My child uses a similar med., guanfacine, for the same reason. It reduces the hyperactivity and impulsivity when the stimulant wears off (it also reduces his anxiety, another issue). Guanfacine also is a med. whose primary purpose is lowering blood pressure. Clonidine is considered more sedating than guanfacine, but otherwise my understanding is that they're very similar.
If you put clonidine + ADHD into a search engine, you'll come up w/ lots of info. about using clonidine for controlling ADHD. I know it seems strange to be using a blood pressure med., but it's done by lots of people.
HTH
Thanks Mom2ADHDboy. I will do that.My son has ADHD and a Mood regulation disorder. we were extremely opposed to medications, but have a few bipolar family members on our family tree and understand this is a chemical problem, not a behavioral one and they have to have help coping. My Dr has 2 boys with ADHD also and was very understanding about my aversion to drugs. I work NICU and PICU so I see all the horror stories of bad drug reactions and stuff I wont even go into. We started the clonadine on a minimal dose and incresed it until he could sleep. Being the neurotic mom I am and always will be, I checked blood pressures and heart rates every 15 minutes for the first several hours each time he took the med for a while. It was always okay. It did drop but no where near dangerous. He has had a great improvement in behavior since we started the clonadine. Since he could only sleep 5-6 hrs at a time I think maybe he was perpetually exahusted. I know I was. To still be up every night with a 5 year old child was nuts!! Not to mention the 2 hr drama before bed each night. Its not a solution to everything, but it certainly helps and from one scared mom to another I feel okay with it. Good luck ,and let us know how it works for you. ga mom, I have noticed in my dd in the past week , a much more calm child on the clanidine. She is on the .1 mg. right now....she asks for it and is not opposed to taking it. Good luck to you so far so good here. So glad to hear back from you so fast. I read on another link that clonadine should not be mixed with adderall. Does your little one take both. We are on straterra now, but have just hit the point where we should start seeing improvement. I feel like he is progressing well, we see rare episodes of aggression where they were common, daily and often hourly. He is academicly wonderful, reading easily leval one readers. He still interupts in class and has some impulse control issues. His teachers are pushing the stimulant types. Our Doc says it should be okay to mix, as he has other kids who have and do but, I would like to hear from a mom what her take is on it. I hate it when teachers want to play doctor.Their focus is get him through kindergarden, not the rest of his life. Good to hear from you, after about 1 month we noticed the bedtime was great, and morning till about 3 we saw the same calmness, we started on half of a point one at nap time and now enjoy the much calmer boy all day long. Not perfect, but easier to handle, and much better. She takes Concerta....it is a stimulant but not adderall. Adderall I think is in the Ritalin family. It's nice to meet you ga mom. My daughter started in kindergarden with problems too.G mom,
I felt the same as you. For 3 years I was against medication. We have tried strattera and it made her very very aggresive in the evenings. Severe rebound. We took her off right away, and that went away. Concerta was the 2nd try and has been succesful. Although with stiumulants they usually have to be increased once a year. Well thats my experience anyway. Straterra is more in the anti-depresant family. It does work for some but not for all. Get him checked for any heart conditions and a stimulant will be fine. Try not to be afraid of them. I was too.
Ritalin is a methylphenidate drug, while Adderrall is an amphetamine.
Just curious, can you tell me what he difference is between methylphenidate and amphetamine? I am currently have my 5yr old son evaulated for ADHD and would like more info.
Thanks
rhondaacty,
We have had a really difficult week at school and are stuggling with where to go from here. We manage at home with lots of one on one time and a pretty repeative regiment. School is lots more independant thinking and others putting him in new circumstances where he isnt always sure what to do, and sometimes the impulse thing just gets him. We have not tried anything except stratterra 25 mg and clonadine. His teachers are insistent for a stimulant type drug. It looks like you have been doing this for a while. We have a drs appt, but from a moms view where do you start? Have you had any experience with the daytrana patch? I like the idea of being able to take it off when he is done with school , and it also seems to be able to control metablization speed with the absorbtion time a little better. I read lots of folks saying that they are burning through the oral adderall type meds. Please anyone else feel free to put in a response. I hate the thought of more drugs, but dont know what else to do.