FOCALIN Reviews (DEXMETHYLPHENIDATE HYDROCHLORIDE)

Average Rating: 2.9 (33 Ratings)

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 CNS, MISCELLANEOUS    DEA Schedule II   

 Type: Rx Drug

  

FOCALIN  (DEXMETHYLPHENIDATE HYDROCHLORIDE):  This medication is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - ADHD. It works by changing the amounts of certain natural substances in the brain. Dexmethylphenidate belongs to a class of drugs known as stimulants. It can help increase your ability to pay attention, stay focused on an activity, and control behavior problems. It may also help you to organize your tasks and improve listening skills.   FDA Approval Date: 2001-11-13 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)

  

Results are sorted by Date from oldest to newest.

Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.)
5=HIGH (this medicine cured me or helped me a great deal.)

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RATING  REASONSIDE EFFECTS FOR FOCALINCOMMENTSSEXAGEDURATION/
DOSAGE
DATE ADDED
 
 4  ADHD loss of appetite, headache, dry outh F 39 9 months
4/24/2008
 1  Adult ADD Psychosis; Severe Depression; Uncontrollable crying spells; Feelings of being unworthy Although many people have reacted very positively to this drug, I ended up at a mental hospital 3 days after I started taking it. I've never had any serious problems and I mentioned to my doctor that I was forgetting everything lately so he prescribed this to me. Seriously, it was a complete nightmare! It took about 2 days to recover, but I am fine now. Be careful with anything you take/ F 28 3 days
6/11/2008
 5  Bipolar NOS Decreased appetite-- that's about it. I wish I could give this drug ten stars!!! Email me to learn more about it. A MIRACLE DRUG. Focalin saved my life because my doctor was willing to try something very unconventional for BP. It pulled me out of horrible bipolar mixed states and made me see that life really COULD be worth living again. If you have BP and your mood stabilizer is not enough, see if your doctor will let you add on Focalin. The other stimulants do NOT work for this purpose. F 39 2 years
11/4/2008
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 1  ADD This is by far the WORST drug I have ever taken in my life. Everytime I took Focalin I had these HORRIBLE jitters and I couldn't stop yawning uncontrollably. I was also very thirsty and had to drink several glasses of water all day long. I had episodes where I would get very VERY angry and aggressive and felt like I could go on a shooting spree or kill myself. I could feel blood rushing through my body and and I would get so hot to the point where you could see my hands would be very red in color. I would also get very moody (as if I were bipolar) and anxious and have awful panic attacks. I was on a normal dose for my weight. This is a dangerous drug. Don't take it -- AVOID FOCALIN. It's HORRIBLE! I will never take it again. It is a dangerous drug and should be banned. M 22 1 months
3/13/2009
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 5  ADHD Mild headache This drug has been very effective for my son. He was having severe attention problems at school which showed on his report card in his grades and his conduct scores. Since taking this drug, he has brought N's up to S's and some N's up to E's. His teacher sees a remarkable improvement. He still eats very well - almost better than before. He complains of a headache occasionally but that could also be from his allergies. M 7 3 months
5/6/2009
 5  Adult ADHD, some depression issues Sleepy! Have to take a nap after dose. When I wake up, I'm fine. When it wears off, some depression/anger issues. Nothing nearly as bad as Wellbutrin. Works so much better than the SNRIs. I'm just a little too becalmed - sleepy. I'm at 20 mg XR have only been at this dose couple of weeks. If the sleepiness/mood extremes smooth out, I'll take it till the day I die. I have refractory depression and this cures without loss of libido or flat affect. Otherwise, thumb's up! F 48 70 days
7/5/2009
 5  ADHD slight loss of appetite My son has tried every ADHD medicine available and this is by far the best. Focalin seems to control his impulses and increases his ability to stay focused and do well in school while still allowing his personality to come through. It has had the least affect on his appetite and sleep patterns. All other medicines we tried since he was 5 include Adderall, Ritalin, Concerta, Vyvanse and Stratterra. They all showed signs of extreme irratability and agitation, and affected his sleep and appettite. Adderal and Ritalin both caused nervous ticks and Strattera caused him to feel like he did not belong. Vyvanse caused him to act irrational emotionally. Extreme mood swings. From a mom who continues to research and stay on top of what is available and how it effects my child this is definitely what I recommend to any parent. M 16 4 years
1/9/2010
 3  ADHD Son was very emotional on this. Started showing OCD behaviors, such as fingernail picking and toenail picking and picking between toes, everyday it got progressively worse. Extreme fear of insects started with this too. Stopped it 3 days ago and so far the OCD symptoms have stopped as well. Focalin was the 2nd med we tried for my 5 year old son after Adderall, which made him very irritable. Less irritability on Focalin and much more affection from him, but there were very clear side effects from this. The OCD behavior such as picking his fingernails and his toes were quite concerning. This progressively got worse every day. Even his teacher mentioned it to me. The last day he was on it, he was freaking out about a fly in our van. He was compltely panicked over it, screaming, just like if I were to have 10 big spiders crawling on me, that's how he was acting over this fly that was flying around in our van. He has NEVER behaved that way about a bug before. We stopped the Focalin that day and are starting the Daytrana patch today. It's been 3 days and I haven't seen him picking his fingernails or toenails since stopping the Focalin. I believe this drug brings out OCD tendencies in people. I've never seen anything like this in my son before and I haven't seen it in the 3 days since he stopped taking it. M 5 1 months
10 mg 1X day
3/30/2010
Email
 1  Adult AD/HD Depression and Anxiety. Shaking, insomnia, headaches. Drained by the end of the day. Mind racing. This drug helped initialy, although I didn't like the way it made me feel physically. I kept taking it because it did help me focus and pay attention. Then I fell into an almost crippling depression and couldn't understand why. I have never been depressed, but now I've had such a lovely life experience. Then I began feeling panicky and out of control. I've never had anxiety before either. Thanks Focalin! I talked to my doctor about it, who prescribed Lexapro. Thanks pharmaceutical companies! I think I'll just detox from the Focalin and look for other ways to increase focus… F 28 60 days
20 MG 1X day
5/24/2010
 4  ADD Mild depression when it wears off, very mild fatigue when it wears off, thirst. I was totally unexpectedly able to stop a 30 year finger-picking habit! I take an odd combo of 10MG once each morning of Ritalin LA (long acting) and 5 MG of Focalin (Dexmethylph generic actually) 2x per day. For me, Focalin is better for focus and Ritalin is better for energy and willpower. With Focalin alone I am very focused -- and often decide I don't feel like using it. With Ritalin alone I feel great -- and end up working in scattered fashion on a bunch of stuff that does not really matter. The combo is best. I used to just take the 5MG Ritalin/Methylin 4-hour tabs twice daily. These resulted in a nasty 30 minute angry/irritated state about 6 hours after ingestation as they wore off. After kicking my wife's cat once too often for me to be able to live with myself (and fearing I'd do something worse) I switched to Focalin -- which does not give me nearly as much angry irritation when it wears off. M 41 1 years
5 MG 2X day
11/17/2010
 2  AD/HD My son exhibits OCD-like behavior, nail biting, hyper-focused on finger or toes... sometimes to the point of distracting him worse than if he's not medicated. Loss of appetite is minimal. REBOUND as med wears off can be severe: hyperactivity worse than normal, aggressive, defiant. My son metabolizes this medication in 2-4 hours tops. By the way the rebound is much worse if your dose is too low, but I'm afraid to bump him up because he's already OCD over his fingers enough as it is. I had him on Focalin XR prior to trying the immediate release. I'm happier with the way the XR worked. It had less of a rebound, less OCD/Hyper-focus response and lasted up to 6 hours. He seemed less zombie-like and more outgoing as well. It did interfere with his sleep more and definitely impacted his appetite and cause him to not gain weight. M 6 6 months
10mg 1X day
3/1/2011
 1  It was dispensed in error!! loss of hair, manic episodes, up three days at time, extreme depression, agitation, blurred vision, fast weight loss, fear, paranoia My pharmacy was supposed to refill my adderall xr 30 but instead gave me' focalin xr 30 (but bottle said adderall xr 30) .. This was the most horrifying drug I have ever been on. I felt like I had lost my mind and was depressed to a dangerous point. The error was found and I was finally notified but the damage was done. F 32 8 days
30 mg xr 1X day
5/5/2011
Email
 5  ADHD Initially made me sleepy, then slightly upbeat. This drug is a miracle! I waited many many years to finally try medication because of all the negative things I heard about stimulants. I regret it now because once I tried this I was able to concentrate, focus on one thing at a time, actually start and finish a book, clean off my cluttered desk, and complete projects at work. My boss thinks I'm a new person and so does my husband. Take my advice and tell those who tell you this is poison to keep their mistaken opinions to themselves because focalin has changed my life for the better. It works well with little or no side effects. I did lose 15 pounds but that was because I had more energy and joined a gym. F 48 365 days
2.5mg 2X day
5/18/2011
 5  ADULT ADD Since I began taking this drug, as an adult , I always noticed some sort of anxiety, which is what I described it as... I have always constantly kept a blank writing pad next ti me, because as the effect of the medication began, my mind would began to think about all these other things (in my 'to do list') that I had forgotten..., so I would start a to do list as I am trying to study. I never thought this was a negative effect until now, where I believe I am becoming dependent on the focalin. I read how children pick their nails... I do that,,, I cant sit still, yet again, I can focus. Its a very scary feeling, and I find myself 'self prescribing' higher and higher doses, solely to be able to focus, yet again, i think I am becoming even more an anxiety driven.... Im not sure what to do at this point. My education (higher education) depends on me being able to concentrate on classes and this is truly becoming a problem.... F 27 18 months
20 3X day
10/31/2011
Email
 2  adhd Will the tics go aways after a few weeks while still taking med. He wil turn his head side to side and up and down M 5 4 days
5
11/21/2011
Email
 2  ADHD Makes my daughter very irritable, crabby and emotional. Mood swings and many meltdowns. It also makes her very anxious. Spitting because she thinks bugs are in her mouth, worried about germs etc. It also killed her appetite and she won't drink much either. It seemed to help the first week or so (minus the spitting) but not longer has much effect. I don't want to increase the dose for rear that it will make her mood and OCD behaviors worse. F 5 3 weeks
5 mg 1X day
5/13/2012
Email
 1  ADHD Instability. Unpredictable mood swings and occasionally even panic attacks. Initially, Focalin, broken into 5mg doses worked okay when I couldn't get an Adderall prescription filled, but after about a month- Every time I took it I would get hyperanxiety. Once to the point of auditory hallucinations. I tried one last time earlier today and had a panic attack. Would not recommend this drug to anyone as it has way too unstable a range of effects, both psychologically and physically. I'll be looking into a different medication option, and for reference, I did not experience theses negative effects from adderall. M 24 2 months
10mg 2X day
7/14/2012
 4  Add Sleepy at first then "wake up" and good to go. M 41 3 years
10mg 1x da
1/16/2014
Email
 3  ADD/ADHD Finger tingling/numbness (circulation problems) This medication worked well for my ADHD but I was taken off of it within a few days due to the potentially harmful side effects. F 29 3 days
5mg 1X day
5/23/2014
 1  ADHD First headaches, tic (humming non stop), he is an emotional roller coaster ride and is exhibiting bipolar and depression behaviors. The outburst are so intense. Tics, he is humming non stop, I am tapering him off now. He has been on Stratara for well over a year but he still has no motivation nor could he consintrate so we switched it up. Since starting this medication he is not acting like the son I have always known. He will cry for hours, say he is worthless basically and that his life is horrible and no one understands. Many of the concerns before my comment this hit home. WORST Meds EVER! My poor son is being pulled in so many emotional directions I'm so mad that this crud was approved by the FDA. M 8 10 days
10mg
10/10/2015
  

FOCALIN  (DEXMETHYLPHENIDATE HYDROCHLORIDE):  This medication is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - ADHD. It works by changing the amounts of certain natural substances in the brain. Dexmethylphenidate belongs to a class of drugs known as stimulants. It can help increase your ability to pay attention, stay focused on an activity, and control behavior problems. It may also help you to organize your tasks and improve listening skills.   FDA Approval Date: 2001-11-13 (Sources: U.S. Centers for Medicare Services, FDA)

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