Posted: 20 November 2009 at 6:20am | IP Logged

Hi ,

I would love an update from anyone who recently started using Tenex or Guanfacine (Generic).  Our DS, age 6, started 2 weeks ago on Guanfacine (1 mg) ..for the first 5 days it was amazing followed by 3 days where it seemed like we forgot to give him the meds.  Dr increased his dosage to 2 mg at night, DS napped during the day and was tired almost all day.  Now we are about 2 weeks in and I do see some improvement.  Not so tired during the day either.  Does seem to cut the impulsive behavior, defiant behavior and aggressive stuff.

Thanks for the input!

Posted: 20 November 2009 at 10:10am | IP Logged

thanks for the update!

my son would never last a day without his concerta in addition to the guanfacine. But boy it sure does wonders for our son with his stimulant!

Keep us posted!!

Posted: 20 November 2009 at 11:52am | IP Logged

Bethann,

I keep wondering whether my son should be on the stimulants and then take the Tenex to help with the side effects.  But, he was very aggressive with scary dark thoughts.  Do you know..does the Tenex help with that kind of side effect or only with the insominia/eating/ticks stuff?  Tenex does not help with focus/attentiveness.

Posted: 20 November 2009 at 11:57am | IP Logged

My experience with my son has been that adderall xr and strattera gave him dark thoughts. Concerta did not. We also made sure we had him on the right dose for him. The addition of guanfacine helps relax him, he eats and sleeps. Without it, concerta alone is not effective enough for him.

I honestly believe if you have and adhhhhd'er, your child would benefit from the correct stimulant AND dose.

Alone, tenex/guanfacine is not enough.

Would you try it again, with tenex this time? you will never know until you try!!

Posted: 20 November 2009 at 12:34pm | IP Logged

Yes..I THINK we would try it again.  We have an appointment on Dec 7th for a med check.  I will probably bring it up at that time.  It almost seems to me like DS is less focused then before in school.  He was hyper and easily distracted, but now it seems that he is so relaxed/tired that I have a hard time getting his attention. 

Still the idea of stimulants is scary.  DS attacked his sister on his third day of Metadate CD and spoke of getting a gun and killing us all on his first day of Adderall XR.  Definitely would need DH to be home during the trial...  maybe over the Christmas holiday.

Something to think about...

Posted: 26 November 2009 at 6:32am | IP Logged

I'm curious as to why doctors perscribe tenex and a stimulant together for ADHD.  My DS is 9 1/2 and has severe ADHD and Asperger's.  He's been on Focalin XR with great success for years but reccently has had a lot of trouble wiith it.  Bad side effects: irritability, anger, agitated, noncompliance.  The doctor started him on Risperdal and took him off the Focalin for a while and then reintroduced the Focalin but the same side effects came back.  She then tried Adderall but no good either.  She said she wanted to exhaust the stimulants before moving on to other options which made sense to me.  My DS has stayed on the Risperdal through all this.  We just started Tenex a day and a half ago, along with the Risperdal, and WOW.  He seems much calmer, happy, not irritable or aggitated.  Now we aren't in school the rest of this week and that will be the test but this is good so far.  He's also really hungry which is fabulous because he's really underweight from years of stimulant taking.  I'm just wondering if the Tenex is going to be enough to cover him when he's back in school.  So my question is why do some doctors perscribe stimulants and Tenex together?