My son's doctor just changed his medication to dexmethylphenidate which is only being distributed under the name brand Focalin. I realise it's a stimulant class similar to Ritalin, but can it be that different? Ritalin and Concerta both made him very irritable, but it improved his stuttering. Adderall was better on mood but his stuttering is becomming sever, hence the change?

Is anyone on this or know much about it and how it performs?:confused:

I take focalin XR 20 mg and focalin 5 mg as needed. I have way less side effects on focalin than I had on concerta and ritalin. The difference is that ritalin/concerta is a race mix: d-methylphenidate and l-methylphenidate. The l-methylphenidate is thought to be useless by a lot of people, so focalin is only the d-methylphenidate. Hope that helps.

Cyndi

I was put on Focalin XR last last month, and I second that it's smoother than concerta/ritalin LA. Seems to work a little better for me too, but it's hard to be completely sure.

As for stuttering.. It's hard to know, but I'd expect that it'd work more like Ritalin than Adderall.

His first day was horrible. One of the reasons we changed to Adderall was irritability, and with the initial dose it sky rocketed. However, we went up on his dose to 10 mg and he seems to be doing fine except that it's worn off by 3 Pm. He was metabolizing Ritalin in 2 1/2 hrs. Looks like the same thing will happen here.

I was just prescribed this last week. I've been on Adderall for about 8 months, but it was starting to not work as well and I was on a really high dose, which was causing TONS of problems... so my doc just switched me.

I took my first pill about an hour ago, so I am waiting to see how I feel. From what I've found online (not much), there are far more negatives than positives with this drug! I really hope it is a good fit for me, because I am struggling lately!

Any information or experiences people have had with this drug would be IMMENSELY appreciated. :) :)

T,

I take Adderall XR 30mg.
I have been on it for over a month now.
I have no aggitation, no problems sleeping. I am quieter, and alot calmer.
The only side effect I have now is the dry mouth, and lack of appetite.
Keep trying, you'll find something that works for you.
We are all so different. What works for one, doesn't work for the other.

Good luck!
Hope

Well looks like we have less roller coaster effects on the Focalin, but I'm not really sure that it's going to be the most effective drug. The stuttering is better, but he has this wild look in his eyes a lot of time. Weird but his behavior hasn't been horrible. There have to be people on this or they wouldn't be making it, but I don't know many and even had to search pharmacies to get it filled.

Yeah, when I was on Focalin, no pharmacies had it in stock and I had to wait for them to order it. That's because it's pretty new.

Does anyone NOT like this medicine?

Seems I've read mostly good results, but I've had a horrible time with it this month. My depression level has skyrocketed... I am anxious... I pace at night... I cry all the time now... I can't focus THAT well...

At least when I was on the Adderall, I only got anxious as it wore off. I was slightly depressed, but it wasn't bad if I took a Valium after getting home nights. With the Focalin, I am anxious ALL day and then the depression hits HARD later in the day and lasts through the night.

Waiting to get an appt. with the psych. to change back to my beloved (and sometimes hated) Adderall. This Focalin trip has been honestly one of the worst med. experiences of my life. :(

twalsh, so sorry that the focalin didn't work out for you. :(

What you described was exactly how I was on short-acting ritalin. Adderall was a nightmare for me too. It made me so irritable and nasty. It's amazing what a pill can do to our whole affect/attitude, isn't it?

Cyndi

I was just prescribed focalin thursday. Only 10mg. Took one Friday and I was OK. Took one Saturday and I was OK. Took one today (Sunday) and late in the afternoon I had the worst bout of depression I ever remember having. It actually scared me. I'm OK now (a few hours later), but boy I was messed up for about 3 hours. Not taking any more of this stuff. I hated myself and felt like I'd done something very wrong for about 3 hours and I couldn't shake it. bad, bad, bad.

yeah I've found that the come-down is too depressing for me. Maybe an IR booster dose is worth considering, that is if it helps you out otherwise. Taking it too late might mess with your sleep, or maybe it might help your sleep if your mind is being calmed down enough to let you sleep.

Does anyone NOT like this medicine?



*raises hand*

I was recently switched to Focalin, and after over a week and a half of taking it, I was having horrible insomnia. I'm normally a night owl, fine, but my body always starts to let me know when it's getting tired and when it's at a point where I shouldn't push it anymore. But with the Focalin, I was still awake at 5:30 and 6AM several nights in a row, and I wasn't experiencing the usual indications of tiredness, etc.

It really bothered me that it seemed to be effecting me that way, because I have enough problems maintaining a sleep schedule that is remotely 'normal', and this would've inevitably made things much worse if it continued. I let my psychiatrist know and she said it was okay to stop taking them, which I'm glad for - this week, starting today, is my first week back with my college for Spring semester, and I really didn't want to be dealing with severe insomnia during that.

Thankfully, my next appointment with the psychiatrist isn't too far off, next Monday, so we can get things straightened out and I can go back to the IR Ritalin. Just based on my experiences between the two, even without considering the insomnia issue with Focalin, I felt like it wasn't working as well for me, in general, compared to how the Ritalin seemed to work for me.

Obviously different effects for different chemical makeups. Personally, this medication does what it needs to do for me. I never could quite guage what the proper dose should be when I was on Adderall, and though it was effective, the side effects were a drag.

On Focalin XR 15 I no longer feel my appetite is supressed, I can actually sleep well, and I feel more productive. It's a "smoother" and longer lasting alternative to Adderall in that I don't feel like I've snorted a line of crank or something, and interacting with people I don't feel like I'm trying to mask the effects of a drug I'm taking. I take it once a day, and it's working.

Hello! Normally I would post this in the "Parents" section, since I have a question of my own regarding Focalin and my ADHD son, but my observations also seem pertinent to this thread.

We started our son (currently 8 years old) about 3 years ago on the normal short-acting Focalin, at a fairly low dosage level. He responded quite well, the positive effect was very noticeable, as far as making him much more lucid, focused, and calmer, and there were no side effects. He did (and still does) have a slower growth rate than most of his peers, but he also has small parents :D, eats like a horse, and is very strong and active for his size!

More recently, we switched him to Focalin XR, because we thought it would be easier for him to take one dose in the morning, and not have to make that mid-day trip to the nurse's office at school for his afternoon dose (he hated being "different" that way, even though his teacher was very sympathetic and made as little a deal of it as possible). While the XR was more convenient, it seemed that the effect was a lot less pronounced (even after making sure we had compensated the dosage for the extended release effect), and that his behavior and focus at school seemed to deteriorate. After about 2 months of this "experiment", the overall consensus at school and home is that the XR was just not as effective without upping the dosage up past the point where we and our doctor felt comfortable (given his size and weight). So we just switched back to the normal short-acting Focalin, and we've noticed an immediate improvement again, as has his teacher. Unfortunately, he's stuck with the mid-day trip to the nurses office again, but his quality of life and ability to learn is more important than convenience.

So that's our experience, thus far. We give a solid thumbs-up to the standard Focalin, but were less than impressed with the Focalin XR. My question to anyone else here is...has anybody else experienced the same thing with the XR?

My son has been on Focalin now since last January UGH
He has become increasingly moody and irritable.
15 mg XR AM and 10 Fast Acting at 1:00 PM
Irritable - uncooperative, rude, combative annoying to other kids not seen this before - I AM NOT HAPPY and I know he is not either
he has been on them ALL.