Anyone taken Focalin? | ADHD Information

Hello,

I was recently diagnosed with ADD (4 days ago).  My psychiatrist is starting me on Focalin (I take 1 on days 1 - 5, 2 on days 6 - 10 and 3 thereafter; depending on how I feel). 

Has anyone taken Focalin? 

If yes, how did it work for you and did you have any major side affects?

Thanks

My son takes Focalin; he's now 18. That is the ONLY med that has ever touched his ADHD...he takes 60mg a day but it has been amazing for him.My son was on Focalin for three days and we had to take him off - dry mouth, dizzyness, nausea and eventually vomiting. Adderall was similiar but not as severe. COncerta's been pretty good. Everyone is different.

[QUOTE=nekochan]My son was on Focalin for three days and we had to take him off - dry mouth, dizzyness, nausea and eventually vomiting. Adderall was similiar but not as severe. COncerta's been pretty good. Everyone is different.[/QUOTE]

How long after starting did he start throwing up?  I was fine the first couple days but the last few days I have felt nauseas.  I'm on a very low dose right now.  I am only taking one 5mg pill a day but on Wednesday I start taking two. I do that for 5 more days and then if I feel that I need to I can take 3 pills a day.  I have always been very sensative to medication so I don't think that I will need to take 3 a day.

Thank you everyone for your advice.

 

[QUOTE=nekochan]

The vomiting was on the third day.

[/QUOTE]

How many mg was he taking?  I am only taking 5mg a day.  I'm supposed to start taking two today.  I can tell that it wears off around 1:00 or 2:00.  Did he have any other side affects?

The vomiting was on the third day.

Actually, he was on Focalin XR 10 mg, which is the long lasting type of focalin. YOu can't go according to others - each person metabolizes the medication differently. Some respond better to one medication than another. He's doing great on Concerta - others have terrible side effects from Concerta. For other side effects, this is what I put in my previous post:

dry mouth, dizzyness, nausea and eventually vomiting.

 

 

So far Focalin is the only stim my son can tolerate.  Adderall caused horrible moodines, esp when it wore off.  Strattera did nothing.  Now on Focalin xr 10-20mg, and 150mg Wellbutrin.Man, Thank God I found a Focalin thread.

I just started taking this med. And to be honest I have never been this productive or been able to think so cleanly. But then again this is my first time taking a real adhd drug. I've been prescribed wellbutrin xl (up to 500mgs!!) and lexapro, which did absolutely nothing. But that doc was kind enough to actually seem concerned about my health, despite the 500mgs (no real side effects anyway so didn't matter) but it was a total waste of money for me because i chose a while ago i'd pay for everything instead of making my parents pay because alot of this is experimenting with different stuff until you find one that really works.

Anyway I took this just about 12 hours ago and wow i was actually able to.. WRITE NOTES IN CLASS! and was even interested in some of the stuff.. and it was math.

But i do feel the stuff which is focalin xr 10mg, is kind of weak but it was a change ( for once ) which I enjoyed. Sadly though i havent slept and am just wondering anxiously how this med is going to do within these next few days.

and to be honest, my father is against me taking these meds, cause he's pretty concerned that i'll get swindled out of my money or just i don't know, feel as if life without medication is impossible (down the road). but he's given me the go, and today we went together to see the new psychiatrist who's cheaper and lol
it took me half a year for me to call this psychiatrist and make an appointment. 6 months! I just kept putting it off cause of anxiety and alot of stuff, but of course (none to blame but myself)

and just finally saw him yesturday and here i am.

i mean, the thing is, what should i do if this stuff stops working, or doesn't really pickup? should i just keep taking it and see what happens? should i try to see my doc again and try something else?

cause i've been diggin a huge ditch for myself (academic) these past two years. before i could just sleep, be bored, not pay attention and so on in class and get by with just common knowledge and remembering random facts i might catch while i'm about to pass out and take a snooze because of not sleeping the night before, when i tried to study or do hw (which completely amounted to nothign) for hours and just.. freak out and barely pull myself together from an anxiety attack, and get scared to sh*t about having like 3 hrs to study for a midterm, do a 2 month project, pull myself together, etc, etc, hw, etc.

ok, i just totally went on a adhd spree right there. but something funny i should add... this last quarter, my grades have been so erradic that in one class, after i got my 3rd quarter report cards I had grades that was like a sign from god.. or whoever.

"A D D" I mean, can the man upstairs make it any clearer for me? I thought that wa spretty hilarious. I ended up with a C though (A for 4th quarter and D for the final exam)

but anyway where was I..... oh yeah, i'm just wondering if i should just tell my psych straight out that instead of just shooting the bull by increasing the dosage, why not try adderall.

you know? i cant risk another one of those 'ventures' like the wellbutrin and lexapro incident, although for the first few weeks of both the doc was kind enough to give me the samplers instead of getting a prescription.

but this doc is real different anway, and he doesn't seem all that interested in me.

thanks for reading, PLEASE comment.

-Jon

My son is on Focalin (regular) 10 mg 3 times a day and also takes Adderall 30 mg in the morning.  This has been a great combintation for him.  The only problem he has had is not sleeping well and not gaining weight.  He eats like a pig, but has a very high metabolism.  They have now put him on Risperidol to help with sleep.

 

Hopefully you won't be nauseas for long.

 

Good luck!

Brandi

I don't know if this might help, but my son used to like to eat a Nutrigrain bar with stims that upset his tummy.  It seemed to make a difference. I'm 18 and I've been taking Focalin XR 20 for less than a week and as of tomorrow I'm not taking it anymore.  I was on Adderall for the past year but I had to keep upping my dosage and I felt like it wasn't working anymore, so I started the Focalin.  At first it seemed a lot like the Adderall, but I did notice small differences.  I felt a lot more calm, clear headed, less jittery, more patient and less irritable.  But I'd gradually started feeling depressed and worthless throughout the week.  Today was hell.  I woke up in a great mood but within an hour of taking the meds I was sobbing for no reason.  My mom forced me to go to the mall with her cause she didn't want me home alone and I just wandered around aimlessly, picking out things to try on and then deciding that they would look bad on me and just putting them back.  I was on the verge of tears the entire time.  I had another breakdown in the car.   I had to go to a singing lesson after that and I seriously considered cancelling, while singing is my favorite thing in the world to do.  I gradually started to feel better on the ride there, but I only really started feeling normal on the way back when the meds had completely worn off.  I'm also taking accutane which apparently has a big history of depression as a side effect but the fact that this only just started and it wore off when the focalin did makes me think it's either a combo of the accutane and the focalin or just the focalin.  I'm going to go back on adderall tomorrow because I'd rather be scatterbrained and happy than focused and worthless. I took Focalin for about a month.  It worked well to reduce my ADD symptoms, but it sometimes gave me anxiety and/or moodiness when it wore off.  I switced to Concerta and do not have that problem anymore.My son is 18 and has been on Focalin XR 20 mg in the AM and 450 mg Wellbutrin.  That seemed to be a lifesaver and the only medication that has ever worked.  He has been on Ritalin, Adderall, Statera, Metadate, and most recently he tried the patch Datrana. He tried the patch because the Focalin was not lasting all day and his doctor thought he could get a longer lasting out of it.  He wanted to go back to the Focalin.  So his doctor added an extra 10 mg Focalin XR to be taken between 2-3 pm.  So far so good, no sleep problems.