Focalin XR for ADHD User Reviews (Page 3)

• Captain...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 3, 2018

"I didn’t get diagnosed till I was 30. I’m 31 now. I was taking adderall XR 25mg. I just didn’t feel it working like it should. So my Dr. switched me to focalin xr 30mg. I read the starting dose is 10mg for adults, I guess since I took a higher dose of adderall my dr felt it was best to get me going on a higher dose of focalin. My job is working on the phones I have to call about 300 people a day. There is no way I would be able to perform my job well if I wasn’t taking this medication. I’m focused and not bored, I’m not day dreaming all day, I’m staying in my seat, I don’t have a messy desk. This stuff works."

• Momma...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 21, 2013

"I gave my 4 year old his first dose at 7 am on a Friday- by 3pm he was running, hitting back flips off the bed and could not stay asleep. I called the doctor she said discontinue. His heart was beating out his chest- I was so scared I sat and watched him all night and his heart beat like that through the next day. No more stimulants for him. "

• Anonymous
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• September 2, 2012

"My son has been on Focalin XR for a few years and we started at 15mg once a day and he seemed to do fine for a while and then teachers noticed some problems with attention. We have never had behavior problems and he has always seemed happy in school and at home. We increased to 20mg a day about 6-9 months ago and he just now told me that he is having suicidal thoughts and has been for a while, so will be talking to his doctor about cutting it back to 15mg a day and see if this helps."

• TJ Wa...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• February 25, 2022

"Well I've been on focalin for over a month now and I can honestly ask is this normal for most people? I never wanted to take any drugs for my autism and ADHD but after it almost costing me my marriage, spending time with my daughter, almost losing my career and losing my car keys lol, I decided to take a pharmaceutical approach. I have felt the rush and energy but I feel more calm and collected. I can actually understand more social situations now and I don't have a lot of my autism ticks when I'm on focalin. I feel calm relaxed and focused. My anxiety is gone now and my depression has subsided because it was autism oriented. I have gone from almost losing my job to being someone my company doesn't want to lose. My marriage rebounded and we are doing great again after therapy of course but we are doing great again. I enjoy every second with my daughter without my ADHD, anxiety or depression kicking in. I have a little withdrawal from it since I only take it 5 to 6 days a week as needed"

• Anonymous
• November 3, 2010

"I am a adult, recently diagnosed with ADD. Probably had it my whole life, but now I am doing something about it. My doctor prescribed this medication, and at first, I was so focused and improving my error ratio's at work. The only thing even after increasing my dose, it wears off. By 1:00pm, I am tired and can go to sleep. I think I am going to ask my doctor to give me the non extended so I can take it in the am, and pm. Other than that, it is a great medicine, and I don't have the non-appetite side effect, in fact, it makes me want to eat more."

• Mom...
• September 17, 2008

"My son is 13 and he has tried several different prescriptions for ADHD. This one does seem to be the best so far. I have read about the max of dose being 20 ml and that is what he is on. Once the medicine wears off he can be very difficult to manage with his attitude and behavior. It is ends up being a very stressful situation when he gets this way. "

• 17...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 19, 2019

"I see a lot of negative reviews, however Focalin XR is doing very well for me and my ADHD! I have been taking medications since I was in the first grade, and I can definitely tell the difference when I’m on this medication. I think my dose still needs to be messed with a little, but I feel a lot better. The only problem is that I’m losing a little bit of weight. Not a bad thing, but something to keep an eye on."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• November 22, 2015

"My Son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was 4 years old he Is now 7 before finding Focalin his doctor started him on Ritalin he was only on it for 3 days because it made him zombified and depressive with many mood swings then he started Vyvanse for a few weeks but it gave him some kind of allergic reaction in his throat. Finally he was put on Focalin 10ml and for the last 3 years it has been doing him great. He does awesome in school and also at home he can focus and he is happy. The only bad part is he has absolutely no appetite from 10 min after he takes the pill- 6hrs later. He drinks cyproheptad syrup 2mg to help boost his appetite while on the Focalin."

• Anonymous
• December 10, 2011

"I was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 7. I started with Concerta to treat it but as time went on the side effects and the dosage being 135mg was getting annoying. I have noticed that Focalin XR has fewer side effects than Concerta. Also, I eat a good deal more and I can sleep when taking it. I also read in the comments that the maximum dosage is 20mg? I take 35mg and will probably up my dose. Other than that it is a very good medication."

• Neary
• December 8, 2016

"My son takes Focalin XR for his adhd. I like the medicine but my only complaint is a side effect that is not listed anywhere when I research Focalin. The side effect my son experiences is digging in the ear or the sensation of something in his ear that he needs to get out. The higher the dosage the worse the digging is. I have talked to the doctors, had his ears checked and put on allergey medicines, he still digs in his ears. He does really well with the medicine in school and activities out side of school. I have not seen any other side effect for this medication."

• Ameli...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• July 4, 2016

"I've been taking 20mg of Focalin XR for the past 2 years and have experienced great improvement in mental function and all around health. Focalin has allowed me to focus and be aware of a situation. I have been more efficient at work, more aware of my health and wellbeing, and able to process situations more appropriately. My biggest complaint has been with sleep patterns. Some nights I can sleep 6 hours or I can sleep for 14 and I CAN NOT fall asleep right away. My FitBit has mixed reports, but they are questionable. This is something I have tried to "tweak" with my doctor, but we have not had any success. My second complaint is nausea, but that we have been able to tweak with food consumption and timing."

• Anonymous
• April 12, 2009

"My daughter started this medication about 3 months ago. Her grades and reading levels have soared and we don't have as much trouble getting her to concentrate on homework but when it comes time for bed, she's a handful and irritable still when confronted with certain tasks to be done like chores. I am not going to consider another medication on top of this but will instead consider a behavior intervention."

• Anonymous
• June 4, 2010

"My son started taking this at 6, he was violent with family members, and would not pay attention in class, refusing to do homework, sometimes hitting other kids. He had never been on any other behavior modification medication before. We noticed a big difference when he started taking Focalin XR. His teacher started sending home good notes. He was doing well in school, but by the time he got home the medication had worn off, and we were dealing with the same problems. Now he has been on it for 2 months, it seems as though his body has just gotten used to the medicine and his former behavior had taken over. Now we are consulting his Doctor to see if the medication needs to be increased, or where to go from here."

• Nan
• Taken for 10 years or more
• November 2, 2022

"I've taken Focalin XR for 15 years, and started in the 1st grade. It worked well when I was a kid, because it would turn my brain on for the school day, then I'd go back to my normal self by dinner. Now that I'm an adult, this window of useful brain time is less effective, but a longer lasting dose gives me insomnia. The feeling of being on or off gets very stressful, and isn't great for my relationships. When the medication wears off, I get exhausted and crash. I loved my meds as a kid when it felt like I had a school mode and a play mode, but as an adult I'm leaning more towards more subtle non stimulant options."

• Cool...
• August 16, 2018

"I've always had ADD but didn't start trying to get help with it until I was about to start college. I tried Adderall for 2 weeks and became unable to eat and felt constantly awful. It was obvious Adderall wasn't working for me, so my doctor recommend Focalin XR, and I really can't recommend it enough. About a week after taking Focalin (10mg twice daily) I went from that to being able to work without distraction for at least 4 hours. I could focus on all the things I enjoyed for longer periods. I was no longer asking my friends and others "I'm sorry could you repeat that?" like I was before constantly. It has also helped me with my depression, I feel so much more motivated and I'm able to finally organize things without it feeling like a chore. Sadly it's quite expensive, unless you have very good insurance. My previous insurance covered it until I turned 19 at about $5, but with my current insurance it's $170/month with a discount coupon."

• 44frye
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 10, 2023

"Prescribed 20mg. Gives me terrible nausea and last about 3 hours before a huge crash that renders me even worse than before taking it. I really wish my doctor would just fill my old prescription of Dexedrine but she refuses because “there’s better medicines out there”. Been on straterra, Vyvanse, Adderall, intuniv, and now this, and nothing has come close to working as well as Dexedrine"

• Max
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 28, 2019

"Long story short I was previously on Vyvanse 40mg a day, and I decided I wanted to try Focalin XR. Before that I was on Concerta and absolutely hated it, when I was a kid I apparently did very well on it, but not anymore. So I decided to give Focalin XR a try, and it works very well! The only 2 issues I have is the questionable quality of the release beads among certain generic manufacturer, and the severity of the crash."

• Johns...
• July 13, 2019

"Whenever I take this medication I feel bored of everything. I will just sit and do nothing instead of doing things I normally enjoy. I am not hungry and become unsociable. Sometimes get shaky. Grades seemed to improve slightly. Not worth it at all."

• Abby
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• February 11, 2021

"When I first started, it was great except that it made me less hungry. Very soon however I started to get angry on it, I would shake, I would binge on weekends after not eating all week, and I became depressed. I started it in third grade and finally got off it in eighth grade. Now I take Intuniv (2mg), Lexapro (15mg), Adderall XR (10mg), and Adderall (5mg). Obviously I take a lot more medication but I am stable and a mixture of these medications works best for me. The only side effects from the Adderal XR and Adderall are slight appetite decrease and some tremors and ticking but the Intuniv helps a little and I just make sure to eat before my second dose of Adderall."

• Focalin...
• March 8, 2016

"My son started haveing behavior problems in pre school. We had some teachers put up with it while the next year another wouldn't. They'de go out of their way to displine him,cause face it their human and just didn't like him. He still got straight a's and b's. We decided hey he's just hyped he has good grades we re not gonna dope our kid up. We'll we moved he went to a new school where teachers didn't know him and they started letting him fall behind. In principles office everday. Then we found foclin it was night and day.They put him in special classe last three months of year. By the end of three months they had already decided he didn't need the classes and for three years now a lilltle babytalk no incidents or trips to office."

• 9yr...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• November 24, 2015

"We had no results on this medication. Granted we only took the 5mg but her emotions were so heightened she would start crying for no reason. The teachers didn't see a difference and her grades started going down. The side effects were to intense for her on 5mg, there was no way I going to go up and have it worse. We are now going to try Vyvanse 10mg. We will see if this change helps."

• Jane...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 26, 2019

"I was prescribed this as my first treatment for ADHD when I was (finally) diagnosed at age 18. It helped me calm down a little, I could go to work and not feel the urgent need to go home. But then I would start crying at work, in public. I would cry to my parents until they couldn’t handle me anymore. The comedown from when it wears off was HORRIBLE for me. I have GAD, but the anxiety I experienced was nothing like that. It was acute fear and dread that came rushing in for the next 4-6 hours after the meds wore off. Also I should mention I lost feeling in my hands and feet. I tried taking it for about a month but it wasn’t worth it. Four years later I still haven’t found something that works."

• College...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 1, 2023

"I've been taking generic Concerta for a couple of years now, but I found out that the manufacturer stopped making it, so I have to try something else. I got prescribed Focalin ER 10 mg, and I was taking Concerta 27 mg. I'd say Focalin makes my brain go faster and gives me racing thoughts but doesn't necessarily make me more effective. It feels as if I drank coffee throughout the day. I definitely don't enjoy life as much on this medication, and I'm thinking of switching to something else. I'm tired of the anxiety and fast heart rate as well. Concerta made me feel more capable and effective as a person, and this medication does not."

• Maen
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• January 17, 2022

"HORRIBLE! This was the first ADHD medication I was prescribed and it not only was I a minor at the time but it literally caused me such paranoia that it drove me to attempt to take my life and I was involuntarily hospitalized. I was switched to different meds and it was a totally different experience and not only helped my ADHD but calmed me down! I brushed it off thinking that it’s just the risk you take with stimulants and that I needed to find the right one for me until I met someone else who experienced the same, googled the medication and one of the first things that comes up is a warning about how it commonly causes paranoia but also PSYCHOSIS!! And that 35% of people that take focalin report having a negative experience over a positive and only 45% having a positive experience! I’d ask my doctor about other options if your doctor is pushing this drug in particular, personally!"

• Anonymous
• Taken for less than 1 month
• June 16, 2022

"This is probably the best medication I have been on for ADHD. My first day taking I feel calm, focused, and able to deal with frustrations at work in a very peaceful mindset. Would highly recommend this medication."