Effects - Focalin vs. adderal or ritalin

[Deathspleasure]

Has anyone besides swim tried focalin here? If so, what does swiy compare it moe to, adderal or ritalin, and what one of those 3 does swiy think is better?

[ponehacker]

Swim, having been on add meds since birth, will briefly tell swiyou a little bit about them.

Ritalin and Focalin are both the same chemical-methylphenidate. The only difference is that focalin is strictly the d-isomer of the methylphenidate molecule(in this case the more active of the two and arguably the 'better one') Ritalin is the racemic mixture of both the aforementioned d-isomer of methylphenidate combined with an approximately equal portion of the l-isomer of methylphenidate(arguably 'the weaker one'). What methylphenidate is, is a stimulant which, while not actually an amphetamine, is similar in structure and therapeutic effect to such.

Kinda crazy side note which makes swim feel old is that they didn't have focalin when he was a kid...just ritalin(to his knowledge anyway)

Now adderall on the other hand is an actual amphetamine- well actually it is a racemic(remember both that d & l isomer from above) mixture of different amphetamine salts(note that ritalin too exists as a 'salt') Thus, being a true amphetamine, it is viewed by many folks to be stronger than methylphenidate.

Swiyou asked for swims opinion on what is better and that is a hard one to answer because it can & will vary case by case. Ritalin helped swim extremely(academically) when he was a small child and on the verge of getting put in 'special' school cuz of his adhd(which was not as well known back then as it is now). Swim has also had very good experiences with adderall so it is really hard to say. Now that swim is done with his schoolin` days he takes the straight d-amphetamine(might have heard it called dexedrine) but swim won`t go into that as you did not ask about that one(and swim likes those too much & sometimes takes too many so if he were still in school he probably wouln`t want to be on that one).

Bottom line, if swim were swiyou, swim would put his head together with his health care provider in order to determine the best course of medication for swiyour unique situation(may take a bit of trial & error but there are a lot of options for those diagnosed with add/adhd these days.

And on one final note, swim chose to keep the chemistry part of this very vague as to not confuse swiyou(it can be a bit overwhelming my friend) but he told me if swiyou would like the full tilt & boogie explanation of it all just let him know and he'd be glad to do so - think it was part of his graduate study thesis or something...who knows swims kinda weird this late at night(well all the time actually).

Nonetheless, he hopes he has helped answer swiyour question(s) at least somewhat.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Very helpful.
	Indepth and accurate information, thank you!

[Princess]

Adderall and Dexedrine are amphetamines and are similar, Adderall has Dexedrine in it, Dexedrine is d-amphetamine without the mixed salts in Adderall. Focalin is more similar to Ritalin and Concerta, which is methylinphenidate. Dexedrine is called dextroamphetamine and Adderall is mixed amphetamine salts including Dexedrine. Focalin is dexmethylinphenidate. A lot of times the chemical names can help you figure out which is closer.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good point