FOCALIN Reviews (DEXMETHYLPHENIDATE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 2.9 (33 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare FOCALIN with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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More on FOCALIN: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR FOCALIN | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 5 | Severe adhd | A little less hungry | This drug has seriously saved my sons life. He is very impulsive and was failing school. He has a high iq and just couldn’t get through the day. This has helped his learning, friendships and he is overall much happier. He is able to go to school and activities full day when he could not before. We are blessed to have found focalin. | M | 7 | 6 months 10 | 7/16/2019 | 5 | ADD | Without Focalin, I probably wouldn't be passing any of my classes. I'be been taking the medication for about 6 years now. I've tested days without it and it absolutely screws up my day. I don't do any work in school and then come home and have issues focusing on homework. My doctor has prescribed me many different medications between Kindergarten and 3rd grade. Focal in was the only thing that worked. | M | 15 | 6 years 10 | 2/29/2016 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 4 | ADD | I experienced intense muscle pain the first couple of weeks, but that eventually went away. I also had nausea (especially in the morning) and just recently began experiencing swelling in my feet at night. | F | 38 | 4 months 10 MG 2X day | 7/26/2020 | 4 | Adult ADD | Most annoying side effects: stomach discomfort and upset at times, burred vision, fast heart beat, excessive talking, euphoria that compromises good judgement (I'll commit to doing something that I don't want to follow thru on when drug wears off), effectiveness of name brand wears off after a few years. I went to generic, then took a break from drug. Effectiveness came back even on generic after a month break. Insomnia if I took too late in day. | It works just fine, and I can think clearly, stay on task for hours. | F | 54 | 10 years 10 2X day | 3/29/2018 | 4 | Add | Sleepy at first then "wake up" and good to go. | M | 41 | 3 years 10mg 1x da | 1/16/2014 | 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 | 4 | ADHD | loss of appetite, headache, dry outh | F | 39 | 9 months | 4/24/2008 | 3 | Adhd | F | 65 | 2 months 10 mg 3X day | 10/29/2021 | 3 | Adult ADHD | Constant ringing in my ears & blurred vision. | I was on Focalin xr prior to being on the immediate release that I'm on now. The xr worked better for me, but it barely lasted a few hours. So my doctor switched me to the immediate version hoping this one would work better. Maybe I just have severe ADHD because I still have a really bad memory & still can't concentrate on things. I'm starting a new job soon & am very concerned about being able to focus, concentrate & remember things! I was on Vyvanse before this which worked VERY well for me, but my insurance now refuses to cover it even after my doctor going through months of prior authorizations with them :( | F | 42 | 14 days 10 MG 2X | 9/14/2019 | 3 | ADD | headaches, migranes, anxiety, pounding heart, decreased appetite, weight loss, no libido | This medication helped me somewhat but by the time I stopped taking it I had become very anxious and was getting extremely severe headaches. | M | 15 | 7 years 10 MG 1X day | 1/17/2018 | 3 | Adhd | It worked very well throughout the day but once I got home I experienced a headache felt like I was having a panic attack wouldn't recommend to anybody. | M | 16 | 1 days | 1/15/2018 | 3 | ADD | Very effective as far as attentivness and alertness and lasts pretty much the whole day. It has also helped with my memory and processing information more in depth with less impulsive decision making on tests homework etc. Side effects- makes me shaky and weak. Doesn't really address restlessness in class but it is still manageable most of the time. A noticeable increase in anxiety and elevated heart rate especially with small amounts of activity even just walking to class. | Still have issues putting thoughts into words. Loss of appetite but not particularly concerning having started the medication so recently. I also feel much more social and engaged in conversation. I haven't experienced any mood swings and actually keeps me pretty positive/motivated. Being the first medication I've tried it is definitely an improvement apposed to nothing but it comes with the trade offs. My doctor is concerned about the anxiety and increased heart rate so i am going to explore some other options within the coming weeks. | M | 19 | 7 days 40mg | 10/21/2015 | 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 | 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 |
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)