What to expect focalin 18 year old.

[Anonymous]

Teen diagnosed with ADHD, starting meds, not sure what to expect. Feeling badly it wasn’t identified earlier in life as there have been many struggles and extreme anxiety and depression. Feeling like I failed at parenting.

[Anonymous]

I was 30 and in grad school before I knew about my own ADHD. It’s going to be ok for your kiddo, and you’ve done well to help your teen get appropriate resources.

Starting stimulant drugs is a great experience for a lot of teens and adults. It vastly reduces the difficult in initiating and sustaining tasks and can reduce the mental fatigue that less-desirable tasks induce. In turn, noticing the effects of medication can, for some, ease the self-criticism that can occur when required tasks don’t get completed.

In some cases, people experience bumpiness with appetite, mood, and sleep after starting a stimulant. It’s best not to over-schedule oneself and to leave space for things like naps and snacks when possible. Eventually, you find the right dosing and timing, but it can take some weeks or months of making adjustments.

[Anonymous]

The benefits of being older is that your 18 year old will be able to articulate how they are feeling. These medications take a little trial and error so have your child work with the Doctor on that. When we started Focalin my son had headaches at first, so we started with a low dose and ramped up. Also, beware the hours when it wears off. There is some moodiness and hunger! We preferred to have that happen with family, not at school or with friends.

[Anonymous]

Focalin, and really all stimulants, helped my kid immediately and significantly. As others said, the advantage with his age is he will be able to articulate how’s he is feeling and any side effects.

Unfortunately there were some other negative side effects that outweighed any benefits for my son. They were all physical, the biggest being severe stomach issues. They weren’t as bad on Focalin as some others but enough that he wanted to try something other than a stimulant.

Medication adjustments have gotten easier in the teen years as he can verbalize his feeling so much better than when he was little.