Plan titration with your clinician
Planned check-ins on what is helping and which side effects show up let your clinician find treatment that fits.
Guideline advice, not formally gradedADHD evidence
Start with the time you have
1 minute
Add one change you've noticed, good or bad, to a note titled 'next review'.
5 minutes
Write a few lines on attention, how your days are going, sleep, appetite and mood.
15 minutes
Ask the clinic which feedback form they use, and write your questions for the next review.
A plan
Make reviews informative
- Agree treatment goals and a simple way to report changes.
- Provide the requested feedback during clinician-led titration.
- Review benefit, adverse effects and the next monitoring plan.
How sure the science is
Guideline advice, not formally graded, ADHD evidence
Recommended by ADHD clinical guidelines, but nobody has pooled the trials and graded how sure they are. Guideline advice is a considered judgement, not a measured certainty. Measured in people with ADHD.
AAP key action statement 6 (AAP evidence grade B, strong recommendation) and NICE NG87 1.7.26 to 1.7.27; no GRADE certainty for the process.
The number, drawn
Titrate medication to useful benefit with tolerable adverse effects
Why it matters
Titration means your clinician adjusts treatment step by step while checking whether it helps and what unwanted effects appear. The AAP recommends aiming for the most useful benefit with adverse effects you can tolerate. NICE recommends recording symptoms, impairment and adverse effects at each dose change and reviewing progress regularly with a specialist. There is no universal best dose or fixed timetable, and these recommendations put no number on the benefit of keeping a symptom record.
How to do it
- Before the titration review, agree the main problems treatment should help with.
- Ask what the clinic wants to hear about symptoms and side effects, and use its form if it has one.
- Include what has changed in sleep, appetite, mood and how your days go.
- Confirm the next review date and how to reach the team if something goes wrong before then.
The prescriber directs every medication change. Report worrying effects promptly instead of waiting for the next routine review.
Putting it into practice
In real life
- Bring one change that helped and one unwanted effect to the next review.
- For a child, put their own experience next to a short teacher report when the clinic asks for one.
Watch out for
- Common mistakeIf you only watch for better concentration, you can miss side effects. Report both.
- Common mistakeForgot the form? The appointment still matters. Bring whatever information you have.
Trusted guides
How we rated it
- Evidence grade
- A Moderate or high certainty evidence in people with ADHD, or an explicit ADHD guideline recommendation.
- The number
- Titrate medication to useful benefit with tolerable adverse effects (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2019)
- Benefit
- 85/100 The benefit score is an editorial prioritization for the general list, weighted by certainty. It is not a prediction of what will happen for you.
- Effort
- Some effort
Sources
- Tier 1 guidelineClinical Practice Guideline for the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of ADHD in Children and AdolescentsAmerican Academy of Pediatrics, 2019
- Tier 1 guidelineAttention deficit hyperactivity disorder: diagnosis and management (NG87), recommendationsNICE, 2019
- Tier 1 guidelineCommon questions about methylphenidate for adultsNHS, 2025
General information about ADHD, not a diagnosis or an individual treatment plan. Tailoring changes the order of suggestions; it does not assess you. Medication decisions belong with you and a qualified clinician.