Focalin | ADHD Information

Hello, New to the board here. My daughter is 9 years old and was diagnosed with ADHD about 10 months ago. She was given Adderall XR 10mg and responded very well. Every 3 months though, the medication seemed to no longer work and had to be upped. She's gotten up to 20mg and in first 8 months lost 11lbs. The 20mg is no longer working and I've read that her weight loss could continue to be a problem if the dosage is upped more. Also, the XR doesn't seem to be lasting all day. I've recently been unable to get her to go to sleep until 11pm which is abnormal for her. There's been a decline in her behavior at school and all her old tantrums and jumping off the couch and all that behavior seems to be back. I told her doctor that I feel the medication needs to be changed and I was concerned about her going through any withdrawl from the Adderall XR 20mg. So the doctor is putting her on Adderall XR 10mg for 7 days and then start Focalin 5mg 1x a day for 7 days then up it to twice a day after that. I have no information on Focalin and am just in need of some personal experiences with this medication or any knowledge that can be given to me. I suffer from severe anxiety and know how it feels to stop meds and start new ones and it's unnerving sometimes. Anyway, I feel very antsy about starting a new med for her but it has to be done. Does anyone have any words of wisdom?

want my honest opinion paiges???

10 MG and even 15 and especially 20 MG is too much

for a freakin nine year old. damnit this is what is upsetting.

A doctor is allowed to prescribed Adderall 20 MG and or 10 MG

that matter to a nine year old??? it is said once your in your early teens

you start to realise that you're actually alive. What do I mean I mean

in the human sense. As we start to have vivid dreams, we start to wonder,

usually it is said when that's when they have the most fun, well they're supposed

to have fun. some kids are mistreated, or neglected which is not good at all.

How I feel is experimintation is not good, on a nine year old

that's way out of the question if even at all I would say 5MG.

Personally I don't mind Adderall but I strongly feel since what happend to my friend that all Adderall should be given to 9&up 2.5 mg's of Adderall.

cause they do have 2.5 MG of Adderall.

 

Bumpity

Bump

My 12-year-old son has been doing well on Focalin since September.  He takes 15 mg Focalin XR (lasts about 8 hours) in the morning and 5 mg short-acting Focalin (lasts about 4 hours) at 4 pm for homework.  Focalin is a refined version of Ritalin (methylphenidate) that is supposed to cause fewer side effects.  It has a smooth takeoff and landing, and the only side effect we've noticed is a slight decrease in appetite in the middle of the day.  Of all the ADHD meds my son has tried (Adderall XR, Concerta, Strattera), Focalin is my son's (and my) favorite.

  

In our experience Focalin works very well for us but it's much more like Concerta, which did work but we kept having the up the dosage (like your adderall experience). From what I've seen about these meds, if Adderall type work well for you then the Concerta and Focalin may not work as well. We've tried them all over the last 4 years and Adderall was horrible for us, but great for my neighbor's son. Concerta and Focalin work great for us but were awful for her son.

The Dr. explained that the Focalin was like the Concerta but without some of the harsher side effects.

I liked the post above about coming off the meds for a holiday, although we already take weekends off, I wonder if staying off likie that for a week would help with the effectiveness.

Also, my son who is 10 and 62 pounds takes 10 mg of Focalin -- we started at 18 mg of Concerta and then went to 36 mg. He has violent tendencies taking the Adderall at all doses. It just wasn't for him.

umm you know several adult ADDers like Glen kinda take a 'holiday' off the meds so they don't need to up or change them so often.  so after two/three months have a week off (a terrible week) but then back on and it seems to work well and mean the meds remain effective for longer at a lower dosage

perhaps that might be a strategy to consider?  good luck.

Hi,

There is another thread on this about 6 pages back where I mentioned about my 8 year old starting on Focalin XR 5mgs once a day and nothing else.  We have had great results with it since Sept. 16th.  I saw his teacher today and she was all smiles.  On his report card he got all B's except for one C in Reading/writing becaues he hates writing. His behavior area was all satisfactory!  Also he eats very healthy amounts.  So, so far we don't have to think about upping his meds and I'm so glad about that.  He was on Addrell before this and didn't have close to the results we have with Focalin XR. He was taking 5mg twice a day then we upped it to 10mg/5mg.  Didn't help and the ticks got worse.  Still has ticks but they are slowly going away.  Good Luck!

Rion'sMom38674.4425694444

Thanks to all that responded. I do like the idea of the "holiday". Sometimes on the weekends I won't give her the meds, but after 2 days off the meds...she's nuts! I was glad to read the one mother and son that feel Focalin is their favorite and has worked for them. I also like the Focalin XR then the regular Focalin at 4pm. That sounds like a really great idea. My daughter lost alot of weight on the Adderall and I'm hoping she doesn't have that side affect on the Focalin as well. A slight decrease in appetite I think we can live with. Thanks everyone for all the great advice.