Focalin - Making More Hyper??? | ADHD Information

Can a medication make a child with ADHD more hyper??? Our 6yo son was on Ritalin in preschool for a month so we could test medication and it worked well to control hyperactivity and impulsivity. Switched to Vyvanse for all-day kindergarten, which controlled hyperactivity and impulsivity as well, but created irritability and anger issues (we're told because it's not the best fit for younger kids). We switched to Focalin XR at 5 mg a month ago, which was great the first two or so weeks on it, then seemed to decrease in effectiveness and only lasted about 5 hours. We recently upped the Focalin XR dosage to 10 mg and the kid was even MORE hyper and impulsive than usual, losing things (which he doesn't normally do) and having more trouble than normal sitting still. Is this common with a dosage increase???? Does this mean its the wrong dosage, the wrong med or even the wrong diagnosis??? Curious if anyone else has had a similar experience and what it meant. Thanks!!! My six and a half year old son does great on Focalin XR 10mg/15mg. He has been taking it for 2 years.

However, my five year old daughter has started meds for ADHD. We've tried 5mg and 10mg.  I think she is much worse. (Very angry, yelling, hyper).  Even though she was diagnosed as ADHD/dyspraxia she was not really hyper before meds, more in a fog.

I'm wondering the same thing as MominKC, could the diagnosis be wrong?


My son was on the XR for a few years and it at the end made him depressed (at age 6!!) and moody! So they pulled him off of it and tried regular Focalin and wow has there been a difference! It wasn't lasting as long as it was suppose to eather. Take to your doc about trying something else to dropping the dose down. With my son some meds if they are too high will do the reverse affect.