Iganio,
I am glad to see you are seeing positives; It gives you something to work with. If your son is doing well on the clonidine without drowsines, it would be worth staying with, unless you aro the doc have a reason to change. Definitely bring it all up with the doc so you are using the med that the doc thinks has the best chance of success. Docs have different meds that they prefer and it is based on thier experience managing the med. How long do you think the clonidine seems to be working?
wrinkles32,
Tell the doc of your concerns and what symptoms you are most concerned with and ask if a small amount of the med in the AM might be benificial. You might want to print some of the articles from the tenex thread that refer to this class of medication. Watch the sedating properties though.
My son has been on this during the day for almost two weeks now, and what a difference in his impulsivity. His teacher reports a dramatic change in school!! We are seeing a decline in its efficacy, but we may need to adjust the dose slightly at his next appointment. I am going to check into the tenex that people have been talking about! Hi..my son takes Clonidine at night to help him sleep...he takes 0.2mg and within an hour he is asleep. I am not sure how I would give it to him during the day...we are just getting back on track with his medication after some ill advised changes...so I don't want to do anything new right now...but I do find that with the Concerta he is a bit impulsive...so perhaps a very small dose of this in the morning would help. Any thoughts?Thanks for all of your input. I spoke to my son's teacher today who says there has been a big change in his behavior both Monday and Tuesday. He seems a bit more tired than he was but a lot less yelling out at inappropriate times. He is being much less disruptive. From what I have read, Clonidine typically doesn't show results right away, but it could take several weeks. Is it too good to hope we are seeing a difference already. He gets a dose after school too, and homework has been less of a struggle. I am wondering if he just had a couple of good days, or if the Clonidine is already working. Like I have said in the previous posts, we use a number system between school and home. The teacher writes a number 1-4 in his agenda which indicates to me the type of day he had. One is the worst, three is typical...what we want him to be. Four is exceptional and he is rewarded for this when he gets home. Prior to this week he typically got threes with a few twos and no fours. He got a four both Monday and Tuesday!! YEAH!!
Hello. I have been a member of this forum for quite some time, but have spent a lot of time reading and not responding. We had a change for my ds recently and I want to see if it is anything someone has had experience with. My son is 11 and a half years old. He was diagnosed at the age of five and started on medication. He has always been impulsive and has an anxiety disorder as well. He has been on 50mg of adderall xr and 5 mg of lexapro and seroquil to help him sleep. He is doing very well overall, but he is contantly talking. This is quite disruptive in school. The doctor prescribed clonidine for the impulsive behavior. Has anyone used this and what were the results. We just started it today and he seems so tired. Any experience would be greatly appreciated.He is currently on the pill form of Clonidine. He can't use most patches due to allergies he has and very sensitive skin. Is it true that clonidine could take up to 6 weeks to show benefit? I will continue to monitor his sleepiness. He was just started yesterday so the true test will be school tomorrow. If I continue to be unhappy with his drowsiness I will research the tenex more. I just get sick of changing and "playing" with the medication. I wish you could find the right combo once and it worked forever!Bounced has provided a good overview...
Clonidine is in the same class as guanfacine (Tenex) but is more sedating. I would call the doc monday and ask how long you need to give the med for the sedating effects to settle down. If the sedating effects do not settle down you might ask the doc about tenex.
Is your son using the clonidine patch or pill. The patch is long acting and the pill is short acting (a few hours). Guanfacine works for 6-8 hours (between the clonidine patch and pill).
It may be that with either of these added to the med mix, his sleep patterns may even out and some of the other meds may be discontinued.
Read the tenex thread for information and links (many of them refer to clonidine as well). It is effective for hyperactivity, calming, impulivity and defiance; not so much for focus.
vickie39144.8834259259Hi Iganio -I know it is hard to keep working at finding the optimal dose. You will have to keep watching and adjusting as his needs change. As he gets older he will have more activities, a social life and puberty may affect things. Rather than worrying about the disadvantage of ever changing meds, think of the advantage of being able to adjust to an individual's changing needs. That helps me as we have been finding the best meds for my youngest.
Here is a quick overview of clonidine. One note: the 1/2 lifes (time for 1/2 of the med to leave the body) of these meds should not be confused with the effective time. For instance guanfacine has a 1/2 life of ~18 hours but is effective for ADHD symptoms for 6-8 hours. Pill form clonidine has a half life of ~6 hours but is probably effective for ADHD symptoms for less time (I have not seen the effective time on clonidine-just that it was short).
So it doesn't sound like it works for long periods of time. The patch certainly sounds like it gives less of an up and down. I worry about the patch as he has so many skin problems. Then you might ask the doc about guanfacine/tenex. The bonus with guanfacine is that shire should have approval for thier long acting guanfacine for ADHD later this year for once a day administration.