Letting someone know... | ADHD Information

I have seen on hear (and personal experience) how focalin and focalin xr over a year time causes severe aggression. My poor son got like that and it was so sad to see something that use to work so well do so much harm now. Oh course the docs was like it cant be the meds.... ya right guess what? IT WAS!! My question is does the makers of this know what is going on? They do tests on it but it says nothing about this! Is there a way to contact them and let them know? The more people that let them know the better! I'm sorry you had this experience.  My child took Focalin XR for a couple of years, but thankfully it never made him aggressive.  That must have been very difficult to handle!  I switched my child to Metadate CD because he kept adjusting to doses quickly and became too detached/flat for a couple of hours per day.
how do you know for certain that the med caused this issue of aggression/
Also, I'm concerned that my son is having moments of being detached and
flat on Focalin short acting for little windows during the 4 hr period that it's
lasting. he snaps out of it fairly quickly, and I was thinking this would
eventually go away as he got more used to it- it's only been a couple of
weeks. Should I try switching to Ritalin to see if it's better in that regard?
That one is the most tried. true, and studied of all theothers so maybe it will
be better?,,,thoughts?

I would call his doctor and describe this.

I have a son who has been on concerta and successful but I have no experience with focalin.

I know it was the Focalin because his doc took him off of it for a month because his body got use to it. Within 3 days all his anger and aggression was gone. After the month they put him back on it and in 2 days all his anger was back. So now he is on the daytrona patch and he is doing very well on it beside the mornings from hell because it takes so long to kick in. Every child is so different and what works for on child might not work for another. He has been on a few other with no help at all so its all trial and error.  Hi MommaBear, Our son has been on Focalin XR for one month today and I, too, notice a period of him being "detached and flat" as you described, which lasts about an hour out of the eight hours it is effective. This usually happens about 2-3 hrs. after he takes his medicine. I do notice a little improvement in that area as time goes by, but it is still there. Since there seem to be no other side effects (other than loss of appetite but that's getting better), and he is doing so well in kindergarten now, we have decided not to switch at this point but just to keep a close eye on it. I have asked the teacher to report home if she sees any increase in this reaction. With all the side effects that can happen, I guess I feel this is minor and I just don't want to rock the boat at this point! I will definitely keep an eye out for any signs of aggresive behavior as you described, mommy2David.I would ride the boat as long as I could too! It worked great for a year until I saw the anger. So good luck and I hope it works out well for u
Thanks to both you and mommy2David for your responses! I'm so happy
to have found this board. My son is in kindergarten too, and he is having
a dramatically improved experience since starting on short acting Focalin
about 3 weeks ago. It seems our sons are having similiar experiences,
even timing wise , with regard to the detachment effect. I do hope it goes
away, because like you said it's minor. he snaps out fairly quickly, and
school has not reported this reaction at all so... we'll see. So funny that
you mentioned to teachers to watch for it though- I just this morning
shot off an email describing it, and asking them to watch as well! perhaps
because the school setting is different it's not happening there? Not sure.
I'm def seeing it on the weekends though, and want them to be aware of
what to look for. How do you get buddies on this board? I would love to
find some specific touchstones here, particularly moms who are having
similar experiences like we are. Let me know how that works if you
know...I'm new here too! Thanks again!Send me a private message and I will be more then happy to give u a e-mail and/or I have facebook and myspace :)
ok will do ! thanks!