Dosing and Conversion Recommendations for Stimulant Medications for ADD

Dosing and Conversion Recommendations for Stimulant Medications for ADD/ADHD*

Name		Methylphenidate	Concerta	Adderall	Adderall XR	Ritalin LA	Focalin	Metadate CD
Dosing		T.I.D.	Q AM.	B.I.D.	Q AM.	Q AM.	B.I.D to T.I.D.	Q AM.
Duration		3-4 hrs.	12 hrs.	5-6 hrs.	12hrs.	8 hrs.	4-6 hrs.	8 hrs.
How Provided		5/10/20	18/27/ 36/54	2.5/5/5.7/10/12.5/15/17.5 /20/30	5/10/15/20 /25/30	20/30/40	2.5/5/10	20
LBS	KGs
40	18	5-7.5 mg	18-36	2.5-5	5-10	10	2.5-5	10
50	23	10	36	5	10	20	5	20
60	27	12.5	36	7.5	15	25	5	25
70	32	15	36-54	7.5-10	15-20	30	7.5	30
80	36	15	54	10	20	30	7.5	30
90	40	15-20	54	10	20	30-40	7.5-10	30-40
100	45	20	54-72	10-12.5	20-25	40	10	40
110	50	20-25	72	12.5	25	40	10-12.5	40
120	54	25	72	12.5	25	45-50	12.5	45-50
130	59	25	72-90	12.5-15	25-30	50	12.5	50
140	63	30	90	15	30	60	15	60
150	68	30-35	108	15-17.5	30-35	60-70	15-17.5	60-70
160	72	35	108	17.5	35	70	17.5	70
170	77	35	108-126	17.5	35	70	17.5	70
180	81	40	126	20	40	80	20	80
190	86	40	126	20	40	80	20	80
200	90	40-45	126-144	20-22.5	40-45	80-90	20-22.5	80-90
210	96	45	144	22.5	45	90	22.5	90
220	100	45-50	144	25	50	90-100	22.5-25	90-100
230	104	50	144	27.5	55	100	25	100
240	108	50-55	162	30	60	100-110	25-27.5	100-110

*Many thanks to Rick Bowers , MD, psychiatrist, who created and shared this chart
Disclaimer: Only a physician can prescribe medication, and each person's dosage needs to be adjusted for that person. This is a guideline, and may be outside of FDA guideline recommendations. Many physicians are unlikely to want to prescribe to these high of dosages.

Not all people agree that medication for ADHD should be based on weight. Some authorities believe that adults need much smaller doses than children. However, there are also published case studies using higher dosages than above. The main purpose of this chart is to help realize that what many people consider a high dosage may actually be somewhat low. The main limiting factor to how high the dosage can go is the side effect profile. If there are no significant side effects, it may be helpful to keep raising the dosage. It may also be helpful to try a person on several classes of medication, since some people respond better to one class than the other.

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