medication losing some of its strength | ADHD Information

I was curious if anyone has ever had problems with the strength of their meds after they have been on them a  while. I started out on Stratera, but it was awful. My doctor switched me to Focalin XR 10 mgs. That started to lose its effect about nine months ago and he switched me to regular Focalin 10 mgs twice a day. Sometimes I feel like the medication is not doing its job because I am having difficulty focusing again.
I'm not sure what to do. I don't want something that is too strong.


Sure this happens all the time. It's all about balance. You want the right medication at the lowest dose to relieve symptoms with little/no side effects. My daughter personally has not taken a medication for more than 1 year and a half. Some people find the right thing and take that for years. Everyone is different. I would contact your doctor again to discuss your options, there are many.Sometimes things change in your life, which requires a med adjustment. Women have fluctuating hormones with the menstral cycle. Stress and lack of sleep can make the meds seem ineffective, when in fact it is that the ADHD symptoms are just worse to the point that the meds are not at a high enough dose. It is not uncommon for kids to need a higher dose for school than for home, so the higher dose is used to get maximal benefit of the medication (as long as side effects are nil).It's normal to have that happen.. and especially at that low of a dose. I would talk to your Dr and ask him/her to increase the dosage and see if that helps. Like vickie said.. some situations also make the symptoms worse.. like right now, I'm under a lot of stress with work, my Focalin XR is working fine for focus.. but I'm having anxiety issues and becoming a little short tempered again since I have the kids home with me all summer and I'm swamped with work! I was very SLOW last summer and thought it would be the same.. Nope!

I know with my situation, I don't need to increase the Focalin... but I have had to take more Guanfacine for the Anxiety until I get through this phase (which for me will be here until July 28th when I start my Vacation)