Focalin Xr

If you are not wanting to go the medicine route there are various books on the market about how to control ADHD with diet. For example Red dye is the WORST!

Hi, M.~ Look into treatment with fish oil. I worked at a health food store for three years, and cannot tell you how many moms raved about what fish oil did for their children who had been diagnosed with ADHD. Some said the oil resulted in a complete reversal of symtoms. Blessings,
S.

my son is on Focalin xr 10 mg and it has made ahuge differnce in him. I know somepeople have issues with rebound we do not. It you have any questions please email me , meL

Hello Maha, please check out Dr. Block's website. She has done extensive research on this subject which you will find helpful. Dr. Block who is located in Hurst, Texas counselled one of my friends. My friend gleaned much advice from Dr. Block for herself and one of her family. I believe she has literature available as well. http://www.blockcenter.com/

Also do some research on essential fatty acids, here is an article for Dr. Mercola for you to read. http://www.mercola.com/2002/jul/20/adhd.htm

We are a homeschool family of 2 children. Homeschooling children can sometimes be trying. My son had difficulty focusing on his school work. We therefore decided to different things and are now taking cod liver oil (Carlson's lemon flavor).

Hope this helps. Please feel free to email me if you need more information.

Blessings
C.

Good Morning M., Hi I'm M. and I have a 6 year old daughter that has ADHD. I know your thinking "oh my god my niece has to be on Meds." Dont worry it will be fine. My daughter takes 2 different kinds of medication. She is on beleive it or not Clonidine (its a blood pressure medication) and Abilify. She takes the Clonidine 3x's a day and the Abilify in the morning only. I was scared to put her on medication because I was thinking she is going to be a zombie. My daughter is doing great on the medication she even tells me "Mom its time for my med." M. you and your sister have nothing to worry about. She will be tired at first and seem like its just going to knock her out. But, make sure the medication is working my daughter went through 4 diffrent medications before we found the right one. The reason my daughter is on Abilify (its a bi-polar med) my daughter has tried to commit suicide. Dont get me wrong its not because of he ADHD its because her dad use to beat her alot when she was younger. My daughter felt that she just needed to hurt herself. She has been on Abilify for 4 months and has not attempted thats a big step for us. Try looking in to some parent classes to help dealing with children with ADHD. We took classes her in Lubbock, Tx through Texas Tech University and it helped. Children with ADHD turn out to be the smartest children ever. Get her puzzels to make her focus more. My daughter can put a 100 piece puzzle together in 1 hour. Talk to her and tell her the medication is to help calm her down and make her smarter. My daughter comes home everyday from school with good stickers in her folder. Even when I take her to school she tells me "today mom I will make you proud" and I tell her "you already make me proud." It's a challange but we are happy and you all will be too. Dont stress!!! I did and its all better now. I will pray for your family and I'm here if you ever need to talk more.
M. 27 from Lubbock Texas and I'm a single parent!!! I love every minute of it.

Hi M.,

My 10 year old son is taking this medication as well. It has been a wonder! We have always known he had ADHD, even as early as 1st grade and all the behavior modification techniques started failing him in 4th grade. His diet is already closely monitored, etc, and so we talked with a great doctor in Plano and got him set up.

The positives to this drug is: It takes works immediately. Some drugs take awhile to build up into a child's system. This one is not like that that, it works right away. Also, he only takes it on school days. And he has no residual effects on his "off days."

The primary reason we did this was so he could focus on his school work and not be the random weird kid blurting out things that were not related to anything they were presently doing. It's like the drug helps slow him down long enough so he can process what he's doing so he can make a decision and get a little more control over the situation.

When we finally opted to go the route on the medication, it was hard, but he was starting to suffer not only socially, but academically. And his teacher was making allowances for him that she should not have had to make.

I did notice that the drug kind of made him emotional at the end of the day when he first started taking it, when it was wearing off. It also caused some sleeplessness and restlessness at first.

I also think this summer I will look into alternatives again, so the advice posted will be great for me to try too. It is such a difficult decision to opt to go for medication, but we need to do what's right for our kids. With all that said, we still do behavior modification, but it's not the only answer anymore.

And Focalin XR, is one of those drugs that does not change their personality or take away what you like about your child. The best example I can give is that it like a set of reigns your child has on his brain and helps to slow things down enough so they can actually react positively to the world around them and absorb the bigger picture.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, need a doctor recommendation, etc.

My son is 11 and has been on focalin xr for a year and it works wonderful. He takes 15 mg. He takes it every morning. the only side effect I have noticed is it decrease his appetite, which can't hurt him. He used to be on adurall, which it worked too.

M.

Hi M.!

My son was also just diagnosed with ADHD and we were given Metadate CR. He is 7 years old and in the 2nd grade. I can tell you that the medicine has worked wonders for him in school. His grades have gone from Cs and Ds to making the A-B Honor Roll this grading cycle. His conduct is much improved as well.

We also did not want to medicate him, but our physician told us our son score so high on the tests that he strongly recommended medication rather than trying different styles of behavior modification or diet control.

Just keep on eye on your niece for any side effects and make sure you keep in touch with the school as well. I am blessed to be in a small town where most of the staff attend our church and know my son completely.

Sending prayers your way,
J. S.
Maypearl TX

If your neice has just been diagnosed, I would try other options first. It is ultimately your family's decision to do what you think is necessary, but please exhaust all other options first. My son was diagnosed with ADHD at 3 years old. Imagine?! We listened to the docs and put him on meds. These meds eventually wore off so we put him on more meds and then some more. There were eventually so many side effects we had to take him off. It was difficult to wean.

So guess what happened. Turns out that my son does not have ADHD, he is gifted, and was getting very bored with all of the dumbed down learning in his class rooms and pre-schools.

I now work in the field of psychiatry and you should know that these medications really affect growing brains. And medications do not cure ADHD, so unless you are prepared for your niece to be on meds for the rest of her life, I would try to figure out other ways to fix the issue. Research dyes in foods and change her diet, take natural supplements that you can buy at a health food or vitamin store, such as omega 3,6, 9 supplements and other ADHD natural supplements available.

I wish you the best of luck, I know how hard it is dealing with a difficult child, but since we have made these changes in diet, education, and our way of behaving with our son, he has drastically improved.
B.

Pray, pray, pray. God will guide you through this. I have worked with these children and they are difficult but they still need to learn responsibility and obedience. Her little body will adjust, pray for protection over her and for wisdom to know how to be the parent she needs. Every child needs a little something different from us. James 1 says ask for wisdom and it will be given. Praise the Lord in all circumstances.

My husband used to be a drug rep and sell Focalin XR. Our oldest son, as well as my husband are both ADD. They were both diagnosed before my husband sold drugs. Our 12 yr old was on Ritalin LA for 2 years and I hated it. He lost his appetite as well as coming off of it really hard about 4:00 everyday. it was awful. When my husband got his job with Novartis, we had the Ped. switch him to it. It is the best thing we have ever done. There is no loss of appetite, it is a gradual release, so there are no side effects when it starts wearing off after the 12 hours and you don't have to take it for several days before it starts to work like you do with stratera or some of the other drugs. I think you will be pleased with the results you will see. Our son went from C's and D's to A's and B's in school. Hope this helps

Hi, I'm C.. Nice to meet you M.. Guatemala is a beautiful country. I have awesome friends here from their. I saw your story about your neice and want to let you know about Focalin. My son has had ADHD and been on medicine since he was 3 1/2. He took Focalin XR for a long time. It's a relatively safe and effective medicine. Chronic illness is all about finding the right tools for your individual situation. Don't be afraid to try new things. Your answer could be right around the corner.

Sometimes a child needs to be taken off of sugar products and products with the , I think it is called yellow or red additive to foods, and not too much stimulating viedo tames or TV and this will help as much as meds. Depending on how bad he is I guess.

I have two boys that were diagnosed with ADHD. My oldest takes Adderall which worked wonderfully but not on my youngest. We have tried all kinds of different medicine but didn't like all the side effects. Focalin was the first one that worked wonderfully. He doesn't act like a zombie - he still has lots of energy. The only thing I've noticed is that at the end of the day at about 4 - 5 p.m. his energy is extremely high. We love Focalin.

I just started my son after years of denying there was a problem. It's a miracle drug. He can focus with virtually no side effects. Try it, you'll be amazed!!

hola M., yo soy de mexico, y tengo un hijo que a veces pensamos que tiene lo mismo que tu sobrina, su pediatra dice que esta muy chico para determinarlo, tiene 4 anos, el problema es cuando no tiene lo que el quiere empieza a tirar todo alrededor y a pegarse el solo...te agradeceria que me contaras como evaluaron a tu sobrina para ver si coincide con mi hijo no es agresivo, pero solo escucha cuando el quiere... gracias!!!yo vivo en garland.

My daughter also has ADHD and I since I was opposed to putting her on medication right away, I searched more natural alternatives. I found a great doctor who had my daughter take a neuro-transmittet test. It was as simple as taking a urine sample. The results were astounding! She has been taking amino acids since last summer and we have seen a huge change for the better and with no drugs. The company who administers the test is is Neuroscience, you can ck them out on the web. Hope this helps

A.

This one must be a new one. My son has ADHD and at first I was very hesitant as to this type of treatment. You may have to try a few... some cause emotions out of the norm, some anger, etc. Once you find the right dose and the right medication (my son has tried several, once they get use to it over a couple years, it's good to move to a different one instead of continueing the higher dose).

You might not see the change right off, let the medication get into her system for a week or so to really judge it.

It has been a life saver for my son! His grades stay at A/B when before he struggled. He also has Dyslexsia, so it helps him to stay extra focused when it comes to reading.

These children are very unique and they need a lot of understanding, love and patients.

As you and your child become more understanding about their ADHD (read up, just remember don't put 100% trust in anything you read, each child is different), you both can work together for a great success.

The other thing I found to help is I take my son to a "specialist in this field" not his regular Pediatrition, I got a better since of everything and the medications. They teach you better with more options, etc.

Also, be sure not to use "not on your medication" as an excuse, they still have to learn the rules of house and schools, it's not a full answer it's a guide to helping them.

Good luck, just don't give up!

Dear M.,

It might be helpful to both you and your sister if your neice's pediatrician has some literature about ADHD that you might read.

I am a grandmother of 10 and have 2 beautiful grandsons who are very ADHD. In both cases they had severe problems in school until they were diagnosed (they are in the same family). Our older grandson said that it was so nice after he started his medicine because his brain wasn't "so busy". He is now 18 and tried to go off the medication, but it didn't work so he is back on it. It may be a medication for a lifetime in his case.

ADHD children have extreme difficulty in concentrating on any skill. Consequently in school they are equally distracted by a child closeby who is wiggling as they are with what the teacher talking about and the noises in the hallway. The medicine quiets their brains so that they can concentrate on one thing at a time without all the other distractions. In ADHD all noises get the same level of attention, making it impossible to sort out what is important.

It would be like us as adults being distracted as much by the traffic noise outside as the person who is talking to us.

Our younger grandson is 7 and as a preschooler he would constantly start and stop activities both at home and at school. He is now a 1st grader and will most likely repeat that grade because he simply could not work long enough on any subject to succeed at it. He is not a slow child, just ADHD. Now that he is on medicine, he is performing well. He will repeat the 1st grade because he missed so much information in Kindergarten and the first half of the first grade. The family & his teachers tried behavior modifications through Kindergarten and early first grade, it just wasn't enough.

When I was in school MANY years ago, those children who were disruptive in class were routinely failed and forced to repeat classes. They were lucky to graduate and were considered problem children. There was no understanding of learning difficulties at that time. I look back and feel very sorry there was no way to help them.

I wish you and your sister well in helping your neice. It is a condition that can be successfully treated. I am glad you discovered the problem.

J.

Hello, my son was on Focalin for about two years for ADHD. We finally have been able to wean him off of it. This is a very strong drug but a drug that works. You can ask for the time release one so your niece does not have to be sent to the nurse at school to take a second dose.

We like focalin because it it helps the problems with ADHD within an hour of giving it to the child. Be careful that she is not overdosed and zoning out.

Also, we are a praying family. Praying to God has really helped our child with healing of many issues is in his life. Fasting and praying by parents can really make a difference when a big issue like ADHD is going on.

Tell your sister she has to become very proactive with her child. Go with your gut and fight nicely for all of her rights in the public school system.

Try to trace back whether or not anyone in your family had the same issues. Usually this is a generational thing and really needs to be broken by prayer.

Keep reading about this drug. Also, we placed our child on organic food and that really helped his issues. Sometimes it takes 6 months to see a difference but it works. Also, sometimes milk and eggs can cause ADHD in kids. Tell your sister to start researching natural products and do web searches on ADHD. There is alot of great information out there now for help. Also, my recommendation would be to wait on the second series of MMR immuinizations until your niece settles down a bit. You can even ask her pediatrician to split this immunization up instead of it being all together in one shot. Write me back if you have any other questions. We have been through it all with our son. Tantrums, meltdowns, etc. My e-mail is ____@____.com

Your concern is well founded. There is so much information and MISinformation out there when it comes to meds for ADHD.

What I can tell you is this - my nine yr old daughter has severe ADHD. As in she wakes up literally bouncing off the walls.

She has taken Focalin XR for about a year now and it has been wonderful for her. We have had to play with dosage schedule. How much and what time - b/c it would wear off right after lunch and her teachers would lose her for about an hour until her afternoon dose - so we moved the afternoon dose to right after lunch (after conferring w/ our Dr.)

The only downside is that it KILLS her appetite. And when it wears off, she is ravenous! Her weight and health are perfect so I don't worry about this so much.

We try to feed her a big breakfast in the AM before meds and as big a dinner as possible in the evenings - b/c she just picks at her lunch.

She still wakes in the night hungry so we sit out peanut butter crackers for her to eat and then she goes back to bed.

FYI - This is not the only med she takes but it is the only one she takes for ADHD.

Feel free to PM me if you have any more detailed questions.
t

Hang in there. I have two sons (now 22 & 25). They sometimes outgrow it and sometimes it's just better to stay on their medicine.
Be sure you know the side effects and watch for them and discuss things with your Dr. My sons were on Ritalin and Aderal (sorry, don't remember the spelling). A side effect was stunt growth, loss of appetite(temporary) tiredness and weight loss. Sometimes it's just until their bodies accept the medicine and sometimes the first thing they are on doesn't go along with their metabolism. We never gave our sons the meds on weekends, holidays or summer vacation. I don't know the medicine you refer to , but we never dealt with any side effects.
The Lord will give you the strength you need to get through this. Be patient and don't let other people make or break any decisions you make.

My daughter has been on Focalin XR for a few years now. It works well because it doesn't seem to affect her appetite and it lasts all through the school day.

Hi I have a 17 year old that was diagnoised when she was 12 and it was hard at first. But as long as you can keep them redirected in there thoughts they do wonderful. And something I was told do not let her have anything with red dye in it. It triggers the adhd like koolaid and twislers andything with red in it

There is a great organization called CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder. They have information that is on the forefront and proven. You can google it.
I think it is Chadd.org

I am a 28 year old that was diagnosed with ADHD only 2 years ago. I started on Metadate CD and I could tell difference at my job. My stress level went down and I was able to get more things accomplished. Girls ususally go undiagnosed because their behavior is not like boys with ADHD. My therapist explained that treating ADHD is just like treating any other medical condition because I was hesitant to take medicine. I had to quit taking it because I wanted to get preganant, but I am considering going back on it after I have my baby. It is great that your niece was diagnosed early in life. I struggled with this disorder my entire life because I went undiagnosed.

My daughter uses Focalin but only on days when we need her to stay focus longer I am not using an XR formula though. I will be interested to hear responses myself- as my daughter uses Vyvanse daily for her ADHD- mother of a 9 yr old with ADHD and doing 90's average in her school work.

My daughter who is 17 now,was diagnosed with ADHD when she was 7. She was off and on drugs like Ritalin untill she was 13. I wish now I had done more research. Because for one,I think it stunted her growth a little. When she was younger she was always above avg in heighth. Now she is just 5 feet 3 inches tall and, I assume ,through growing. Not that the drugs didn't help her focus on schoolwork, etc.because they did. but I think I could have done more instead of the easy way out by giving hers pills. And who knows ,really, what kind of side effects she will have from them in the future. She has out-grown a lot of her ADHD behavoirs but she still has trouble focusing in school and test will always be hard for her. But she is MUCH better than she was at a younger age. She started improving when she started high school and thats when we chose to take her off the pills for good. Good luck to your niece and your family. I know its hard!
After reading that thru I don't want to give ppl the impression I am so vain that the only reason I would think twice about medicating my daughter is her heighth! There were other problems!! She would zone out and be like a zombie for a couple of hours after she took the pill. And in the late afternoon when the medication ran out she was twice as bad. Which was not a good thing because that was usually homework time. Just wanted to clear that up. Thanks! And I realize they have newer meds now then when my daughter was young.

My grandson was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of 3 and the doctors wanted to put him on Ritalin. I think any strong medicine for kids that young is unhealthy. We found a healthy alternative for him and he has made a drastic change. If you want more info e-mail me at ____@____.com

L.

M., I urge your sister to try other herbal and holistic options before putting her daughter on medicine that may have many side effects, both known and unknown.

Try this website and all the links down the left side. I did a lot of research before trying this supplement for my stepson. It worked wonders for him!

http://www.vaxa.com/ADD-medications.cfm

Please Ladies,

Before you put yourself or your child on any medication for add/adhd, contact an Herbalife distributor and purchase some NRG tea.

It is worth it. I have not heard from one person who was not amazed by it in these situations.

I am not even selling Herbalife anymore, so I don't have anything to gain from you buying it... but IT WORKS. Please get some!

E.

This a very common medication for ADHD. It is considered a better choice than the harsher stimulants like Ritalin, Concerta, metadate... It may or may not work as each child responds differently. It may or may not affect the child's apetite and sleep. These are two most common problems. If it does work you will probably LOVE the results as when it works with a child with ADHD it is wonderful. -Nita

Mom, you can respond with this for me. I don't want to join another source online. I just have so many emails, can't keep up. Just copy/paste this into your response. (They are making me join to respond) Call if you need help copy and pasting. Once you do it you will love it!

My son is 15 and has been on Adderal for some time. I am not familiar with your medication but probably some of the same guidelines apply. Follow the directions by your doctor and depending on the age of your niece explain to her that this is to help her focus, think through things, and make her feel like she has more control over things. It has made a world of difference to my son. The teachers responses have been overwhelming. He knows it helps him and takes it on his own now. And this... coming from a son whos thoughts jump around so fast through life and his daily activities, he can't even flush the commode at home when he's done with his business! When he's on his medication he immediately will keep his room clean, sit down quietly on his own and do his homework, and remember to flush! It's fabulous!

The down side is, he is much quieter and it takes some getting used to. He is so full of fun, you never know what he was going to say or do. As his mom, I used to be distraught over the way he turned somewhat like a zombie when on his Adderal because he is so full of humor and life normally. (Good and Bad ways, :) The great results of his schooling and home life though far outweigh my thoughts of him not having his medication. Most all ADHD medication is flushed out of the system daily, not accumulating for worries of long term affects. My son has struggled with the weight loss too which is common. It makes them not hungry much of the time. His doctor said he could stay off his medication on the weekends to maybe catch up on some eating. This has worked for us. Again, it is my advice that you stay in touch with your doctor about the dosage as this can be adjusted and tweaked to fit the child, as well. My son takes 20mg of Adderal daily. He was on Adderal xr with is Extended Release, taken once per day. The xr just got too expensive and my insurance was not covering it. I dropped my son down to the regular Adderal without the xr and it was much cheaper. He just has to take it 2x a day. Then we decided that his afternoon classes in High School were Theatre Arts and Athletics and he really didn't need the 2nd dose. So he just takes 1 pill each morning to concentrate on his tough classes at school. If you go without the xr the child will have to take another pill at lunch to get the full affects all day.

I could go on and on about keeping the child away from processed foods, sugary foods and incorporating lots of vegetables and lean proteins into your nieces diet. This is so important as well!! In a perfect world if we could get children to all eat this way that would be awesome. It is just hard to get children to participate. Some great books that are packed with loads of information are: *Parenting Towards Solutions by Dr. Linda Metcalf, *Healing ADD by Daniel G. Amen, M.D, * Teenagers with ADD A Parents' Guide by Chris A Zeigler Dendy, M.S. I got these just down at Half Price books for very little. There is a world of info on the Internet as I'm sure you've realized too.

This all may be of little help as my child is not on the type of medication you listed for ADHD. But I am passionate about staying involved and helping those with children of this special-need. Good Luck! Bless you for taking the time to research and reach out for information and wanting to become educated about it! She is lucky to have you!

Once side note: ADHD children in my opinion suffer from corrections so much during the course of their day. This, over time/years wears on their self esteem. I finally had to take my son to counceling and realized that I never lifted him up anymore, just griped at him for not doing this and that. My guidance was directed to find something, anything, during the day to lift up the child and brag on him. They need this so bad! It is very hard though if they are always getting themselves into trouble. But try as hard as you can to give compliments here and there. You will see your relationship grow!

Blessings to you,

Tatia (mom, D.)

I am a social worker and deal with children with ADD or ADHD disability where the children have problems remaining focused. This is a great medication and the XR is a time released one which is great. It helps one of omy children to respond in a responsible manner. There shouldn'b be any side affects.If folcoln doesn't work, then there is Adderall or Ritalin < (patch) is great. It would be good if you could research the computer for medication, information or purchase a book.

Hi M.,

I am a wellness consultant. My passion is assisting families in getting their health back through natural and organic nutrition. A shift in your niece's diet could significantly improve her ability to focus, mental clarity, etc. There is too much information to write in this response, but I would be happy to discuss it with you further if you'd like.

Creating a brand new ending,

P. Healey
Wellness Coach

www.Abrandnewending.Isagenix.com
www.cleansedforlife.com
###-###-####

Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.

M.,I have 10 children and ran a nursery for 17 years so I have had lots of experiance with childhood issues like ADD or ADHD. I have a couple with this issue and several other severe problems and what we have learned was that most time there is a root cause. It could be allergies that cause extra electical activity in the brain or heavy metals in the body or digestive problems I know from experiance becouse mine had all these problems.It truely makes a differance when you addess these root issues.ADHD doesn't just happen, there is a cause finding it is the trick.Be encouraged though becouse there are some wonderful doc. who are willing to invest the time now in helping us parents who don't want to just medicate our kids.If you want more info feel free to contact me at ____@____.com All for His Glory R. S.

I have used adderol with a good deal of success. Listen to your child. There are side effects to every medicine. Be familiar with them and watch for the signs.

ADHD kids get overloaded with sounds, sights which causes them to get even more active. Use the medications. It will not only help with behavior, but will help with self esteem. Most of these kids appear to be ok on the outside, but have low self esteem on the inside. Do everything you can to continue to encourage and praise.

I would take them off the medicine on the week-ends and summer if you can. Most of these medicines slow growth as well as appetite.

Some grow out of it, others become adults with ADHD. Mine has grown out of it. My best adult friend still has it.

Good luck, S.

My son was diagonosed with ADHD at the age of 4. He's almost 6 now. We tried Adderall and it really helped him. However, he would have major meltdown (temper tantrum, etc) when he was coming off the medicine. His Pyscologist kept telling me it would get better. Well the melt downs continued. I finally spoke with his doctor and she switched him to Vyvanse. It is wonderful. No more meltdowns.

I can't say anything about the medicine, but, as a school age daycare teacher I can give a bit of wisdom. A lot of parents let ADHD become an excuse for all of the behavior they see out of thier child. PLEASE don't make this mistake! Yes this is the explanation for some of the behaviors but if you never set higher expectations for them they will never be able to learn to over come this disability. If you use the word "can't" all of the time she will believe she can't be any better than she is and so she will never try to improve. I teach a 4 yearold who genuinely believes he will never learn how to tie shoes, because his mom has never impowered him or let him try and fail until he finally suceeds (I am dyslexic so please forgive the spelling, I am still working on it) Basically what I am saying is never make her feel like she can't get any better, if you don't believe in her neither will she. My little brother has ADD and for some reason my mom pushed me to work past dyslexia but didn't push him at all he has had shortened assignments, extra time, he has been allowed to go to the next grade even though he failed and now he is 17 reading on a 3rd grade level, all because he has had excuses made for him, strangely enough he can spend hours concentrating on things he likes but not even a minute on things that are important. Please don't let this set back become a disability. I am married to a man with ADHD and he is a very successful instructor for Intrument and Flight Control (on air planes) it can be over come it just takes a lot of work, love and support. Good Luck!

My daughter was on this last spring. We seemed to have all the side effects and not alot of symptom improvement. The side effects (not sleeping well and not eating) got better after about 2 weeks except for the medication seemed to make her mean. We switched to a different medication when school started in the fall and are having better success. I have been told sometime it takes many medication trials before you get a child on the right one.

Hi M.,
My6 yr old son takes Focalin xr. We started him on the lowest dose of 5mg and within a month we were up to the 20mg. It seems to work ok for him for a few hours but he is metabolizing it very quickly. His teacher reports that he is still anxious and biting his nails non stop. So when we see his ADHD doc this month we are going to request another drug. I hope your niece has a better result. God Bless, V., 46, Texas USA