Hi everyone, I finally got my wife to get our son on a stimulant, Focalin, but it increased his impulsivity; we noticed and so did his teacher. He was on Focalin for 2 weeks and then we noticed a large increase in impulsivity.
He has been off it for 3 weeks and the impulsivity is much less being off Focalin.
Have any of you experienced this?
What do you recommend doing next?
Any medication recommendations?
Thank you!
Great news you guys are trying medication!Hang in there, it first sounds the first one was not a good fit. When it works you will see the impulsive symtoms stop.
There are many choices that the doctor can recommend.
We had great success on Ritalin, the generic version is Methylphenidate. But each body is different.
There are many parts to medication working.
Type, dose and timing are all parts of trying to see if it can work for him.
If you find one that works then it can really be amazing. He also may do good with a non-stimulant.
Best of luck in trying different ones.
Sometimes medications can be activating instead of their intended purpose. I'd try something different, possibly even just try guanfacine alone. It helps more with impulsivity at our house. What's the focalin dosage? When my sons dose is too high he's an absolute terror and does horribly impulsive things he never would otherwise.
Does he have anxiety? The response to Focalin seems to be an aggravation of that condition.
We tried ALL of them and the only one that didn’t seem to affect him negatively was Methylphenidate (Biphentin®). The others seemed to increase his impulsivity and agression. It has been a long journey to say the least.
How are things?
concerta
Impulsive 13 year old
Mom of a wonderful 5 yr old boy
Focalin 
Focalin and aggression
