adderrall to focalin...input please

[help us cope]

our daughter had tantrums, screaming and crying fits and insomnia with adderrallxr 5mg in am and adderrall 2.5mg after school. we are newto this, and after cosult after consult with the doctor for the past month , she has switched to focalin xr 5 mg in am and ritalin 2.5 mg in pm. any input will be appriciated. doctor says that the focalin has less of a reboundand the ritalin might cause less insomnia. might??? we understand that each individual reacts different and are willing to give it a try, just wondering other peoples expieriences.
thanks

 

[oceans]

Have you tried the Focalin/Ritalin yet? From what I know, Focalin is an isomer of Ritalin. It is said to case less side effects. I'm not certain about the Ritalin causing less insomnia. I guess you can give it a try and see if that will help. Adderall was very bad for my difficult child. Everyone is different!

 

[Mikey]

Ditto - everyone is different. Me and my difficult child are both ADD, and Adderal made both of us very jittery, anxious, and violent. difficult child can't take ANY ADD medication but Focalin. I'm fine on either Focalin or Ritalin LA.

We "found" Focalin recently (funny/sad story posted elsewhere). Per my doctor, it is a derivative of Ritalin. IANAD, but he explained that Ritalin has two components: one that does 20% of the work and has 80% of the side effects, and the other part that does 80% of the work, but almost no side effects. Focalin is a dosage of Ritalin without the first part.

Again according to my doctor, while it's "less effective" than straight Ritalin, this is usually counterbalanced by the much lower side effects.

Don't know about why Ritalin would cause less insomnia, other than if it's straight methylphenidate (not extended release), it's usually metabolized out of your system in a matter of hours. Generic Ritalin lasts about 2-3 hours for me, I had to take nearly 4 doses a day before I moved to LA, and I still get fuzzy in the late afternoon.

Focalin works for me, and worked for my son when I could get him to take it. But YMMV.

Mikey