User Reviews for Focalin

My daughter (6 years old) has been on Focalin for 30 days now, to control her ADHD. This is our wonder drug. Gives her the control she needs, without making her have ups and downs. She hasn't experienced any problems with sleep, and we can see the medicine leave her after about 6 hours.

I just started taking Focalin, 5mg. the long acting type a week ago for ADHD. My doctor assures me that the drug should be out of my system within 6-7 hours if that and I should have no problem falling asleep. I take th medication at 7:30 in the morning and don't try to fall asleep until 11pm that night but to no avail I can't sleep. This is definately scaring me. I feel I'm developing insomina...maybe I should discontinue use even though it helps with my ADHD.

My 7 year old who has had epilepsy since age 1 was diagnosed with ADHD about a year ago. We recently started him on Focalin XR as his first form of treatment. A little afraid of the side effects because he has had severe side effects in the past from various seizure medicines, but once we found the right seizure medicine for him he's been seizure free. Our next task was of finding an ADHD medicine that would work well with the seizure medicine -this was a bit frightening. He's been on Focalin for about a month and it really is a wonder drug. I have a goal in life to keep my kids off drugs, but I've accepted that some medicines are needed in children. This stuff is a blessing to my family and most importantly to my son.

I started taking this medication 1 month ago and have had absolutely no ill effects from it. My first worry was not being able to sleep once I heard the word "stimulant". Not an early riser I set my alarm clock to go off at 6AM just to take the pill! Now I am taking it much later and have absolutely no ill effects. Seem to have more energy, sleep better and starting to get some things accomplished instead of dabbling in two or three different things.

My 8 year old son has been on this medicine for 1 year. At first it was great, it helped with his self control, focus, etc. Now he is having side effects such as, chest pain, aggressiveness, irritability and tics.

At first it was extremely helpful but after the first year or so of extended use, the effects begin to diminish. Not dramatically but enough to be noticed.

This medication has been a God send in some ways. I am an adult executive that suffers from ADD/ADHD and I use the XR version of this on an as needed basis, usually when I have lots of mundane paper work to get through that would never otherwise get done due to my lack of ability to naturally focus on tasks like that.

My 6 year old grandson has been on Focalin for 2 months. We noticed an immediate behavior change in that he has so much more focused in school, less outbursts and getting daily "Perfect Day" behavior charts. He is so much happier now and although we are still watching, we haven't seen any side effects.

My daughter (6 yrs old) began on Focalin (10 MG) a month ago. We noticed she suffered from no ill side effects; rather she became more "in tune" with others feelings and emotions, slept even more soundly at night, and did not have a loss of appetite. Unfortunately, it did not stay in her system long enough to get her through school and homework so her Doctor adjusted her dose (20 MG). Now she is loving it! For the first time, she is receiving high marks on her behavior at school, is able to communicate better with her friends, and (in her words) "stay focused and in control". The beauty of this, it leaves her system after about 10 hrs (she takes it at 7 am) and we are able to practice behavior modification procedures at home with her.

My 9 year old son has been on various medicines for ADHD since he was 6. We just switched to Focalin 10 mg about 2 weeks ago. We are noticing that by about 1:00 in the afternoon it is completely out of his system and there is no focus. We are going to try a booster dose of 5 mg in the afternoon. I'm going to talk to our doctor about lowering his morning dose because he feels shaky and tired, which I thought would have subsided by now. His focus is terrific but I wonder if we can get the same results by knocking down the dose a bit and adding the booster. Other than that, his sleep and eating habits are the same. Whew!

My 7 year old son has been taking Focalin for a few months now. At first all was great. Now there is a great deal of explosive behavior. We have made an appointment with a counselor to begin some 1 on 1 and family counseling.

My 9 yr old son who has ADHD and ODD has been on Focalin XR for roughly 5 months now after going through 3 other different medicines for his ADHD that produced a lot of side effects. He dropped down to 42 lbs. VERY SCARY, and he would refuse to eat, period. He also takes 1 mg of Risperdal at night. He has a very high tolerance and is given 40 mg of Focalin XR daily. This is the only drug I have found that does not affect his appetite. He eats non stop when he gets home from school until he goes to bed at night. It has calmed him down but it seems to wear off after 6 hours. Other than that, this medication is GREAT and I will continue to give it to my son.

My son started Focalin 10mg about 3 weeks ago. He does great in school but I have noticed when Focalin wears off his moods explode. He gets aggravated at the drop of a pin. He has also told me his stomach hurts all the time.

My daughter (8 yrs old) started taking Focalin 5 weeks into this school year. Her teacher agrees that it is working wonderfully for her. She is focused and her grades are great. She was struggling to read, to make it through a regular school day, to do homework and to get along. We asked her how she feels on Focalin and she said " I feel so much better". She is on 15 mg once daily and it is SUPER.

My 7 yr old has been on Focalin for 5 weeks with no side effects. His teacher noticed a difference in him on the FIRST day which amazed me. I didn't even have a chance to tell her he was taking it and she commented that he was more focused, better behaved, etc. So far, it's been great!

My 7.5 year old son has been taking 10mg Focalin for nearly a year. Immediately it was a "miracle" for us. He had good behavior marks in school, could finish his work and we were getting along better at home too. About a month ago it seemed like maybe he had outgrown his dose, we upped it to 15mg. Immediately again, great results. But, we spent 4 hours in the ER tonight getting 2 EKGs & xrays because of his chest pains and irregular heartbeat. Final diagnosis: stop taking Focalin. As much as I loved the behavior and focus improvements he had from the drug, I love him more and can't risk damaging his heart.

38 year oid female - within three days of taking this medication (1/day at lowest dosage) I was suicidal. Depression, but NO previous history of suicidal tendencies. There were no other changes in my life other than this medication. I recovered quickly after stopping taking Focalin. I also had strong negative reaction to Vyvanse. Doc said there was something unusual about how my body metabolizes this particular medications. Concerta has done well for me, considering Ritalin SR due to cost.

My 10-year son has ADHD (combined) and ODD. Focalin XR so far is the only medication that works on my son's inattentiveness. However, on 15 mg he was very moody and glassy eyed. Found out later that he was overmedicated. What I didn't like about Focalin was that he became very quiet almost Zombie like. Also, the medication did not last in his system long enough. He stopped takes Focalin XR over a year now and has been on Vyvanse (70mg.) I am considering putting him back on Focalin with a lower dose.

I put my 6 yr old on this, 5mgs about 2 weeks ago. He is at school the whole time he is on it. He takes it at 7 am and by 4 when he gets home he is back to his hyper self. I can tell a little bit of difference though. Hhe has no reactions that I can tell.

My daughter is 9. She has been taking Focalin for 1 year now and she is alarmingly thin. The doctor suggests that we should just feed her more food when she wants to eat. My daughter has always been a thin girl but now she looks sick, but on the up side this medication works well with her ADHD. She can focus and she even has friends now that she is not hitting people. My daughter is actually pretty smart but you would have never knew this before Focalin.

I'm not impressed with this medication. My daughter was having some issues with Vyvanse, so her doctor put her on this. Unfortunately she's back to her old self, completely out of control, taking hours to do a 15 minute assignment, playing with her paper, staring off into space, not focusing, etc. First thing tomorrow I'm calling her doctor and putting her back on Vyvance. Last thing I want is for her grades to slip, she's already struggling enough as it is to keep them up. The nail biting from Vyvanse is just a minor side effect that we can deal with for now, otherwise she'll fail 3rd grade entirely.

My son has been on focalin for this school year. It does calm him but his teachers say it does not help him focus. He sit at his desk and holds his pencil but will not do the work.

It is essentially the only medicine that has been prescribed for me for ADD, so I cannot compare it to others. However, I feel it is very effective. I have found greater success varying the strength over time rather than staying with a single dosage level.

37-year old female, 10 mgs about 4.30 AM; prescribed three days ago; used for ADD-like symptoms associated with Asperger's. I feel more comfortable in my skin, focus lasts for more than 12 hours. Only problems: cannot eat apples without getting spacey for about a half-an-hour (used to eat them to boost focus and energy when my Strattera wore off after four hours), and have to really fight to focus during monthly cycle. However, no other complaints, yet. Also on Lisinopril (20 mgs) for blood-pressure and Metoprolol (betamblocker to reduce betawaves for anxiety; 25 mgs). Concerta XR was good too and had the same effect.

My 10 year old daughter had her doctors appointment on Friday. She started Focalin 5mg on Saturday. Last might, Sunday, she was complaining of stomach pains. And again before school this morning. I gave her some tums and cereal, and I'm hoping for the best. The doctor said that the stomach pains will subside in about a week. She's not really "zombied", but it seems as though there's a lot less talking. She's not ADHD, just ADD. I am worrying very much. I hope that the Focalin equals out in her system soon.