I am new to this. But I have been reading awhile. I have an almost 12 year old son. He has had ADD for about 5-6 years now. We have had him on almost everything. He has been on ritalin for about 3 yrs. now. It was great for awhile but just the past 6 months it hasn't worked. On top of that he was diagonosed with Type 1 diabeties about 1 1/2 years ago. He has to take 3 shots a day. He has to take thyroid meds. The doctor just took him off the ritalin and put him on Focal XR 10 mg. He was taking 30 mg of the ritalin. She also put him on prozac 10 mg. I just don't know anything about this Focal. Does anybody have any info on it? What about the prozac for a 12 year old?To me this is a lot of medication for a child. I had to go get one of those pill organizers to help keep up with it all.:dizzy: Any information on any of this would really help me.

First I must say that much of this is my opinion and is neither right or wrong okay. I don't believe your son is taking too many meds but I do believe that less is better whenever possible. I know this doesn't really help you out but as its very early in this process I'd say you should keep things the way they are and see over say the next month how things are going. If your not happy just ask the doc as many questions as you feel the need for but again ask some questions.

About the Focal XR I've done some searching and cannot find anything about this drug at all so I'm thinking its known by another name. The best thing you can do is share your concerns with his doctor and ask all questions you feel need answering.

Hi Cashmissa,

Your son needs the insulin & the thyroid meds if he is diabetic & hypothyroid. Absolutely. As he goes through adolescence, he will benefit from working closely with his healthcare advisors to keep optimal levels of both thyroid hormones & insulin.

If your question is primarily, is the Prozac necessary ... why not talk to the doc who rxd it? IMO, psych meds should NOT be rxd to kids & teens unless there is a very good reason to do it.

If Prozac was rxd because your son is low energy & they are thinking he is depressed, pls make sure that recent testing has verified his thyroid & blood sugar. Thyroid function is best assessed looking at the levels of free thyroid hormones, free T3 & free T4, and thyroid antibody levels, in addition to the TSH. Current med groupthink says that TSH is ultrasensitive & sufficient. However, the TSH test is full of assumptions & pitfalls.

Juvenile diabetics may benefit from counselling with a registered dietician and/or diabetes educator as they enter adolescence. This is a time when kids need more calories, expend more energy, make more of their own decisions about activity & food, & often even start administering their own insulin.

Recent research has shown a certain percentage of Type 1 juvenile diabetics are celiac or suffer from gluten intolerance. There is a high level of thyroid disease in young celiacs. And the brain fog with celiac/gluten intolerance can result in ADD. I recommend looking into this connection.

If a child is gluten intolerant, with diabetes & thyroid dysfunction, gong on a gluten-free diet may improve things: more mental energy, fewer thyroid antibodies, sometimes even greater stability in blood sugar. Often, GF diet results in less need for psych meds. Research has shown that in celiacs, commencing the lifelong celiac diet at an early age reduces the risk of acquiring additional autoimmune diseases.

Best wishes.

About the Focal XR I've done some searching and cannot find anything about this drug at all so I'm thinking its known by another name.

The reason you can't find anything on it is because it is Focalin XR, not Focal.

Thanks for all the information. Yes the medicine is Focalin XR and I still have not found much about it. My son is on his 3rd day of prozac. Not seeing much of a change at all. We start the focalin XR this weekend. He see's his diabetic doctor in March. I'll have to ask about the thyroid antibody levels, free T3,free T4. I am not understanding any of that. But they did blood work last month and they said nothing hasn't really changed. I told her about my son being depressed and she was the one that sent him to a pychologist. I was just wanting his ADD meds changed not to be put on prozac. This is all just overwhelming to me.I really appricate everyone taking the time to try and help explain it all to me. Thanks so much.

*appreciate