Hi :)
I'm pretty new to these forums....I've been lurking for awhile. I have an 8 1/2 yr old son that was diagnosed last year...he has ADHD. Last year it didn't interfer with his schoolwork so we held off on the meds. This year is different. He's the class clown (always has been) and his schoolwork was suffering. SO I made the decision to put him on focalin. We started him 9 days ago and the teacher said, even on the 5mgs, that she saw quite a difference ! The last 2 days of this week were a little tougher so, perhaps, I need to up him to 10mgs. I don't plan on medicating him on the weekends. Does anyone that has a child on focalin, stop for the weekends and school holidays ?
Loracle,
About the the sleeping (your boss's son)... Everyone is different and some people with ADHD sleep better after starting meds (my daughter is one of those) or even take a late dose to have meds in the system to calm the brain and ready it for sleep. The sleep problems also happen if the med is not out of the system early enough to get way past the period of meds leaving the body before bedtime. That period while the meds are wearing off can cause a rebound effect of more activity (may be minor or really major).
kewood99 and vickie,
Thanks for both of your responses. Our doctor did not warn us of anything other than possible loss of appetite.
My son has no trouble getting to sleep now. He does sometimes get more manic when he's getting tired, but as soon as his head hits the pillow he is out. (He does sleep walk sometimes, though!) It will be interesting to see how the Focalin affects him, and I'm glad to know ahead of time that there might be some rebound toward the end of the day.
My son loves to play board games, so perhaps we'll plan to do that on Saturday while he's on his first dose.
Thanks again!
I am new to this board. My 8 year old son was diagnosed with ADHD last week and prescribed 10 mg of Focalin XR.
His teacher suggested that we start the medication next Monday. But, now I'm wondering if we should start it on Saturday (tomorrow) to give us two days to see how it's working before we send him to school medicated.
Also, I have a funny question. My boss has an adult son who was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. She told me the other day that, if my son is not ADHD, the medication will make it impossible to sleep, but if he is ADHD, he should sleep fine while taking it. This sounded a little unbelievable to me. If it were true, we wouldn't have all these concerns about over-diagnosing ADHD and medicating children who aren't truly ADHD. But, I'm wondering if there is anything to her anecdotal observation about insomnia.
Thanks for any thoughts/advice.
Loracle,
We also tried the medicine at home first before sending him to school on it the first time, and I have a suggestion if you are thinking about doing this -- Try and recreate a school setting by giving him some work assignments, or a puzzle so you will see the benefits of his abiliity to concentrate, etc. Because the medicine increases their ability to concentrate, I find that my son gets VERY cranky if he is on the medicine and say, just going to the grocery store or sitting around. If you have something scheduled this weekend, like Karate, this is also a good time to give it to him. Again, anything that will give him a chance to focus on, or complete a task.
Also, the medicine doesn't take full effect for about an hour. You may or may not notice when the dosage is wearing off -- some people experience "rebounding" where the child can become very hyper for a little while. Everyone experiences different side effects, mostly decreased appetite, but my son more than makes up for it when the medicine wears off!! My son doesn't experience any difficulty sleeping, but others have.
I think it is only natural to want to see how your child reacts to the medicine the first time and would suggest doing it just so you will be comfortable with any feedback the teacher will have. Good Luck, hope you have success -- focalin has changed our lives, dramatically!!
Hello,
My 6yo was diagnosed last year with ADHD and we have him on a dose 5 mg of Focalin (twice a day for school) with wonderful results. He completes all his work, stays on task and the teacher says it is like night and day with the class clown business. We knew from very early on (like 3) that anything that involved concentrating was a disaster -- prior to medicine, he wouldn't even play football or anything that involved learning rules. We also saw a definate struggle when it came to his coloring and writing. I am curious that you mention it did not effect your son's school work last year. I realize that ADHD onset can be different for everyone, but I would suggest asking your Doctor what dosage he will limit you to. I know that weight and metabolism can also play a part in dosage -- seems we had to "play" with the dosage for about a month or so. We do not have him on it during the weekends or school breaks. We will give him medicine on the weekend if it involves him being in large groups or alot of stimulation -- helps on the impulsiveness we saw SO dramatically without medicine.
These boards provide some great advice and I hope you find it helpful!