Intuniv first, now adding FocalinXR | ADHD Information

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My daughter (10) has been on Intuniv for almost a year.  We LOVE it!  She was on Vyvanse for 2 years, but started becoming depressed, only weighed 46 lbs at 9 years old and would talk of killing herself (which no 9 year old should do), so we switched to Intuniv.  It has worked WONDERS over the past 8 months.  She has gained 30 lbs, sleeps well and seemed to work great, but it was apparently not enough.  She is currently on 3mg of Intuniv and is having trouble focusing in the afternoons, so the doctor put her on 10mg of FocalinXR.  We have never tried this medication before and was wondering if anyone else has tried it in combination with Intuniv or is currently using it with Intuniv?  What kind of side effects, does it seem to help? Would love some input from those of you that have been there and done that.

Different people respond differently to different medicines.  Common side effects with any stimulant are trouble falling asleep and decreased appetite.  If you see sleep issues, a lot of people use melatonin to combat this.  It's OTC.  If you see decreased appetite, make sure she eats a good breakfast before taking the Focalin XR, and plan dinner for a time after it wears off.  Also be prepared that some kids on stimulants eat a ton of food in the evenings, making up for lost calories during the day.

 The nightime doing makes sense to me! I called my ped. about this today- cant see why he would not agree. Is it still working all day? my son is also on Intuniv 1mg and we had to move it to night time because he was just too tired to take it during the day even after adjustment period. He was on Concerta with it and doing great except for the eating and growing issue. MY SON decided to give up the concerta and he has gained his weight back and even grew a couple of inches. I am not sure yet the impact in school yet it has only been 2-3 weeks and no notes or calls from the teachers. We pray that he will be ok w/o the Concerta. Good luck to you with the Focalin we had tried that but in a much higher dose. zombie like effects here but one of his friends is on it and is doing great!Rhody- yes- my son was on Vyvanse and Intuniv at the same time (worked well). We were in the initial study so it was still guanfacine, not long lasting had to take 2x a day. Recently he has been back on just the Vyvance, not working, so we are going to try just the intuniv- did notice a lot of fatigue during the study, so I guesw we will have to wait and see!Krstas, keep in mind that it can take the body time to adjust to guanfacine/Tenex/Intuniv.  It's normal to be tired in the beginning, but often the body then adjusts.  It's hard to wait it out, but it can take a few weeks.Hi Rhody,

Just an FYI, my son has been on Focalin for several years and we added Intuniv several months ago.  We've been able to drop his Focalin dose a little bit as a result, which is great news as he weighs 70 pounds at 12 years old.

A Focalin tip... have your doc prescribe you some short-acting Focalin as well as the XR for days you might need focus later in the day.  While the XR starts out working for 8 hours, it goes down to about 5-6 hours after a few months.

Audrey

Intuniv is a 24-hour medication, so it should work daytime if you take it at night.