Daytrana Patch Dosage | ADHD Information

My ds is 6 1/2. He was using Focalin short-acting, but we wanted
something that worked longer. We started the Daytrana patch this past
weekend. The 10mg didn't do much. We went up to 15mg. yesterday and it
seemed to be fine. Today he is at school and I think he is OK, but we'll see.
I have a feeling that it may not be enough. My question is, how high can he
go on this patch? I want to try the 20 mg. patch, but don't know if my
doctor will let us go that high. He weighs 48-49 pounds. Anyone with a
similar experience?Daytrana is methylphenidate( ritalin) and is not dosed by weight, but by symptoms. He could go as high as needed...the patch is available up to 40 mg.His doctor gave me the impression that I couldn't go any higher on his short
acting Focalin. He was taking 20 mg. per day and I wasn't allowed to give
more. Is this right?

Focalin is about twice as strong as methylphenidate (ritalin, concerta, daytrana, metadate, etc). It is only the centrally active portion of the methylphenidate (the more active 1/2 of the medicine). So 20mg of focalin is about the same as 40mg methylphenidate.

Hope that helps.

vickie39118.5831828704Thanks.   Does this mean you think I can go up to the 20mg patch? Sorry,
I'm just trying to understand it all.

If the 15mg does not seem like enough, there should be no problem for the doctor to increase it to 20mg (as long as there are no side effects, etc.).

I think 20mg would be fine.  If you need to, talk to your doctor and let him know that you've done some research and can talk intelligently about it.  My pdoc didn't want to prescribe it for him (he's her 1st patient on Daytrana) and told me to check with my insurance company to see if they covered it before she did the research she needed to do before prescribing it.  I think she was hoping I'd go away and either not call the insurance company or if I did, they'd tell me they weren't going to cover it.  I think sometimes doctors think they are too busy to pick up something new.  If you prod them, they usually will do it anyway.   I am definitely going to ask to try the 20 mg. patch. We have an appt. on
Tuesday. His teacher said to use the 15 mg. patch this week. He is OK at
school for the most part. He is a little sillier than usual, but I think it's OK
for this week at least. The teacher knows how to handle him and it's a small
class.

This whole "test" phase with meds drives me nuts. I don't know why I let it
get to me so much. I guess because I have a sinus infection and cold that
won't go away. We will all survive and figure this out I guess. Thanks for all
your input. It made me feel better.