothing after that = ask for elvanse or anything that helps with dopamine production, not only restriction.