Has anyone experienced difficulty urinating or bladder spasms with Focalin? My 7 yo son takes Focalin XR 10mg and had bladder spasms today. I remember reading that it is a rare side effect, but our doctor said he has never heard of that.

I will be following up with a ped. urologist to rule anything else out, but am curious if anyone has similar experience? (It happened a few weeks ago when he was on vyvanse-- took him off it and no problems until now.)

Thanks!

This is not a common side effect but not unheard of. Both the bladder and the muscle holding the urinary tract closed are partially controlled by the sympathetic nervous system and may be affected by either Vyvanse or Focalin. My guess is that the spasms will subside with time, but definitely not a bad idea to have it checked out.

Some other drugs can cause problems with urination, such as morphine (opiates) and various muscle relaxants.

As for bladder spasms, that sound terribly PAINFUL. Yeow!

[The newer versions of ritalin-based drugs seem to have a lot of adverse effects like this.]

That's why I like the old drugs better (e.g. dexedrine). They've been around for 50+ years for a reason.

Think the name for that (to help with Google searches, etc) is DYSURIA.

From what I found (search under Ritalin or Methylphenidate), it seems to come from 'increased bladder sphincter tone'.

I just posted in the Adderall section. My daughter (16yo) ended up at childrens because her bladder just stopped working. It was definitly full - she just could not urinate. she had just upped her dosage of adderall from 15 mg to 25 mg a day. we spent 8 hours in the Er before they finally figured out what it was. her uroligist works at childrens hospital and was able to figure out what was happening. The ER DR had never heard of it. They put her on some meds to loosen the muscles but she is still holding fluid.

I was shocked i did not know this was a side effect of Adderall. I had no idea.

Bekki