My son has been on this med for 3 years. He's 9 years old. It works great...his main side-affect was lack of appetite and oddly bad breath! He also has trouble taking the med and we would put it in applesause, which was a daily struggle. I got creative enough to bake it in cookies! The pharmacist recommended against that, but it worked. It would last for about 7-8 hours.
I think it can be a struggle finding the right medication for your child. We tried Adderall XR last year for about 4 months and that was horrible. It made my son depressed and he pulled his eyelashes out, a lot of anxiety with that med. Give each med a chance, but don't hesitate to go back to your doctor and to say a med isn't working. There's one out there for your child!
We just started 2 weeks ago, the Daytrana patch. It works great! It's a methylphenadate base like Metadate CD. The side-affects were pretty intense for the first week, but are getting better. WE are loving this med and so is my son.