I have a question about my child taking Focalin XR. Does anyone elses child take this medication for their ADHD? How has it worked for them? Were there any side effects or long term effects? It seems to be the only med that Trent has taken that he tolerates well. By the way, he's 5 with severe ADHD and takes 20 mg of Focalin XR twice daily.
This morning, he complained of heart pain (that's what he called it) in the middle of his chest. Should I be concerned? Has this happened to your child?
Any info would be really appreciated.
could it possibly be heartburn or indigestion, lots of people have stomach issues with meds? I'd let the docotr know though, not worth playing around with.I hope you called your dr. ASAP. It might be nothing, but I wouldn't mess around w/ chest pains.My son had the same problem on the Focalin LA. He went to the school nurse and she checked him out. it seemed like it was heartburn. I also had the doctor check him out. He wasn't having the pain when we saw the dr, she asked him where it had hurt. She thought it was heartburn too. If he complained again she wanted me to bring him into the office right away, while it was still hurting so she could know better. I seem to remember my son thinking my rubbing the middle of his chest seemed to help it feel better. I think this happened on and off for 2-3 weeks. I don't know if this was a temporary side effect of the meds. He is on the daytrana patch now with a focalin booster in the evening. We haven't had any more problems. Definitely check with the doctor, just to be sure.My son had chest pains on both adderall and focalin. On the days he didn't take them,he didn't have them. We took him to a ped cardiologist and there was nothing wrong with his heart BUT the cardio dr said that if a kid is having chest pain its safest to NOT use stimulants because stimulants restrict the flow/amount of blood/oxygen to the heart while at the same time requiring more work from the heart. He said that some people get along just fine on prescription stimulants and some do not. He said the chest pain was a signal from my son's heart that it was causing problems.
I guess the tricky part is knowing whether or not it is heartburn or true chest pain from the heart. We decided not to chance it,since his adhd is mild. He had no stomach pain/upset nor did he feel a "burning' in his chest and he didn't feel like he was having acidy backup and antacids/prevacid did not help,so the doctor felt it was heart related. He didn't have a sore chest(if you pushed on the area) nor did it hurt more when he took deep breaths so he ruled out some other things it could be.
His pain was right over his heart and to the center of his chest. It felt like a "heavy" feeling in his chest that was present until the meds wore off.
On a positive note, he has been using pycnogenol and it has really really helped. He has mild adhd and some LD's. He would get stressed in class either from not being able to keep up or just from the social goings-on in the classroom and then he would start being a class clown. Since starting this,after about a week,he has improved tremendously. Much calmer and seems more mature. I guess what I can contribute it to is that in a study,it was shown that pyc lowered the stress hormone levels by 26%(determined in the urine). He gets 50 mg every morning(1mg per kg per day). We use the brand name Pycnogenol and not the generic pine bark extract. Costs about 15-16 a month through GNC. It was patented back in the 1950's and he has no side effects nor can I find anything "bad" about it anywhere.