Focalin for ADHD User Reviews (Page 3)

• Anonymous
• January 11, 2011

"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."

• Tri...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• February 28, 2017

"My son is now going on 9. We started out with Adderall 5 mg XR at age 5. As he got older, we adjusted and went to 5 mg twice a day. However, there were massive side effects with the Adderall, mainly moods, anger, frustration, among many others that I noticed at the age of seven. We then started Focalin, however, when we started the Focalin, my son was put on a 20 mg dose to start extended release capsule. He took the medication, went to school, and every day after lunch, when the second dose kicked in, he would constantly have massive rage, massive hallucinations, massive amounts of itching, breakouts, among other things. The 20 mg XR was way too strong for him. We downgraded to a 10 mg XR with a 2.5 mg immediate release for backup. Best decision we've made."

• Mom...
• June 7, 2016

"My sixteen-year-old son began taking 15 mg of the generic Focalin and had great results, unfortunately, the side effects are beginning to bother him after one year of successfully taking the medicine. It seems the gastrointestinal issues are making him weary, and he has asked to discontinue the medicine despite the stellar grades. Hoping a switch to a lower dose may work."

• Hel...
• July 20, 2011

"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 upside, this medication works well for 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 known this before Focalin."

• sto...
• January 23, 2012

"My 10-year-old daughter had her doctor's appointment on Friday. She started Focalin 5 mg on Saturday. Last night, 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."

• bla...
• September 17, 2009

"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."

• Anonymous
• October 4, 2011

"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 Vyvanse. The 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."

• A k...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• April 19, 2017

"I just started taking it for two days, and I hate it. The first day, I started twitching and shaking, and my stomach felt so uncomfortable. The second day, it felt worse. I had a dry throat, uncomfortable stomach, less twitching, and I felt so useless. The worst thing about it was it was supposed to make me focus, and it does not even help. I just hate how I have to lie about how I feel - I say I'm okay, but I'm so far from being okay."

• pre...
• January 19, 2018

"The doctor started me off with 10 mg. It seemed to never 'fully' kick in, I would feel some effects, mostly just staring out into space and daydreaming. I told my doctor this, and he just said I needed to refocus my focus. (He's a hippie, y'all.) Then when I finally convinced him to up it to see if I would actually feel anything more, it just amps my anxiety and makes me extremely tired. You can forget about taking a second extended-release capsule after that one wears off, it just makes you more tired and amps your anxiety more, makes you jittery and really on edge, and also makes your heart beat incredibly fast. Would not recommend."

• Tex...
• October 6, 2009

"My 9-year-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 nonstop 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."

• Ric...
• December 1, 2015

"I love how it makes you more focused on one thing. But it has too many bad things to it. First, you have loss of hunger for a longer period of time. Then you get this bad stomach feeling like barely fainting or puking. Your muscles start to twitch, and you feel annoying and hostile. I also feel like crying at random points, and it is pretty embarrassing."

• Anonymous
• January 28, 2018

"My 13-year-old daughter was switched to Focalin. After a few days, the feelings of sadness, anxiety, and sleeplessness caused her not to be able to deal with it, and she tried to commit suicide. If you read up on this medicine, the FDA is asking for that to become one of the side effect warnings for this medication. My daughter was placed in a behavioral center that could help her, and she has not taken any more ADHD medication since that day. She told me (her mom), 'I will never do that again, but that medicine made me feel so sad, and my thoughts weren't my own.' Never again will my daughter take this medication or anything for ADHD!"

• ADD...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• October 12, 2015

"I have no insurance and am currently back in school for counseling, social work.... let's say Human Resources. I am 34 years old, can't get insurance with parents, I'm way over 25! I clean homes and babysit to get extra cash for gas and needs, and thankfully my parents have extra rooms. Also, luckily, I have no kids. I was getting my 70 mg Vyvanse meds all paid for with a card, but after renewing, I was denied due to being unable to read the doctor's last name and having no proof of income... I have none. I was currently taking 30 mg Adderall 2x per day, the doctor wanted to try this and luckily it was about the same price. Now the Adderall is now half as much, so I must sacrifice. This medicine is by far the best medication I have found for my condition. I may just have to pay more for this, best!!!"

• nat...
• April 12, 2016

"I have struggled with ADHD for 10 years, and finally my doc did something about it. :) However, I did have sleeping problems for the first few weeks, but that was expected with it being a stimulant. But after a month or so, my sleeping is back to normal and my mind is not spinning out of control, so thanks, doc!"

• adh...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 2, 2019

"I switched to Focalin after taking Adderall XR for about 5 years. Adderall XR worked, but I thought that there must be something better, so my doctor put me on Focalin. Today has been my third day on the new medication, and I feel awful. As someone who has acid reflux, Focalin worsened my heartburn and caused me to gag every 10 minutes for no reason. Focalin barely helped me focus during my class, and I couldn't drive because of how weak I was and how much I shook. This medicine has given me diarrhea and constant headaches. Needless to say, I will be going back to Adderall XR."

• Geo...
• September 26, 2015

"I'm a 17-year-old girl, and Focalin was the first medication I ever used to treat my ADHD. It was the worst! Like many others, I felt extremely anxious. I also constantly felt unattached to the world. Even worse, it didn't even help me focus! I was too busy having overwhelming feelings of anxiety to be focused. However, I wouldn't say you shouldn't try this medication, as it seems to work for others. I just know that if you feel any sense of anxiety, it's abnormal. I'm on Vyvanse now, and I have no problems with anxiety. Just a few minor symptoms, but it works great."

• adu...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• January 8, 2023

"Started taking Focalin 18 months ago after being diagnosed with ADHD as an adult, and it’s been a miracle. I deal with anxiety, anger, impulsivity, and sensory integration, but it wasn’t obvious because I was a “good kid” with good grades who hid my extreme emotions to avoid criticism. I’m also physically awkward and uncoordinated, so I often get hurt or break and lose objects a lot. In my 30s, I went from a high-functioning overachiever to barely functioning at all. I became edgy and irritable constantly, cried for hours a day from sheer terror or rage over nothing, then felt exhausted and paralyzed. My nervous system was cranked up to 11 and wouldn’t turn off. After taking the first dose of Focalin, I could think more clearly, regulate my emotions, and am much less clumsy. I take Focalin XR 30mg in the morning and regular Focalin 10mg as needed in the afternoon."

• sug...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 8, 2015

"I am an 18-year-old female with ADHD, and my doctor just switched me from Vyvanse 30 mg to taking Focalin 10 mg XR, and I absolutely hate it. Vyvanse worked for me but would make me bite my lip often in class, which was very odd, but something I could work with. Focalin makes me socially anxious (keep in mind I am the most social and extroverted girl), jittery, and worry about random things. I am going to the doctor tomorrow after taking it for 2 days and going back to Vyvanse."

• Itz...
• January 26, 2011

"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."

• the...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 24, 2021

"I have ADHD, and I was prescribed 10 mg, and it's an amazing lifesaver. Man, I'm better at regulating my emotions, I can actually focus now! I developed depression from my ADHD, which isn't uncommon, but I'm really happy, and I feel better now too! The only issue is that sometimes I get really anxious and on edge when it starts to kick in, but that usually dissipates once it kicks in, and it helps to take with food."

• Tay...
• July 22, 2011

"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 my monthly cycle. However, no other complaints yet. Also on Lisinopril (20 mgs) for blood pressure and Metoprolol (beta-blocker to reduce beta waves for anxiety; 25 mgs). Concerta XR was good too and had the same effect."

• chr...
• November 27, 2010

"I put my 6 yr old on this, 5 mgs 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. He has no reactions that I can tell."

• ind...
• May 4, 2010

"38-year-old 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 a strong negative reaction to Vyvanse. Doc said there was something unusual about how my body metabolizes this particular medication. Concerta has done well for me, considering Ritalin SR due to cost."

• Adu...
• October 4, 2022

"Excellent experience, I take only 5 mg per day and it actually lowers my anxiety and emptiness to zero! I have borderline personality disorder, so I suffer a lot of emptiness and I worry a lot. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that those symptoms are gone. The only side effect is that some nights I feel absolutely exhausted, so my body is processing it very differently. I never took any drugs, so I guess for my extremely healthy body, 5 mg is a lot!"

• Anonymous
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 21, 2015

"Experienced zombie-like state, very hostile, constant headache, felt a feeling of sadness come over me and wanted to cry randomly. I talk with my doc who told me to decrease my dosage, but I still had these effects. On to something else."