I began taking 15mg of FocalinXR back in may, felt nothing. After three weeks, dr change rx to 20mg 1x day. Things seemed to be better, but my schedule change from working 30+hrs a week and school (was in 17 credit hours), to nothing, its hard to tell.
Since 6/16 I'm supposed to be taking FocalinXR 15mg twice a day. Once in the morning, and again when I feel it wear off.

Here is the problem(s):

I forget to take it. When i do its at different times every day. Forgot to take it for the last week or so.

I'm supposed to bet racking "symptoms" of ADHD, if they are gone, worse, etc.

Supposed to be tracking when meds begin to work and wear off.

I'm going to be in my ESE teaching internship starting Aug. 13, main reason i finally went to dr for rx.

SO, I took it today and about and 90 mins later felt Jittery, did eat with it. When I take it before, I am able to nap, and do everything normal, def. less reactive, able to deal with 'life' better, and feel positive or happier about everything.

I guess I mainly need some advice on knowing how to track everything. Its hard seeing differences myself, and due to major schedule changes life is not normal right now already, but i still lose things daily, forget, etc...

Also, wondering what happens if you take FocalinXR or similar drug and do not actually have ADHD. I guess I'm going through the process of questioning diagnosis, but still want to know what happens if you don't have adhd and take it, then i can agree with the dr.

Any help is much appreciated! Thanks!

Hi luckybug, and welcome to the forums.

I understand what you mean when you say "questioning diagnosis." I think I have been doing that off and on for years.

These drugs can, and often do effect each of us differently. Sometimes just the slightest variation in a dose can make a tremendious difference in a given patients response to a drug. It's also true that just the slightest variation in a chemical can make a tremendous difference in a given patients response to a drug. For example, dexmethylphenidate compared to methylphenidate, or dextroamphetamine compared to amphetamine.

I hope you are able to keep us posted as this thing unfolds for you. ;)

So I took the medicine today, and taught in a preschool for 6 hours. I took my first dose about 20mins before working. No side effects today, not sure if it was because I was moving around or what. But 20 noisy three and four year olds gives me lots of stimulation, and my focus can't stay on only one thing for more than 2 seconds, or i'm not doing my job. So today went well, and I'm about to take my second dose since i've got 6 more hours before bed. Here's hoping tomorrow goes well! Of course after tomorrow, I'm back to staying home and not doing much cept supposed to be packing up my 1400sq ft house by July 21.