tryinghard

New Member
My difficult child has been on Metadate for about five years. We have tried Dexadrine, Concerta and Strattera but he has severe side effects.

He still has issues at school (day dreaming, behavioral,) and some behavorial issues at home so we are looking at trying something new. We tried Dayterra but he hated the patch.

I am wondering if Focalin might be a good one to try.
 

smallworld

Moderator
What side effects did he experience with Dexadrine, Concerta and Strattera? What behavioral issues is he exhibiting at school and at home?
 

tryinghard

New Member
On Dexadrine he was 100% perfect at school and at home except it made his stomach hurt and gave him headaches. On Concerta he was so high he just shook (this was the first medicine we tried and only gave it to him once) on Straterra he was fine for a few weeks and then became emotional with comments about hurting himself. We took him off immediately.

At home 95% of the time he is fine. 5% he is hyper, unfocused, doesn't follow directions\instructions, implusive...it is like the medicine is not working. At school he has good days and then days where the medicine does not seem to be working (like home).
 

smallworld

Moderator
All kids vary in their response to ADHD stimulants. Unfortunately, it is a trial and error process to find the best one for your child. Focalin is refined Ritalin (methylphenidate -- the same ingredient in Metadate), which means it is supposed to have fewer side effects. It might be worth a try. My son took Focalin XR for about a year, but we ultimately discontinued it because we now think his inattention is caused more by mood issues than true ADHD.
 

Christy

New Member
Focalin like the rest of the stimulents we tried caused my son to rage. He took it for only two days and that was one day too long! But like others have said, results vary as our difficult children are all different. We have had good luck controlling adhd with small doses of clonodine (.05 mg 3x's/day).
Best of luck!
Christy
 

gcvmom

Here we go again!
We have good experiences with Focalin. I use the short-acting in the morning for both difficult child's because it takes the Daytrana patch so long to start working -- the Focalin kicks in after 30 min. I give it to them 1/2 hour before they need to get up for school. When they are going out the door, we put the patch on (it takes at least an hour to start working for them) so by the time it's working, the Focalin is wearing off. I also use it as a booster after school, since we seem to get about 9 hours of coverage with the patch, and they still have to be able to get homework done.
 
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