is clonidine safe?please help!!! | ADHD Information

my son is very small for his age,he is 40 lbs.well since school started he is having real trouble going to sleep,last night he was up til 11:30pm.it seems like when he is tired his adhd is worse.i have given him melatonin 1,sublingual but last night it did nothing,so could i give him 2 melatonins or would that be too much.the dr gave me script for clonidine but i'm scared to give it to him since he's so small.any info would be so appreciated.

Hi

I give my sons ages 3 & 5   2.5mgs of Melatonin.  But the regular pill form.  I crush it and sprinkle it inside a piece of bread with jelly.

It works like magic.      I asked their Doctor and she said it is perfectly safe.  

If you search the internet you can find that 2.5 and up is a good dosage.

I tried the clonidine before but that made my 5 yr old very very drowsy very quickly and I got a little afraid.  I feel much better with the Melatonin and they wake up fresh and happy every morning.

 

 

My daughter is small as well (55lbs for a 10yo). She is on guanfacine (Tenex) which is a beta blocker like clonidine. They can be given to augment stimulants. They help with weight gain, calming, hyperactivity, memory and sleep but not attention. Clonidine is more sedating than Tenex. Keep in mind that as a beta blocker, it must not be stopped abruptly but weened off (it can cause rebound in blood pressure if stopped abruptly). Has your son had an ekg to assess heart function (this was part of my daughter's assessment prior to starting any meds)? Some info:

http://psyweb.com/Drughtm/jsp/clonid.jsp

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/news_ article_adhd.htm

 

My son is 6 years old and weighs about 43 lbs.  He's been on various dosages of Clonindine since he was 3 1/2.  He was EXTREMELY impulsive and hyperactive to the point that his pediatrician was worried that he would end up seriously getting hurt.  Clonidine has helped him tremendously.  I do not, of course want to recommend any particular drug as different children react differently to medications.  In my case however, it has made our lives and his a lot safer and a lot more bearable.  I will caution you however that if you decide to go the Clonidine route that initially it makes your child very sleepy.  The sleepiness usually subsides about 1 week after beginning the medication.  Also, you cannot miss a dose of Clonidine like the lady mentioned above, it's a blood pressure medication.  You may want to consider this if your child will have to be given the meds at school or if you are not good at remembering to give meds on time.  I believe the dangers involved with Clonidine are 1. failing to give the meds as prescribed   2.  taking too much
 

Hope this was helpful.

Sorry...one question.  You said your son was having difficulty getting to bed even if he's tired.  Is he on any other type of meds for ADHD?  Sometimes certain ADHD meds can cause sleeplessness.  I know when my son was taking Concerta he had sleep issues.  He's been on Strattera for awhile now and doesn't seem to have the same issues that he had with Concerta with his sleep.  Maybe instead of adding Clonidine...trying a diff ADHD med??  Just a suggestion to bring up to your doc.

he recently started on strattera 25 and with that the dr has him on concerta 54.i worry about the two together,i skipped giving him the strattera on sat he was very jittery like.of course would'nt you know the teacher had to speak with me today she said she had to holler at josh numerous times today and when doing a math paper instead of doing the paper he took his pencil and made scribble lines through the paper.she said he was also taking his pencil and acting like he was going to shoot the kids.i wanted to cry school only just started on fri.i always pray when he starts a new medicine that this will be the one,but hes already been on 4 different meds and he's only 7.he has'nt been changed all at once he has been on 4 different ones since kindergarten and he just started 2nd.he did go sleep last night by 9 i did give him 1 1/2 melatonins.but this morning he was bouncing off the walls. so i pray that he has a good day at school today.i wish we could find the medicine that would work great for him but so far there has'nt been one.

i feel for you about the school issue.  last year during kindergarten my son's meds were changed 3 different times.  some of the meds made him aggressive and so now the school is trying to label him as a behavior problem.  hang in there!  don't let them label your child and encourage him and praise him as much as you can. 

it seems strange for the doc to recommend so many different medicine changes at once.  i know my son's doc always only introduced one med at a time so that we could see how it affected him.  i think i'd talk to your doc about the "jitters" that your son is having as soon as possible.  good luck!

my son is six years old he was diagnosed a couple of years ago with adhd. when he was diagnosed i noticed he had trouble sleeping at night, so our family doctor put him on clonidine. im very pleased with it . it helps him rest through the night and he wakes up very fresh.