If you find a stimulant (or other med) that helps with the ADHD issues, but tics develop, you can add tenex (guanfacine) or clonidine to help with them.
Have you looked into a 504 for accommodations at school? Perhaps something like this would be enough for now since her grades are not failing....with a dx of ADHD, your daughter can get 504 accommodations to help her to succeed. Then later, if need be, you can revisit a stimulant when school becomes harder if she begins to struggle academically.
Just a comment:
My ds happened to be on Strattera for about six months and it didn't work for him in regard to his attentiveness. The only thing that improved in him was that his tics stopped completely. The doc told me that it was a good thing about Strattera, that it helped with the tic issue. At the beginning of his treatment with Strattera there were some undesirable side effects as well, but the doc told us to keep trying with it since it took some time to work and was the best option for prone to tics kids. It did not work. He is now on Concerta, and has been on it for almost a week; he is still tics free, I hope it all remains like this since I am starting to notice some benefits.
Medication is a really difficult decision for every parent, and unfortunately it isn't a one time decision. We decided to put my son on Medication at a pretty young age because of the severity of his ADHD. He has been on medication for almost 7 years now. We are constantly monitoring BP and other necessary things. (Weight, sleep, agitation, tics etc.) From what I have been told and my experience, my son is a pretty severe case, though we have been fortunate that medication is quite successful and we have had a good response to many of them. (We have had some he didn't react so well to.) He is currently on 50mg of Adderall XR. We were getting ready to change that because of increased impulsivity (which is what we saw three years ago when we changed him from Concerta to Adderall) The doctor instead recommended adding a small dose of Clonidine and it starts the entire internal battle over...do we want to put him on more, do the benefits outweigh the risks etc. We decided to give it a try after much investigation and WOW, are we happy we did. (He is also on Lexapro for anxiety and Seroquil to sleep) I always refer to it as his own Cocktail. He is on what I believe is a very small dose (from what I have read) of Lexapro..only 5mg, and .1mg of clonidine 2x a day. The adderall is quite high, but with the addition of Clonidine, it looks like we may be able to decrease the Adderall some. I guess I have gotten off your topic, but my advice to you would be to make sure you are giving the medication a fair amount of time. Be aware of the side effects and monitor for them, but try not to jump the gun. Be sure the benefits of the medication outweigh the risks. A little change isn't good enough...at least as far as I am concerned. If I am risking the side effects, the impact the meds have better be good and observable! Keep your head up and know that medication isn't an easy road. There is a lot of trial and error.
We are willing to try the meds to help her but want something safe.
Unfortunately, the ultimate safety of adhd drugs is still in question. However, I am very certain that the meds I give my son are the safest that are available at this time and that his life would be much different and more difficult without them. I think we are beginning to see a tic in my son (rhythmic breathing, like humming only with his breath), so I will be calling the psych to check our next step. This lousy disorder calls for daily vigilance; I just wish it was as easy to cure as an ear infection! Keep going and always push for something better---you just might find that one day you'll have a pretty darn good answer.