Anyone ever heard this about clonidine?? | ADHD Information

Or son was just given clondine for tourette's and he will start folocin XR a wk after he has taken the clondine.  I'm hoping it helps!My sons psychiatrist is completely against the clonodine or tenex. He won't tell me why but he veamatly sp? opposes it. I feel my son would benefit with one of these drugs but he says no way, It is for blood pressure. Well we all know that what other reason could he have.I often wonder. He is not much of a talker.Clonidine is a wonder drug for my ds-age 9. I highly recommend it. Be
VERY careful about thinking that .1 mg is a small dose and certainly
NEVER give more than prescribed. Also, if person is on it for any length of
time, it must be tapered off.

It is a med prescribed in adults for blood pressure control, so use it
wisely and carefully.

ONE DAY during testing at the local University Hospital, my son took his
stimulant without his Clonidine. He remained hyper until I got him to the
car and gave him his Clonidine. Within 15 minutes or so he was settled
down.

ONE day he took his Clonidine without his stimulant. He fell asleep and
was difficult to arouse. That was scary also. He needs them in
combination.

ONE DAY I visited his classroom and noticed that he was about to fall
asleep while his teacher was reading. We cut the morning dose of
Clonidine in 1/2 and have not seen that again. (We had just recently
changed from Focalin to Concerta, and the different stimulant required a
different dose of Clonidine.

My ds (age 9) takes Concerta 63 mg every morning. He takes Clonidine
0.1 mg... 1/2 tab in the a.m., 1/2 tab at 4 p.m., and a full tablet at night.

I know I made it sound a little scary, but my son would not be the same
without it. That 4 p.m. dose helps get us through the evening.

The 8 p.m. dose helps him sleep well all night.

Our pediatrician did not want him on it, but the psychiatrist who
regulates his ADHD meds is a firm believer in it, and I agree with him.

My son is one of the top 2 -3 students out of 60+ in 3rd grade and he
would not be without his meds.... He may be as smart, but he couldn't do
the work if he couldn't settle down!

Yes, I hate giving my kid meds.

But what I hate worse.... is not giving them.



I knew about clonidine but didn't bring it up to either of my son's doctors, I didn't want to be the one who said "please, prescribe my kid more drugs" if you know what I mean.

My older son's autism specialist prescribed it for him when I told him about his horrible sleeping habits and my younger son's pediatrician prescribed it to combat the horrible insomnia my son was experiencing with Vyvanse (which has been otherwise, a great drug for my child).

If your son's psychiatrist is vehemently opposed to something YOU want to try and isn't explaining why, I wouldn't value their opinion much as a prescribing doctor. Just my 2cents.

HTH!
I would wanna know why he is against it soo much.  My son is on .5 mg at night and for this 1st week just .25mg to start.  Dr. mentioned halodog or something too but I have heard bad things about that one.My son's new autism specialist put him on Clonidine to help with the sleep issues we're having (have always had, even prior to starting ADHD meds). He's on an extremely tiny dose (.1mg) and hopefully it'll be just enough to help him GO and STAY asleep all night.

Anyways.... the specialist told me that Clonidine (for whatever reason) has an undocumented affect of helping ADHD meds like Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall, etc work better. He says it doesn't work as well on it's own, but in conjunction with those meds, it can really help. He says it can help them focus, attend better and in general, makes them calmer, etc.

I'm curious about this as my son is also on Risperdal (1mg) & Adderall XR (5mg). All meds he's on are very small dosages considering his age/size (nearly 10, and 96lbs), and I'd personally like to keep it that way. Will the Clonidine really help the ADHD meds work better? The doctor said that at the age/size my son is on most of the dosages of meds would be 2-4 times higher than he's currently on

Just wondering if anyone else has heard this?

I've also read that clonidine can help w/ impulsivity and hyperactivity associated w/ ADHD.  It does not help w/ focus. 

My child takes a very similar medication, guanfacine (generic for Tenex) to help w/ his impulsivity and hyperactivity as well as his anxiety.  Like clonidine, guanfacine primarily is a blood pressure med.

My son who is 6 years old is on Clonidine .25mg in the morning along with his Vyvanse 40mg and Risperdal.25mg in the afternoon to help him eat a little.  He also take .50mg of Clonidine at night to help him sleep and so far it has helped with both his adhd and sleep.  It is true the Clonidine was giving years ago for ADHD patients.  Hope this helps.My 11 yr old son in on focalin xr, zoloft, and clonadine for sleep.  Clonadine works well for my son.  He is on low dosage .1   So far 4-6 months no side effects.  If he doesn't take it he has a lousy night of little sleep.  If your child had another type of disease you would not think twice about giving he meds to get through.  I know I wouldn't.   SUNNY641
Are you sure about that dose? .3 mg would be the maximum dose a child
should take during a 24 hour period.

My son has .1 mg pills and takes 1/2 in the a.m., 1/2 in the afternoon and a
full pill at bedtime.

It's been extremely effective in helping with the H part of his ADHD.

I stated the doses wrong.  He has .1mg pills that we cut in half and he takes one half in the AM and one half in the PM. So really just .05 mg in am and in pm.  He's been on this for about 3 wks and 1 1/2 wks ont he focalin.  His tics have almost disappeared- except a little eye thing he does.  He has been doing so much better on this med combo.  He said just today that he was able to concentrate at school today.  The first day he took the two meds he said for the first time he felt comfortable in hios chair at school.  Interesting how he must feel when not on the meds.  He said he could sit without needing to get up or mess around with something.  He also seems so much happier in general. 

 

He goes to an ENT Dr because the sleep study showed he has obstructive sleep apnea so he may need adnoid and tonsils out too.