heatherr1, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask a few questions about your Intuniv experience. What time of day is your child taking it? Do you notice any times of day when it works more or less? Also, how long before the next dose does it seem to wear off, if at all?
One last question. Since your child already was taking Tenex, did Intuniv need to build up in your child's system to be effective or were the effects immediate?
I hope both of your kids continue to do well on the meds!
Cherylg, I know it's probably still building up in your system, but how's Intuniv going for you? I hope it's working out.
Mom2ADHDboy40146.8521759259It just became available this week. My pdoc has already prescribed it 3X this week so I guess I'll make #4. I'm getting a starter pack plus coupon for something off my first script. I won't get it until Fri. BTW... it's for me (44 yo) and I've never tried tenex. I'm adding to my vyvanse. Wish me luck.....Today is day 4 for us on Intuniv 2mg. I have definately seen improvement on the hyper side for ds but the moody/defiant/sad/argumentative side is worse I think. Or maybe it is more prominent since hyperness has subsided. He is tired too which I expected but looks tired too(dark circles) even though he sleeps well and sometimes cat naps on weekend now. Teacher claims still issues with arguing with kids in school
I really do not want to have to give ds 2 meds at 7yo, and I woory 3mg will make him even more tired.He is 50lbs.Anyone at a higher dose and same size?
Need to call md Wed to get RX for Saturday after starter pak is up.
kevnec and heatherr1, I know it seems strange because the long acting med is supposed to be the same as the short acting one but my son couldn't take any of the long acting stims. He does very well with the short acting type but has horrible problems when he switches to the long acting. I don't know if Tenex/Intuniv are the same but it may be that you need to go back to the Tenex. When my child started Intuniv and for the first few days on a new dose, I've noticed increased irritability and being more emotional. Then his body seems to adjust and this settles down. Same goes for fatigue, I've seen it at first but then it settles down.We have been tapering off the Intuniv and will be off next Mon. My ds had similar sx's with increased irritbaility/emotions that did not go away. MD has had us taper down from the 2mg dose and we will try Strattera next.Dear Mom2ADHDboy,
You mentioned that your son was more emotional/irritable when starting a new dose on Intuniv. How long has he been on it now? At what dose did you end up with? We are day 5 of 4mg. My son seems VERY emotional. When he is happy it is like he is drunk, but when he is sad he cries and gets angry at himself and says he is mad at the world. It goes back and forth throughout the day. Am wondering if this will subside or if we need to go back down to 3mg.
Thanks in advance for any input.
Just started my daughter on Intuniv after 2 and a half years on Vyvanse. She is just at the end of the 2mg dose and we start 3mg on Monday. We have noticed a huge difference in our daughter's behavior. She is happy, compliant and not threatening to run away or kill herself (she is 9) anymore. She only has the inattentiveness, so hyperactivity isn't an issue we need to control. She has not been in school with it yet, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that she will be able to focus better. The Vyvanse worked great, but after awhile seemed to be wearing off and rather than put her on a booster dose of something the dr put her on this. I have been giving it to her in the early evening, around 6 or 7 as I have noticed it doesn't really seem to make her sleepy until about 3-4 hours later, but we also give her a melatonin to help. She has been waking up happy, eating really well (she went from 48 lbs to 53lbs in 1 week) and if I ask her to put something away, she will do it without complaint (it was a huge battle before...so much so, I usually ended up doing it myself because I didn't feel like arguing with her). Hopefully this will work in school too...will let you know in a few weeks time.
My son's dr said it wouldn't be available until Nov 11th.
So far, tenex hasn't done a thing for Will. His dr did up his dosage to 2mg in the am and in the morning. Maybe that will help.
Has anyone seen this help with tics?
My daughter just received her prescription yesterday for Intuniv. Too soon to tell if it helps but I am hopeful. We saw a reduction of tics on Tenex, but it didn't totally make them go away. It helped make her a little more even keel and less anxious - which I think help reduce the tics. Anthony,Right now my son is taking intuniv and metadate. The doc said we might be able to get off the metadate but we will have to see. He goes back for a 2 week check up from the sample of intuniv so he hasnt been on it long, but so far so good. He is having the sleepiness but i think between the stimulant making him not go to sleep and the intuniv causing it it has evened him out. Also with just the stimulant he didnt want to eat alot now with both he is eating normally again.
my son is 7 and was originally on tenex ,1 mg in theMy 10 yr old son was previously on Tenex 1mg 2x a day and decided to try Intuniv. We are on day 5 of 2mg. I can't say that I have noticed anything other than extreme tiredness. He has been off an on stimulants since age 6. Adderall XR worked well for a year or so, but then we started noticing adverse effects (aggression/anger, etc). He also has anxiety so the mix with antidepressants probably doesn't help the with the adverse effects.
I am hoping that once we ramp up to 3 or 4mg I will see a noticeable difference.
We are on our second week of Intuniv. First week DD (6) took it w/ Vyvanse, but still had some severe anxiety, so for the past five days she has been on Intuniv only.
I've noticed it takes a good couple hours in the a.m. before she is calm, but perhaps this is because it has only been two weeks and it is not fully in her system yet? She has been very sleepy, but this seems to be improving - yesterday is the first day she has not taken a nap.
I think in general she is happier and more compliant on this med than on the Vyvanse, but I am worried because her attention has not improved. I am thinking we might have to add a stimulant back into the mix?
Heather...he does have a hard time falling asleep when he is on the stims,takes him a good hour or so before he finds his comfort zone(tossing and turning and he must go to the bathroom a good 4 times.
But on the tenex he fights it for 10 maybe 20 minutes before he crashes.
We have given him a break from the Adderall to see if the tics subside but i hope he can somewhat function well just on the Tenex.
I think if he can handle school without the stims we might really push for the Tenex at a higher dose.Good luck to and your lil one too Heather.
Anthonyd40154.5147685185 Does Intuniv truly last 24 hours, or is there a period where it's clearly worn off before the next dose is due? If there is a period where it's worn off, about how long does that last?Thats very interesting in the sense that Tenex and Intuniv is suppose to be the same but in a time release form.Maybe it takes a lil while to build up in her system?Give it some time to see if thats the case.
I really do not want him on any stims cause of the bad side effects that he gets(tics and moodiness)but on the bright side he did focus very well in class...a lil bit of hyperfocus in some things but we couldn't bear to see him with those horrible tics.
Good luck with your lil girl and please give the meds some time to build up to get the full observation from the Intuniv.Thats the one thing that us as parents don't really do(we get super nervous seeing our babies going thru stuff)Breaks our hearts.
Just wanted to update since we took my son off the stims about i would say almost a month.His tics have somewhat subsided but still very much there but if i recall it took him a while after we removed him from the stims last time so i am hopeful they will this time again.
He has had good days at school and home but also really rough ones where he is really defiant and mouthy but i think thats cause he is 10 yrs old going on 18...we are working on that aspect.I definitely want to keep him off the stims and push the Dr for the intuniv on our next appt.I feel in my heart that this could be the med that helps him the most and helps him be the kid that can excel in all aspects of life.
Would like to hear from anyone who has seen progress in their own experience with this new med.
My daughter (7yo) dx adhd with ODD tried stims but they were disastrous. We switched to Tenex 1mg and it worked great. Then we switched to Intuniv since it is the same thing as Tenex just extended release so we would only have to give 1X/day. Ever since then, things have gone downhill. We originally put her on 1mg intuniv but DR said it was not equivalent to the 1mg of Tenex so we upped it to 2mg. She has been on 2mg for about 2 weeks and we definitely see a difference in that she seemed much better on the Tenex than the Intuniv for some reason. We have an appt with Psychiatrist to discuss. I don't get it. I am kind of seeing the same thing. I think that Tenex worked better for DS than Intuniv, at least taken along with his stim. He is on 3mg Intuniv alone over the holiday break. It does help, but I can't imagine him in his classroom and trying to focus. I may up him to 4mg before his starts school again, but I am reluctant because the 3mg still makes him so tired.Thats where i get worried that it wouldn't help him Heather...its extremely nerve wrecking trying to figure what works or what doesn't.
He has always responded well to new treatment but after 30 days or so it would go back to him having tics or really ocd'ing(washing of the hands or going to the bathroom like alot).I pray that it will help him with this because he is doing alot better socially and academically since he started the Tenex only.
Ugh...its taking a toll on everyone home and we want to stop stressing soooo bad.
3 mg looks like it might be the right dose for my ds (10 years old, around 65 pounds I think), combined with Metadate CD and Zoloft. He's taken it for only three days, so it's a bit soon to judge. I look forward to hearing how he does at school. He was having a lot of problems in November and December.
Once again, he was super emotional and irritable the first few days on a new dose. It's gotten better and better over the past three days, with almost no issues today (Day 3 of 3 mg).
Moorekiddos, 5 days seems like a long time to be seeing the heightened emotionality. Did your child take Tenex before Intuniv? If not, I guess it's to be expected that it could take awhile to get used to it. What does the doctor say? Did you see increased emotionality in the first few days at lower doses?
Hold2Hope, your children seem to be going through something similar to what my child experienced with Tenex. We discovered that, if he took the afternoon dose later than 3:30 pm, he would be awake at around 3 am for awhile.
With transitioning from Tenex to Intuniv, my doctor had me taper down the Tenex while adding the Intuniv. My son did fine until we got to 2 mg Intuniv. At that point, we did no Tenex in the morning and 1/2 mg in the afternoon (previously he'd taken 1 mg Tenex in the morning and 1.5 mg in the afternoon). Once again, he was up at 3 am when he had 2 mg Intuniv and 1/2 mg Tenex in pm only. When we discontinued the Tenex, he returned to sleeping fine. He's even done fine with 3 mg Intuniv.
My DD was slowly going up in dosage on the Intuniv. She was like a completely different child on the 1mg and 2mg (in a good way). She started 3mg 2days ago and on 3mg. she is having a hard time focusing in school and listening at home...is it possible she is on too high a dose? Would that cause the off behavior when she was so good on 1 mg less? I know it is a dumb question, but just wondering.Hold2Hope- My ds son's eyes were very bloodshot as well while on it.We are off it now for a few days and on Strattera. Intuniv made him VERY confrontational and irritable.Also super emotional and tired.He only made it to 2mg. DS is sensitive to meds I am realizing now.
We do know Intuniv is not for him...but mostly not for US!
rhody94, we've never experienced the Tenex (short acting Intuniv) dose being to high but we have experienced when other meds are too high and I would say YES, the dose being too high can make things worse! For instance, we are trying Strattera right now and it was working pretty well then he all of a sudden got MORE hyper and really aggiatated. We had been gradually increasing the dose and when the dose got too high for him he started going backwards and the side effects made it look like the ADHD symptoms were back but it was really just that the dose had gotten too high.
That's usually how the docs know what the best dose is for any particular patient. They increase the dose until the benefits are outweighted by the negative side effects. This shows them that the dose is too high, so they back it off just enough to get rid of the side effects and that's usually the optimal dose.
My son took his 7th 1mg dose of tenex today; We've already seen a huge change in his behavior and frustration levels... Tomorrow we are supposed to increase to 2mg and I'm wondering what to expect.I agree with the pp. If you are not seeing any ADHD behaviors, then I'd stay at tht dose. However, I'd be ready for him most likely to adjust it and be prepared to go up at that time.
While stimulants are not age or weght based, Intuniv is a weight-based medication. This means you can predict based on weight what the best dose will be. However, if you're seeing perffect ADHD control at 1 mg, I wouldn't increase.
Both of my kids are on Intuniv. My DS 11 was on 1mg Tenex in the morning, with a 1/2 dose when he got home from school. He is ADHD, and also on Daytrana 15mg. I really like the Tenex. It controlled the tics, no side effects, and seem to make him eat more. Since he was already on Tenex, doc said we could start with 2mg Intuniv. Problem is every time he takes the 2mg Intuniv with the patch he has a horrible headache. We tried 2mg without the patch and he had a headache plus no focus, not a good couple of days. So, he is on 1mg with the patch, and we are planning on titrating him up over Christmas break. It does seem to keep him on an even keel, but I am noticing a few tics and appetite is down. He does take a 2mg pill on the weekends without the patch and works great for behaviors and attitude, which does not happen with the Tenex alone.I'm not an expert but I can tell you my son's experience. Whenever we start a new medication we see at least some results right away (even recently with Strattera). Then usually after a day or two his body adjusts to the medication and starts to go back to the way it was before. That's when the doc increases the dose. Then the cycle starts over again. As long as we see better results with each increase we continue to increase it until the negative side effects appear.
Usually with my son, the dose is increased because the smaller dose isn't doing the trick and that's obvious from the start or at least after a few days. Even if things have gotten a lot better, there are still ADHD symptoms showing through. That's why we increase. If your son's behavior is as good as you want it and he's stayed that way for a little while then I don't know that you need to increase the dosage.
Well, Intuniv was a big bust for us. We had to take my 11yr ds off due to hallucinations at night. The Dr. called Shire and reported it because he hadn't heard of that side effect. Shire said yes-but it was very rare. My 9yr ds started hearing things at night. He would wake up and come running into my room with his fingers in his ears at least 2 times every night. This started when he went to the 3mg, the 2mg wasn't enough to control his hyperactivity. So now they're both back on regular Tenex and doing okay. I'm gald to hear that some of you are doing well on Intuniv. Never stop trying, right?? :)We have been trying different things with the time of day the kids take the meds. We started off taking it in the morning, but when both kids titrated up to 3mg they were getting sleepy during the day. DS tried it at night a few times, but says that he has trouble going to sleep when he takes it at night. I noticed that when it takes it at night, around 10 or so during the break, about 17 hours later he was knocked out. DS started 4mg yesterday, and asked to take it in the morning again. He did fine today, said he was a little bit sleepy, but not much. Right now he is also taking it with Daytrana, but our hope is to get him adjusted to 3 or 4, then take away the patch over Christmas break. I think the Intuniv does need to build up a little in the system, we are definitely seeing better results on the higher dosages. He is much "level" than with the Tenex.My dd is on her fourth day of Intuiv. She takes it along w/ 20 mg of Vyvanse in the a.m. We are noticing more even emotions already, but it doesn't seem to have impacted her OCD tendencies - at least not yet.
My worry: She seems very tired and sluggish, but then again she had a tired period in the middle of the day when she was on Vyvanse only. I am thinking the combo makes her "double tired" - but maybe it doesn't work that way?
I am thinking of asking the pediatric neuro if we can drop the Vyvanse and just do the Intuiv and see how that goes. Is anyone on Intuiv only?
yes, my daughter is on intuniv alone (1mg) and it has helped her tremendously. She was on 1mg tenex and this is even better. She has MAJOR mood issues along with the add and it helps her mood and anger tremendously with no side effects. Sometimes I think "less is more" Less meds and smaller dose. Most people (parents and drs) seem to increase meds that aren't getting the desired effect but I have found keeping the dose low and the right med given alone has been the best bet for my daughter. My DD is on Intuniv along with Zoloft. She has seriously battled OCD for the past year and a half. Her symptoms are MUCH better on the Intuniv. The Vyvanse really increased her anxiety and the OCD. Once she started Intuniv we dropped her Zoloft dose also. She is a skin picker, and it is obvious that she is doing alot better. My DD has ADD inattentive type, and so far the Intuniv really seems to work for her.I have a gut feeling that he needs to be off the stimulants and i for one am leaning towards Intuniv but i am so disheartened about the side effects that its hard to be optimistic.
We are definitely going to inquire more info on it from his neuro next appt which is in two weeks.
I wish you all the luck in the world that it works for your children and for my boy also if we put him on that one.
[QUOTE=zacnautysmommy]My son is on Metadate CR and has developed a tic where he turns his head to the side. We went to the doctor today and they prescribed him intuniv to try with the metadate. So we will start tomorrow with that so hopefully it goes good. And good luck to the rest of you too.[/QUOTE]I agree with the pp. If you are not seeing any ADHD behaviors, then I'd stay at tht dose. However, I'd be ready for him most likely to adjust it and be prepared to go up at that time.
While stimulants are not age or weght based, Intuniv is a weight-based medication. This means you can predict based on weight what the best dose will be. However, if you're seeing perffect ADHD control at 1 mg, I wouldn't increase.
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