My 9 year old dd has been on adderall XR for almost 4 full school years. SHe has definitely developed a tolerance to it. The meds still work just not as well and she is already on 30mg which her dr. won't increase. The only thing that seems to help restore some of the effectiveness is a med break. Also, the longer she is on adderall the harder it is to take her off. Her ADHD symptoms are just SOO exagerated like constant rebound. So we are thinking of putting her on guanfacine over the summer break. She has the very hyper/impulsive type of ADHD.
Okay so here are my ?'s Has anyone ever kept their child on just guanfacine for several months? Do kids develop a tolerance to guanfacine like they do to stimulants? I am worried that if we don't give her a complete med break that we won't get her back to a point where the stimulant will be effective again in the fall. The guanfacine effects neurotransmitters too like the stimulants but in a different way so does she need to be off ALL meds to combat this tolerance and rebound build up? I would love to have her behavior under control for the summer otherwise the simulant break makes for a very rough time but I only have the summer to fiddle with this because she really needs her adderall to be working optimally for 4th grade which is sucha big, hard year. ANy advice??? Should we try guanfacine over the summer??
Also, does anybody have an update on the long acting form that Shire is seeking approval of and when if should come out?
Thanks so much in advance!!!!
My youngest was on guanfacine alone for 6 weeks. Behavior issues were fine during this time. We had to add back a stim for school, but plan to go back to guanfacine alone during the summer.
No word on the shire med yet. Watch them for a press release when the med is approved by the FDA. The press release should have the expected time to market.