Focalin XR Generic by Teva - thoughts?

[jmhunter1014]

Hey yall, first time poster here.

My son will be 8 in a week; he's been on Concerta since last November, but after increasing his dose from 9mg to 18, then 27, it just wasn't enough - his focus and impulse control were better but his emotional regulation was still severely lacking. We bumped to 36mg and it was just too much (it was making him aggressive, and he was starting to exhibit facial tics; breathing heavy on purpose, and squinting/rolling his eyes over and over again), so we went back to the 27mg to circumvent that until we could get him in for a med review.

Today, our pediatrician switched him to FocalinXR 10mg,but when we filled the prescription it appears we've received the generic made by Teva. I know that Concerta's generics have all been a flop except 1 (made by ALZA), and Teva are the ones who took over generic Concerta production when the ALZA contract ran out (but was only available in Canada so we had to go full brand-name) and made an entirely identical product; but I don't know anything about the successes/failures of their other generics. Anyone here have experience on the generic form of FocalinXR made by Teva? If so, please tell me your story.

Thanks!

[Onthemove1971]

It seems like he is on the wrong medication. I would suggest you ask to see a child psychiatrist who will give you the best advice about doae, timing and type of medication it will really help you guys.

[jmhunter1014 in reply to Onthemove1971]

Any experience with the Teva generic form of FocalinXR? Cause that's what I was asking about. Yea he was on the wrong med which is why we switched to this one literally this morning. Just looking for thoughts/experiences on the generic since ADHD generics (at least for certain drugs) are notoriously useless.

[Onthemove1971 in reply to jmhunter1014]

I'm sorry I thought you were here for advice from the members. Here's the thing I need to explain, we were where you are now. Going to a pediatrician for medication and using a single dose medication. We spent many year so hopeful that would work and it didn't. Having a child take medication for ADHD is a journey through their life. We started many years ago and the medication needed to be adjusted due to growth and academic need. That is why I even made the comment, it is such a bigger picture than 1 medication at this time.

Best of luck with getting an answer to your question.

I would also assume the medication wears off to soon. Many things need to be considered.

Best of luck.

[Pennywink]

Sorry I’m not much help here. My son does take a generic stimulant, but it’s not Focalin or by Teva. He’s on the generic of Metadate CD by Lannet. We haven’t noticed any problems, but have also never tried a brand name to compare it against. For the price reduction, it works well enough for us.

[DewsMom87]

Hi! My son was on it for 3 months at 25mg. The only problem was the appetite suppression. It worked great for his impulse control and he had zero tick's and no aggression. He took Adderall first and that was a nightmare. We then switched to Intutiv plus low dose of Focalin XR 10 mg. Still working great and hes got his appetite back. Hope this helps.

[myspecialkid]

My 8 yr old also takes generic focalin xr 10mg every morning (manufacturer is sandoz) since december and has been doing well in terms of focus and impulse. We started at 5mg for 2 weeks then went up to 10mg. We take a break on weekends and most weeks in the summer when we don't really need the focus. The appetite suppression is still there but wears off by the end of school so i make sure she has a good breakfast knowing she barely eats anything for lunch. Then by dinner time she's starving One thing i noticed with the focalin xr - she complains of headache about once or twice a week in the mornings so I always have low dose of Tylenol ready.

Unfortunately we haven't tried the brand so I can't speak to it's comparison but agree with pennywink that what we have has served us well.

[Melwoot1 in reply to myspecialkid]

Have you noticed her experiencing any problems with the medication working as effectively on Mondays after having no meds on the weekend?

[myspecialkid in reply to Melwoot1]

We didn't have that problem with weekend breaks. It was more of an issue after a longer break/holiday. Like when we had 3 or 4 days days in a row school cancellations due to snow.

Right after this school year started we started using the meds over the weekend as well to help with sunday school.

[BlueMama1 in reply to myspecialkid]

Our daughter who's 8, was just increased to 10 mg this morning after taking focalin 5mg for the past 2 months. Other than headache, any other side effects that you have noticed? Like most people have said it was really tough deciding on going the medication route. She's been struggling for a couple of years in school and all of the other natural things that I have tried have not really worked. It's heartbreaking but I want to help her the best way that I can. We haven't considered taking breaks on the weekend, but maybe that's a good idea.

[anirush]

My grandson was on focalin X R all through grade school. He did really well on it but his pediatrician would have to write on the prescription fill exactly as written.

In middle school his insurance changed and they wouldn't cover the name brand. He started having problems in school acting out, class clown stuff and we had to switch him to something else. I don't know if it was the generic or he just outgrew that which happens.

By the way, my grandson's pediatrician did his ADHD medication until he got in middle school and started to get unstable. He told me he wasn't expert enough to handle that so that's when we started to start seeing a psychiatrist.

[GoDukes]

My son has been on the generic Foculin XR for about 3 years now (he is 10). We increased from 5mg to 10mg last fall as he had grown. It seems to work well helping him focus and not act up in class. It definitely suppresses his appetite and he won't eat much until the evening and then he eats everything in the house. About six months into the meds he started having issues with anger and combative behavior in the evening. I believe it was from the "coming down" off of the Foculin. We started him on Guanfacin around dinner and that definitely helped that.

We were very hesitant to give him meds in the beginning and tried just about everything else. I'm glad we decided to give in, though, and that we found a good combination so quickly. Of course the meds are only a piece of the big puzzle. Good luck!!

[Elijah1]

The generic version is OK and does not have the problems associated with Concerta. For Concerta, the issue was the time release method, which was not the same between generics. The Focalin XR generics all use a similar time release method that mimics the brand name (half released immediately and half released after 4 hours).

[Pennywink in reply to Elijah1]

Great info! Can I ask where you found that out? Just interested in researching a few medications we have tried. Thanks!

[jmhunter1014]

Thanks everyone for your info!

[Clarabelle95]

My son been on generic focalin for a while now. I do often wonder about generic vs. the real thing but once the generic was available (years ago) it is all our insurance would cover.

[jennifer425]

My son takes this focalin xr generic by teva to be honest with you he been in alot of different medications and none of them works as good as this one, but it doesn't work for the whole day just for like 3-4 hours he does fine no side effects.