jal

Member
psychiatrist suggested it was time to try to address ADHD issue again since difficult child has been stable on Depakote, Abilify, Straterra and Tenex. We are eliminating Straterra and dropping Tenex so he should be done with-that one in a week. Introduced Focalin ER today. difficult child has never done well with-stims (Ritalin, Adderrall, Metadate etc., etc.), but he also had never really been stable before. Warned school and daycare. Has anyone had experience with-a difficult child that had bad reactions to stims when not stable only to have some success when stable and stims were reintroduced?

Thank you.
 

4sumrzn

New Member
We gave Focalin a try a long time ago. We were also having issues with stims at that time & decided to take difficult child off of it. BUT, after many, many months now.....we started Vyvanse on Monday. Monday was not the best day, one issue with hitting. Overall, much calmer day though. Tues & Wed much better with the kids I watch & good days. Yesterday......OMG......difficult child was calm & played with her baby ALL DAY LONG!!!!!!! No kids here, which probably helped. Just a differnt child, I was so happy for her!!!!! SO, I'm personally going stick it out with the stimulant & see how it goes because I can't believe the difference the past few days!

***I'm just praying the evil doesn't come out like it did in the past!
 

jal

Member
We did Vyvanse too and one other one which I can't recall the name. He just never had success with-them. We were extremely weary to start this process again, but he cannot not focus for you know what!
 

crazymama30

Active Member
My difficult child cannot do stims unless stable on a mood stablizer, and then he is very sensitive. He is on the lowest does of Daytrana and 200 mg Lamictal. We tried to bump up the daytrana and it did not work. Made me realize how good he is where he is at now.
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
difficult child 1 does great with short-acting Focalin -- I use it as the morning starter because the Daytrana patch takes so long to start working. I get a pleasant cooperative kid within 30 min.

difficult child 2 used to do fine on it, but is extremely sensitive now and I don't think it's very good for him. He used to need a VERY high dose but we think that's because his mood disorder was coming out. I gave him 5mg yesterday to see how he handled it, and although he was calm, focused, emotionally level, non-provocative -- all good, BUT he was VERY shaky, didn't want to eat anything (a change from the Seroquel making him eat constantly), and a little anxious. SO I can see that it's not the right choice for controlling the ADHD part for him.

Maybe your experience will be different. It's frustrating to have to go through so much trial and error, but there's no other way to know for sure...
 

Bugsy

New Member
My son aslo had very bad reactions to many stimulants while not very stable on mood medications. We tried focalin a year ago. He was more stable but he did not do well with focalin. I think we had to pull it after a day or so. We resisted trying any stimulant again but we started 18mg concerta and he has been able to handle it and it has helped the focus. We tried upping it but that caused his anxiety to become severe.
 
Tink was on Focalin for awhile. First we tried Metadate, then Focalin. Metadate made her evil and Focalin made her weepy.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.
 

Christy

New Member
Focalin was bad for my difficult child. The raging and agression started almost immediately.
I understand why you want to try it but in my humble opinion, if your difficult child is stable, don't rock the boat!

Of course, everyone reacts differently.
Good luck!
Christy
 
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