Paradox Theater or The Focalin Follow Up....

In regard to the bedwetting, difficult child was dry three out of the seven days. A decent improvement since he was only dry one night the previous week on DDAVP (the DDAVP was stopped before the Focalin was started). His dryness seemed to alternate one dry night, one wet night etc. Since he's taking the Focalin early in the morning and is on such a small dose, it may not be being as effective by the time that he goes to bed.

His mood is definitely brighter and instead of being calm and focused as one would expect from a stimulant, he is very hyper, impulsive and well....goofy. :) His mother describes him as acting like a big 6 year old at times.

There was one incident where he got 'stuck' when he was asked to clean the kitchen. He refused to do the chore and kept following his mom around trying to explain why he shouldn't have to do the task. While there was no raging involved, difficult child was non compliant for about an hour or so and wouldn't/couldn't stop trying to explain his case even when his mom asked for some space. Eventually he went to his room and was able to get things together and had no further trouble (other than being really hyper).

Mom is going to shift the Focalin to closer to noon to see if that has any effect on the bedwetting. My guess is that we may end up doing something like 2.5 in the morning and 2.5 in the afternoon/evening to try to address the bedwetting and the lessen the other ‘effects’.

We'll see - stay tuned :)
 

smallworld

Moderator
I know you're trying to get at the bedwetting, but it sounds as if the Focalin is affecting his mood negatively. Definitely something to watch for as the Focalin is increased.
 

Christy

New Member
I'm assuming that he is taking the focalin for ADHD symptoms? If so, it seems like it is having the opposite effect and may cause problems when school starts at the least and could provoke a full blown mania at a higher dosage. Focalin was a nightmare for my difficult child who has is bipolar. Be careful.

My son also wets the bed (he just turned 11). I wish this were not the case but it is low on our list of priorities given his behavioral and mood issues. We've found that taking him to the bathroom a few hours after he falls asleep helps a great deal. He falls right back to sleep and usually dry in the morning.
 
Thanks for the feedback. Let's see, where to begin...:)

Christy: Thanks for the warning and concern. The Focalin is definitely having an opposite effect in that it is making him a bit more hyper. In some ways this is good since the Tenex left him flat and lethargic - it's nice to see his playful personality return. We are monitoring very closely for signs of trouble and trying to fine tune before school starts. His behavior has stabilized and he is back to being complaint (or as compliant as a teenage boy can be) and things are reported great at home. In terms of priorities, working on the bedwetting is actually difficult child's primary goal. When we discussed the idea of the Focalin in therapy and the possible risks (I reminded him of the negative response to the Adderall), difficult child stated that he wanted to give it a try because (and I quote) "I hate waking up in a puddle of pee every morning." Oh and on the nightly wakings they have been tried, but difficult child would generally wet again during the night. He also got to the point where he would refuse to get out of bed (he's now taller than his mom). When he would wake up he would often be very disoriented from his nightly medications and would have trouble ... let's say being neat when he would go.:) And at almost 16, he is way too old for mom to be supervising him in the bathroom and making sure he gets back to bed.

smallworld: I think it might help to clarify that none of the behaviors that I described are outside the norm of difficult child's range of 'typical' behaviors. Because of difficult children' attachment issues, his maturity tends to vary from being very childlike at times to being very responsible and age appropriate. On most days he is generally somewhere in between. I think since he seems to have stabilized and has had only the one behavior incident this month, I'm not overly concerned.

Oh and there are no plans to increase the Focalin at present. I think if we can get what we need on the 5mg, then that's great. If not - then it's time to look at other options (for example adding the DDAVP back into the mix).
 

Christy

New Member
Thanks for the clarification. I can see where it would be difficult to supervise a 16 year old in the bathroom! One more suggestion that you may have already tried. We were succesful for a period of time using a bathroom alarm. It had an alarm with buzzer and vibration the clipped on to my sons tee shirt and then a wire with a sensor that clipped on to the material of his underpants. The slightest bit of moisture would set off the alarm and would send difficult child to the bathroom. This worked well for us for a number of weeks and then our difficult child who was having a lot of behavioral issues broke it on purpose so we did not replace it. Since you son is motivated to solve this problem, he may be willing to give it a try.
 
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