Focalin is suppose to be Ritlin revised. My doc precribed it to me to try, and I have to special order it. Taking Aderall first instead. (My doctor is having me trial dose on meds he has had the best luck with, and then which ever works best for my chemistry will be the one he prescribes)
That is why I do not like MD's trying to treat ADD. MD's write a script after 5 mins talking with you, and specialist examines every prospect and treatment options.
My 12-year-old ADHD son has been on both Concerta (36 mg) and regular Focalin (5 mg every 4 hours). He preferred Focalin because it made him feel less flat and inhibited. In addition, he experienced constant facial tics on Concerta, but Focalin did not exacerbate his tics. He is off all meds right now, but we plan to try Focalin XR in the fall when school begins.
Has anyone had experience with both Focalin XR and Concerta? From the little I've read, it seems that Focalin XR is not an improvement over Concerta (although Focalin XR has just been released and it's probably too early to tell).
We just switched our son from Focalin XR to Ritalin LA and seems to be working better for him. Focalin XR was the 1st Medicine he had tried and I saw no improvements with him while on this Med, We did notice him being more emotional, moody, and sensitive to noise which I thought was odd....my 7 year old did well on Focalin every 3-4 hours but the Focalin XR was terrible. He was done with it in about 5 hours too. We go to the dr. tomorrow and I don't know what we are going to do for school.
SMillheis,
Yes, my son tried regular Focalin (5 mg) last spring and liked it. He's been looking forward to trying Focalin XR because he refuses to go to the school nurse at lunchtime for another dose (doesn't want to call attention to himself). We have the Focalin XR and will try it tomorrow. I'll post again with our experience. I'm disappointed to see these reports of Focalin XR not working. We had such high hopes for it.
Please let me know how it works for him. Thx!
My son 8 years old was on COncerta 27mg and we started noticing more impulsivenessas the summer went on. OUr house was out of control. He also has OCD. He lately was seeming sad, irriatated, saying he wishes he was dead, hated his life. We started him on Zoloft. It has been 2 weeks and I know we need to wait a full three weeks to see if that is working. He is now back to being impulsive, dangerous, OOC. OUr home is upside down. He was saying all of these awful things last night. We did not want to increase his concerta since he has hardly an appetite as it is. So, we switched to the focalin xr 10 mg. The teacher said he was really out of control all day the first day he took it.. Then the next day I gave him one whole capsule and sprinkled about half of another on ice cream. In 30 minutes he was basically falling asleep on the floor barely keeping his eyes open. He Stayed home from school for an hour.I took him to school later and That day the teacher said his morning was really good, then the afternoon he got antsy. BUt overall better than Monday and Tuesday. SO yesterday she said to give him 2 10mg Focalin XR. Now he is at school. I am just so scared. HE does not listen,he is so so impulzive. I am scared he is going to hurt himself or someone else. HE is a sweet kid, and not a bully, but he is disrupting our entire house.My dd swallows the capsule with liquid. She's 15 so its not an issue. Has your son used the non XR version of Focalin yet?My dd has had very good results with Focalin 5mg every 4 grs.. The Dr. than switched her to Focalin 10 mg XR and it was terrible. It was as if the extended release part didn't work. She was lethargic in the morning after taking it .... and then 4 hrs later her old ADD symptoms returned If you are stabilized on Focalin .... I would not switch to the XR version. In fact, my advise to begin with is that Focalin is great, but don't use the XR.My son's doctor just prescribed Focalin 10mg XR this morning. We're going to test-drive it next week so I can let you know how it goes. I'm sorry it didn't work for your DD. Did your DD swallow the capsule or open it up and eat it with a small amount of food? Just wondering if that would make a difference fo the extended release.
HELP!!!!!
My ten year old grandson has ADHD/ODD. We have tried focalin 20mg xr in the morning with 1/2 pill of clonidine and lunch he takes 10mg focalin xr and 1/2 clonidine. This is the second time he has refused to go to school. I have been looking on the internet I now think maybe he is biopolar as well. Has anyone experience horrible behavior while taking meds . He was on Adderall 30mg xr 1/2 clondine and 15 mg xr and 1/2 clondine at lunch.
Thanks
I am the mother of an 8 yr. old girl with ADHD who was just recently placed on Concerta 54 mg. I am seeing improvements, but she is having lots of headaches and loss of apetite. Can anyone help or give me any suggestions? This is all new to me and I feel lost.
Patiences,
Why is he refusing to go to school? What kind of doctor diagnosed him? What kind of doctor is prescribing his meds now?
Baby3,
I'm not a doctor, but that dose of Concerta sounds awfully high for an 8-year-old, which may account for her headaches and loss of appetite. Have you tried her on a lower dose, say 36 mg?
Smallmom,
He was seen by a Psychiatrist who first prescribe the adderall xr and clonidine. Now he sees his pediatric dr. every three months who changed his meds to focalin xr. He also has a Psychologists who sees him every other week. He would not answer me as to why he would not go to school. I believe maybe he is biopolar instead of the ADHD/ODD or maybe he could have both. Has anyone else experience this?
Thanks,
Go to the parents board -- there are lots and lots of posts about stimulants making bipolar worse. It sounds to me as if you first have to get a proper diagnosis for your grandson. Child psychiatrists can diagnose bipolar correctly, and neuropsychologists can diagnose other disorders. Just so you know, frequently kids who are first diagnosed with ADHD/ODD are later rediagnosed with bipolar. BTW, I would personally not allow my ped, with whom we have a very close working relationship, to do medication managment for my son -- peds are good first-line resources for many childhood illnesses, but they cannot possibly be experts on everything. Childhood neurolological and psychiatric conditions need the right kind of specialized care.
In addition, I am not a doctor, but it sounds to me as if those stimulant doses are very high for a 10-year-old. How does your grandson act on the stimulants; how does he act off the stimulants? My 12-year-old son, as a point of reference, takes 10 mg Focalin XR in the am, with 5 mg regular Focalin (not long-acting) at 4 pm if needed for homework.
Good luck. Please post again with further questions.
She was on the 34 mg dose, but was not doing any better. That is when they switched her to the higher dose. Any suggestions as to other medications that will give us good results without the side effects? Please help!
Ask about Focalin XR. Focalin is a refined version of Ritalin (the ingredient in Concerta) that is supposed to cause fewer side effects. Because it is refined, the theory is you can actually use lower doses of Focalin for the same result. For example, my son was on 36 mg Concerta and he is testing out 10 mg Focalin XR with a 5 mg dose of short-acting Focalin at 4 pm if needed for homework. Unfortunately, a lot of ADHD meds is trial and error. You need to work closely with your daughter's doctor and report everything she's experiencing.
Small Mom,
I'm wondering how you found the Focalin XR? My daughter does great on regular Focalin, but the switch to XR was a disaster. I'm in the pharmaceutical industry, and my sense is that the 10mg XR version really does not release the medicine over time, but dumps it all into the child's system immediatley. My dd was like a zombie 30 minutes after taking it ... and then became her old ornery ADD self about 4 hours later. When I give her 5 mg of immediate release every 4 hours, it works like a charm. The only issue is compliance when I'm not around.
My son just took Focalin XR on Monday for the first time. It seemed fine -- he said he couldn't totally judge how it would be at school because he was just hanging around at our house that day. We have the school nurse problem (too embarrassed to go) so we have to find a long-acting preparation for him to take during school days. My son was at his neurologist yesterday for migraine management, and she said she had been hearing good reports about Focalin XR. I think we're just going to keep trying it once school starts. I'm sorry it's not working for your daughter.