focalin stories | ADHD Information

Hi. I would e-mail or leave a message for the doc. asking if it is o.k. to increase the dose. My son has good results with this med, of course some don't. We use 15 mg. of Focalin XR and he weighs 70 pounds dripping wet.

Do a search on Focalin on this board for more people's experiences. Best Wishes!
Hi,  I'm new but I have a 16 yr old son who has not had success with most ADD medications.  He is trying out 20 mg focalin xr.  He has been on this dose for two weeks with little improvement.  I wanted to hear from someone who has been using focalin and what dose and what effects have been improved.  My son who is 18 is on Focalin XR 20 mg and also Welbutrin.  We have had wonderful success with this.  He was previously on Adderall 60 mg with absolutely no success.  He is now able to concentrate and is now passing all his classes.  He is a senior this year and we were wondering if we were going to see him graduate as he has had to repeat so many classes.  He now has A's and B's.  His Directive Studies teacher is amazed at the difference.  For him this seems to be the magic combination.  Hope it continues to work.  He has been on it for about 3 months now.

tylerd88

What dose of focalin were you taking?  How were your grades in school?  My son seems very happy on focalin but he is still not doing most of his school work with no explanation why.

 

I'm 17, and I tried focalin for a little while, didn't like it, it made me mad at everything, for no reason.  I got stuff done though.My son is on focalin xr 20 mg.  He is 8 and 53 lbs.  He also appears to possibly need his dose increased.  It has helped a lot, though.

my son took focalin and it made him irritable, grouch, whiny, ...he could complete some work but not all, he is now taking Adderal and my goodness what a difference...he is actually completing every assignment and even does HW without much fuss or assistance....

BTW he also had the same effect to ritalin LA...they are basically the same med

Wish, my grades in school are good, always have been, i just have to work really hard for them, I can't remember the dosage right now, but i have the bottle somewhere, I'll try to find it and get back to you.  I'm not sure why it would be working, but he isn't doing school work?  But keep in mind that medicine won't do everything, you have to really work on behavior, mindset, and motivation for the medicine to be worth anything...

Hi joemom,

How old is your son?  What mgs focalin was he taking?  My son just recieved and increase to 30 mgs.  We start the increase on Monday.  He has been better on 20 mgs.  but still not completng his school work.  He has tried Adderal and it made him grouchy and he could not eat.  At least he's eating great on focalin xl.  I just don't see a significant increase in completing school work.  I hope the increase in dose will boost his ability to complete his work. 

Anybody have a child on 30mgs of focalin XL?  My son is increasing to 30 mg today.  20 mgs did not help with school.

We did not have good results. Nothing horrible happened..but for us no improvement at all.  However, not all meds work the same for all, some folks get great results with Focalin. That is the tough part about meds, it is ofter trial and error.

 

Good luck.

wish, my son is 7 years and I think he was on 20 mg of focalin xl.....

appetite is a big problem with us ...I try to make sure my soneats a good breakfast and a dinner...he says he eats a good lunch but I have my doubts.  Ialso give him supplements like carnation instant breakfast

I hope the increase dosage works for you.

 

Thanks for the info about your son.  My son is also on 20 mg focalin xr but still not getting his school work done.  He has no side effects so we like the med but we think he needs something more to get his assignments done.  He does not attempt or does not finish his assignements even though he is capable.  I ask him why he doesn't do the assignments and he says I don't know.  I just don't feel like it. He has been grounded for 3 months for lack of effort in school.  He is a great kid.  Never mean or angry but he gives up on school.  Was your son successful on focalin xr without the wellbutrin?Hey Wish, sorry it took so long, kinda forgot about trying to find that perscription, but it was focalin xr20 mg that I was taking, and did not like.  Hope this helps.