My son has been on Daytrana for 3 years. He switched from Focalin XR 30 mg, and the doctor initially started him on 15 mg of Daytrana - he was worse at this dose than being unmedicated. I did some research and found that when switching from Focalin XR to Daytrana, the dosage should be about the same. So I checked with the doctor and used 2 patches (to make 30 mg) and it was wonderful!! He now uses one 30mg patch per day. You have to make sure that the area you are applying the patch is clean and dry (not oily/greasy) and press down on it for about a minute and it will stay much better. I put it on the back side of his hip just below the waist line of his underwear (you could say it is really at the top of his “cheek”). We had some problems the first year with it staying on when he had PE at school (we are in Florida), but have had no problems with that the past 2 years.  I love it becasue we have much more control over the time that he is medicated. You can apply the patch at any time and remove it early if needed, whereas once a pill is in your system you have no control if you need the effects to wear off earlier. I will say that it takes a while for it to get into my son’s system (3-4 hours), so I put it on him while he is asleep when I get up at 5:15am so it is in his system by the time school starts at 8am. He does get some redness and occassional irritation from the patch, but not enough to switch back to a pill stimulant at this time. My son also takes 2mg Intuniv at night. Right now the combo is working great.  Best of luck to you!!!

My daughter just started the patch and we had trouble with it sticking.  She was also on the 10mg.  Our psychiatrist told us that if the medication is old it won’t stick well, she also said that the company that produces the medication is aware of this and we should take it back to the pharmacy for a new box.  We didn’t end up taking it back because we moved our daughter up to the next level (15 mg) and the patches seem to stick better.

Thanks for the info. My husband has been the one putting it on and he wants me to try. I don’t think he has made sure the area/skin is clean (not oily etc) so I will wipe his skin with an alcohol wipe. I looked at the box and they expire July 2012 so they don’t seem to be old but I do not know the shelf life, maybe some might expire in 2014 for all I know. I’m going to be the one to put it on him tomorrow and I’m anxious to see if it works any better. Thanks again.

Isn’t the Daytrana terribly expensive? My son takes Strattera 60 mg daily, but has a lot of trouble swallowing the capsule.