I am thinking of trying Focalin XR for my 7yr old daughter. I was wondering if anyone has tried this medication and what you think of it. And if you have not tried it why?
My daughter is very active, not swinging from the chandalers, but she does not sleep much and have been a lot more aggressive over the past year. She was on concerta and last month we switched to Strattera hoping that would help with the aggressive behavior and OCD issue. It has going worse and with the new school year starting at the end of next month I have to get things going on the right track.

Any help or information would be great! Thanks Sonja

Yes, my daugter is on Focalin XR, though taking the summer off of it. She didn't do well on Adderall nor Strattera. Focalin was the answer. The doctor had her start slowly, not on the XR, but on the short term dose that lasts only around 3-4 hours. She started on 2.5 mg and increased by 2.5 - very slowly. After a couple of weeks on the short term dose, she was switched to one morning dose of 20mg Focalin XR which lasts the whole school day. She can take a short term dose when she gets home to help her through homework. The great thing about Focalin is does not affect her eating habits nor her sleep. This has been the answer for her. She is happy and able to concentrate. :)

Hope this helps!

Thank You so much for the info. No matter how many articals you read I find ot very helpful to talk to parents and get their point of view.

I really think this is what I am going to try my daughter is so misarable right now. She is only 7 and she knows she doesn't feel right and she just keeps saying "I am so ssorry mommy I am trying to stop" or "I want to sleep at night like my brother" and the worst is "your the best mom because you love me when I am bad" I can't live with knowing she feels so bad inside.

Again thank you for you time.

I tried it last year, the same time my 14 year old son did.

It didn't work for either of us. I even up'd my dose to see if it was just me, I felt it and then it just poof went away.
We have both came off Concerta which had some ugly side effects for us , and are both doing well on Adderall XR.
Since we are all so different. Keep trying until you find a good one.
My doc said that happens about 35% of the time in his history of prescriping it.

Sorry to be late on this one. Focalin was the first med tried on my 8yo daughter. The 2.5mg fast acting dose worked great on her. After we got comfortable with it we went to the 5mg XR version. It works, but I think we will need to up the dose when school starts. Surprisingly the 2.5mg short acting dose has more affect than the 5mg XR version.

Our daughter is thin and the med has not affected her eating habits, so we are happy about that. BTW our daughter is the innatentive ADD type. We have not seen any side affects from the med.