Hi,

First I want to say how happy I am that I found this forum! For the longest time I didn't reallly know what was wrong with me, just that everything seemed so much harder for me than other people that I knew. They would get done twice as much as me in half the time...I'd still be in my pyjamas trying to get my day started and they already ran errands, showered, got their kids ready for the day. I couldn't understand why I couldn't get the same things done during my day and yet I was trying, I wasn't sitting around doing nothing. At first I thought it was because I have twins. Now I realize that this was going on before I had my twins, pretty much back as far as I can remember. Anyway, sorry I'm rambling..just wanted to say that it's so nice to be able to have other people to relate to on this website. It's great being able to talk to people that can understand exactly what I'm going through and to be able to help give each other advice and guidance.

Now about the Focalin......I started taking it a little over a week ago. I am very sensitive to any stimulant, even diet pills. So when I started, I only started at 5mg per day. I was fine on it for a week, so my doctor told me to try 5 in the morning and 5mg 3 hours later. The first day that I was supposed to start doing that, I took my morning dose without eating enough and WOW did I feel it. My husband kept asking me if I was alright. I wasn't nervous, almost euphoric. It felt okay until I crashed and then I felt horrible. So I never took my second dose that day. The next day (yesterday), I took my first dose (with food), and I felt fine just tired. Then I took my second dose and I felt very strange. I felt tired and kind of like I was in slow motion. Today when I took my morning dose, I wasn't tired but felt even stranger. It comes in waves and I feel like my body is extremely relaxed, almost too much. I feel a little light headed and just strange. It's very hard to explain. I really didn't like how it felt and it lasted for about 4 hours so I never took the second dose. I think that I was a little bit more focused, except that I left my car keys at the return desk at Toys R Us and didn't realize until I tried to leave. LOL!

Just wanted to know if anybody else had an experience with the Focalin or any other stimulant that was simular. I just think that it's strange for me to have one feeling and then days later have the complete opposite effect from the same medication. I called my doctor but she didn't get back to me and now I don't know if I should take it tomorrow. I'm afraid that tomorrow I may feel worse than I did today, and I'm going to be alone with my kids.

Any advice would be helpful...thanks, Melissa :confused:

I had something similar with FocalinXR. I was on 20 mg. I felt spacey, light-headed, and sometimes I'd have this "pressure" inside my head that wasn't really a headache, but it felt like I was about to get a nasty cold. I didn't like that and can't say it did much for me so the doc switched me to AdderallXR. I haven't had any of those effects with the Adderall.

When you were taking the Focalin XR did you take it only once per day? My doctor has been telling me to take it twice per day, and once I got used to that, she wanted me to take it 3 times per day! I was doing some research on the internet last night and I read that Focalin XR is a time release formula that should be taken once per day. Now it's the weekend and I can't get in touch with my doctor but I need to ask her about that.

Maybe I'll try the Adderall instead. It sounds like a lot of people on this forum use the Adderrall. The doctor didn't put me on that because she thought that it would be too speedy for me.

Thanks for the info.:)

That's been almost opposite of my experience with Focalin XR.

When I first started (10mg), I thought my heart was going to jump out of my chest. I took it around 9:00, usually, just before I needed to really focus at work. I was in a deep depression at the time as well, and I found the Focalin did more than the anti depressants (Lexipro and later Lamictal).

Later, I told the nurse-practioner at my Dr's office I was fine once I took the Focalin, but getting up and getting my son off to daycare, then getting to work was stressful. She said take the full 20 mg before my feet hit the floor in the morning. I did, and it worked for awhile, but then in the past couple of weeks, I started getting very jittery and anxious (in part due to my domestic situation, see relationships forum). Tight chest, short breath, kinda scary. I could sit back in a rocking recliner, relax taking deep breaths, and still see my pulse making the chair rock. So we took it down to 15, and I've started taking it later in the morning again. Doing OK for now, I started back doing my Cognitive Therapy exercises, ala David Burns.

When I take the Focalin, I almost have to force myself to eat during the day. Then late at night when I come down from it, tend to binge because I'm so tired and hungry.

I took it just once per day, about 7:30 in the morning.

Thanks for sharing your experiences. I stopped taking the Focalin for a week because I was also taking another med ( Paxeva for social anxiety) and we weren't sure which med was giving me the side effects. I was still feeling strange only taking the Paxeva, so I stopped both for a week and then started taking only the Focalin for two days now.

The first day I felt fine. Then today after I took the Focalin I felt strange again. Same feeling...my body was in slow motion, weird feeling in my head, just lilke you had described. I was supposed to speak to my doctor today but she never called me back...think it's time for a new doctor. She hasn't been very helpful. I'm also not happy that she is telling me to take the Focalin XR two to three times per day and it is a once per day pill!

Hopfully I'll get in touch with her tomorrow. I will stick with it if these are just temporary side effects, but if not, I definetely want to try something else. I don't want to feel like this all the time. It really is a horrible feeling.

When you started taking the new medication, did you have any side effects? I'm hoping that once I get adjusted to whichever medication I wind up on, that I won't feel anything strange. Just that I will be able to concentrate and get things done.

Thanks again for the info.