Well, you could ask your Doctor. Guanfacine does help many of the children (whose parents post here) with their anger and aggression, but that is a little different from arguing and being defiant. My DD does take 1.5 mg of Guanfacine with breakfast and dinner. She is taking it to help control her tics though (She has TS as well as ADD). We still have HUGE issues with arguing and defiance at that dose. That 's not to say it wouldn't help your son though....You really just need to check w/ his Doctor I suppose!
Good luck!
Ask the doc of course. Reducing the home conflict can go a long way towards increasing his self esteem and your sanity. If you do increase, remember to do it slowly to reduce side effects.
Guanfacine has a 12-18hr half life and a 6-8 hour effectiveness for adhd symptoms. We give a 1/2mg after school if the youngest needs it for social situations (normally dose for her is 2mg AM and 2mg before bed). If the extended family is coming over, I give her a little more and decrease the bedtime dose by that amount. The doc gave us the option of up to 2mg for the afternoon dose (up to 2mg three times a day). He likes this med because it is so versitile. Once we found no side effects, he gave me a variety of parameters to work within on dosing this med.
vickie39184.9823263889My son is 10 and takes 5 mg. of Dexedrine 4x per day for ADHD. He also takes 1.5 mg. of Guanfacine in the a.m. That dosage seems to be working at school, but we continue to have contstant issues with him arguing and being defiant during the evening. Wondering if I should give him an afternoon dose of Guanfacine to carry him over into the evening? He takes melatonin at night to sleep and that has not really been an issue.