guanfacine questions | ADHD Information

I am trying to figure out a couple of things about using guanfacine.......we started dd on an afternoon dose last week and will begin an a.m. dose tomorrow. SHe is currently on adderall XR 30mg, is it likely that she will not need that high of a dose of the adderall with the guanfacine? The guanfacine is calming her and I am a little nervous that if I give her the guanfacine and her full dose of adderall it will flatten her. ANy thoughts or experinces?

Also, if you use guanfacine successfully, what is it like to stop the drug? I know you taper down slowly but do you experience the "rebound" type behavior as you stop using guanfacine? I know when dd stops stimulants her ADHD behaviors are extremely exagerated for a couple of weeks at least. I wonder if stopping guanfacine does that too??

Thanks in advance for any insight!!

I would be interested in hearing replies to your questions as well.  My daughter just got prescribed guanfacine.I gave this to my son last summer for a med break.  I slowly weaned him up to 1/2 a pill three times a day and we started school with Strattera and Guanfacine,  it was not enough for success so I switched back to concerta and guanfacine.  At that point I did not see the purpose for the guanfacine so I weaned back off of that too. 
Now as school winds down we are back on guanfacine in anticipation of summer med break.  With any meds I think very slow is best. 
I don't know anything about stopping guanfacine, and can't imagine that we
will want to. It makes a huge difference. My grandson (who I am raising) was
eating the zippers off his sweatshirts and holes through his shirt cuffs every
day. This medication has greatly calmed his sensory integration issues, and
has significantly calmed his down.I certainly have not noticed any side
effects either.If your child takes adderall along with the guanfacine, then instead of less adderall, it would be less guanfacine. There is no rebound from guanfacine as it is not a stim medication. It is actualy an antihypertensive. It is used in adhd kids for anxiety issues.  If you stop it abruptly, yes, there can be anxiety, chest pain and the like.  That is why it is important to have them weaned and under a doctors watchful eye.

Hailey also has DS and they are usally low in zinc and mag, and that is part of the reason I started researching. That is when I found out some parents report these supliments help with adhd. Hailey has about 5 different dissorders and I just want to do everything I can do to help her. Like you I am hopefull to find a better way. I will get some of that and see if it helps her. Thank you for your imput and good luck on your journey. please feel free to email me with any new info. Have a great day.Becky

From what I have been able to find, Magnesium is an inactive ingredient in
guanfacine. I have told our doctor that I give my 9 yo magnesium to help
him relax and sleep and he sees absolutely no problem with it.

I wasnt sure if that guy knew what he was talking about. When I first said something to Haileys Dr. she had told me anything natural would be fine. So I guess I wont worry about it. Does the magnesium really help with the relaxing and sleep. Hailey really doesnt have a problem with sleeping because she takes a guanfacine at night and it makes her sleepy. But I would like to see her relaxe during the day. Did you say you use a powder form of mag. ? Does it really seem to help?

What I know is that I have had a number of blood tests done to check for amino balance.  Amino acids help our brains process dopamine and serontonin.  Mag and zinc are essential to support the amino acids.  Check out the PS threads on the alternative board. 
What I use is called Dr Gillhams magnesium calm.  I was using mag capsules but the blood tests looked as if my boys were not absorbing it that way.  It has a tart taste and hides well in any citrus juice.
That said my kids are still on meds....but I am hopeful to find a better way.

 

my 10 year old son has been on tenex for about 6 months with some success for tics.  He slowly made his way up to 1mg in the am and 1mg in the pm. it worked quite well for about 2-3 months and then the tics came back.  we tried to slowly increase the tenex, yet he could not tolerate the increase.  Horrible headaches, extreme tiredness.  so i felt that the tenex was no longer doing what it was supposed to do, why give it.. now we are in the process of taking him off it.. dr. says to cut 1/4 away and leave it like that for 5 days, then do the same until there is nothing left.. the process will take about 40days.  i haven't noticed any negative side effects (except the tics because he is still on the stimulant)from decreasing the tenex.. Our goal is to hav e him off it by sleep away camp, and then i guess try it again for school next year.

 

My daughter takes guanfacine. She takes one tablet in the morning along with concerta(she just went off vyvance and started concerta)she has been taking guanfacine for about a year. This is what i was told by her behaviour specialist and a person at a health food store. Guanfacine is a blood pressure med. used for other things too. Some of the stim. raise your bp, hailey is a heart patient so she was placed on it. It does help her sleep at night and aids her in calming down during the day. She takes a half tablet around 10 30am and half at 3 and again at night before bed. She has had no side effect from this med. We were gonna try to take her off of the guanfacine at one point but she was off the hook the three days she didnt take it. The  school ask me what had I done different because she was so hyper and unable to focus. I hadnt told them because I wanted to see if they notice which they did. So I called the Dr and told him what was going on and he started her back on it. Now the guy at health food store told me not to give her magnesium suppliments because the guanfacine raises your magnesium level. I didnt know if your child is on this suppliment thats why I mentioned it. If so you might just run that by your Dr and see what he says. I dont know how much truth there is on that because I havent found any research on that in the guanfacine websites. Good luckThe magnesium is interesting... Our society as a whole is mag deficient!  I give my kids a powder mag supplement and guanfacine.   I was affraid to give it to Hailey after he said that. Im gonna take Hailey in and let her Dr do some test to see what is low and see what suppliments are needed. I had been researching suppliments on this website and talking to other parents who are useing that approach to treat the adhd. I would just about do anything to help her. But I am affraid now to just give her any suppliment, what if she doesnt need it. I dont know if there is any truth to what he said. I just want to be carefull. I quit talking to those parents on that website because they were judgeing me pretty harsh for medicating Hailey and I guess it hurt my feelings. We all want what is best for our kids and the dr said Hailey has one of the worse cases he has seen in awhile. He is a behaviour specialist and goes all over educating parents and other Dr. about adhd and other disorders. She had no life before we started the meds. and now she is learning. I did what I thought was best. But I still continue to research other options.Please let me know if you find out anything about guanfacine raising the magnesium level.  Becky