Tenex Only Folks.. | ADHD Information

I'm curious as to why doctors perscribe tenex and a stimulant together for ADHD.  My DS is 9 1/2 and has severe ADHD and Asperger's.  He's been on Focalin XR with great success for years but reccently has had a lot of trouble wiith it.  Bad side effects: irritability, anger, agitated, noncompliance.  The doctor started him on Risperdal and took him off the Focalin for a while and then reintroduced the Focalin but the same side effects came back.  She then tried Adderall but no good either.  She said she wanted to exhaust the stimulants before moving on to other options which made sense to me.  My DS has stayed on the Risperdal through all this.  We just started Tenex a day and a half ago, along with the Risperdal, and WOW.  He seems much calmer, happy, not irritable or aggitated.  Now we aren't in school the rest of this week and that will be the test but this is good so far.  He's also really hungry which is fabulous because he's really underweight from years of stimulant taking.  I'm just wondering if the Tenex is going to be enough to cover him when he's back in school.  So my question is why do some doctors perscribe stimulants and Tenex together?

Usually they prescribe them together because Tenex counteracts the side effects of stimulants.  My son takes Ritalin and Tenex because the Ritalin works well for the hyperactivity and impulsiveness but aggravates his sensory processing issues and makes him aggitated and angry.  The Tenex smooths all that out and allows him to take stimulants. The best way to describe it is " it is like the frosting on a cake" The cake is great, but boy even better with frosting.

concerta is great, but my son is even better with his guanfacine!

My son began meds at age 6, almost 7. His psychopharmacologist started right from the start both concerta and guanfacine. It did the trick. ( we had tried adderall with the ped and concerta but not that high of a dose so we knew concerta was the med but needed help starting over with a specialist. - another story for another time)

So I hope my analogy makes sense.

My son once had an increase in concerta but the increase didn't help him until we increased his guanfacine. It is that important to my son's successful day. Once we went from .5 mg to 1mg, the teacher saw no change.

Now my son is at 108mg concerta BUT still only at 1mg of guanfacine. His prescription allows us to give him an additional 1 mg if he needs it for sports but we really found it didn't do too much. My son's works best in addition with his stimulant.

My son is 12 yrs old. He has been on concerta and guanfacine since he turned 7 yrs old.

I hope this helps!!

BETHANN40143.3941898148it's really amazing how much a blood pressure medicine can help with these sorts of things, no?It really is...and I often wonder how in the world they even knew to try this type of medication with ADHD kids??? Well I, for one, am glad they did! I believe Tenex helps those types of side effects too.  It helps my son's anxiety, his moodiness, aggression, and generally calms him so it may also work on the side effects you're talking about.  The good thing is you will know pretty quickly if it helps or not!

Bethann,

I keep wondering whether my son should be on the stimulants and then take the Tenex to help with the side effects.  But, he was very aggressive with scary dark thoughts.  Do you know..does the Tenex help with that kind of side effect or only with the insominia/eating/ticks stuff?  Tenex does not help with focus/attentiveness.

My experience with my son has been that adderall xr and strattera gave him dark thoughts. Concerta did not. We also made sure we had him on the right dose for him. The addition of guanfacine helps relax him, he eats and sleeps. Without it, concerta alone is not effective enough for him.

I honestly believe if you have and adhhhhd'er, your child would benefit from the correct stimulant AND dose.

Alone, tenex/guanfacine is not enough.

Would you try it again, with tenex this time? you will never know until you try!!

Yes..I THINK we would try it again.  We have an appointment on Dec 7th for a med check.  I will probably bring it up at that time.  It almost seems to me like DS is less focused then before in school.  He was hyper and easily distracted, but now it seems that he is so relaxed/tired that I have a hard time getting his attention. 

Still the idea of stimulants is scary.  DS attacked his sister on his third day of Metadate CD and spoke of getting a gun and killing us all on his first day of Adderall XR.  Definitely would need DH to be home during the trial...  maybe over the Christmas holiday.

Something to think about...

Hi ,

I would love an update from anyone who recently started using Tenex or Guanfacine (Generic).  Our DS, age 6, started 2 weeks ago on Guanfacine (1 mg) ..for the first 5 days it was amazing followed by 3 days where it seemed like we forgot to give him the meds.  Dr increased his dosage to 2 mg at night, DS napped during the day and was tired almost all day.  Now we are about 2 weeks in and I do see some improvement.  Not so tired during the day either.  Does seem to cut the impulsive behavior, defiant behavior and aggressive stuff.

Thanks for the input!

 

thanks for the update!

my son would never last a day without his concerta in addition to the guanfacine. But boy it sure does wonders for our son with his stimulant!

Keep us posted!!

BETHANN40137.4243981481

Update:

Well it seems that Guanfacine (Tenex) is not the answer here.  As previously posted, DS age 6, started on 1 mg then upped to 2mg.. increasingly hostile, defiant, aggressive and ultimately had an out of control rage meltdown ..

Dr. pulled him off of the meds ..we are breathing a big sign of relief.  Drs appt on Dec 7th to "discuss options".  But, realistically there doesn't seem to be any meds that work for him.  He gets aggressive with both types of stimulants. 

We were thinking maybe we should suggest the stimulant/tenex combination over Christmas.  But, had such a frightful experience that now we are scared to try again.  This experience stinks when it doesn't work!

 

We had a nightmare with adderall xr and strattera. REALLY bad. But once we got it right and the dosage especially, it was all worth it!!

hang in there. We swear by the concerta / tenex combo for DS.

My son started taking Tenex last week after having to stop taking stimulants due to bad side effects (irritability, aggitation, non compliance).  I was really worried that it wasn't going to be enough to "hold" the ADHD symptoms but WOW he was amazing this weekend.  He was happy, sweet, easy going, compliant, mellow, not hyper.  He seemed a little sleepy to me at first but seemed to work out of that as the weekend passed.  We actually started on Wednesday and had the long weekend due to the Thanksgiving holiday.  He also takes Risperdal in the am and pm.  Today he went back to school and I'm a little anxious to see how he does there.  It's been a very bumpy ride at school this year since the stimulants started to fail him.  I'm really hoping that this med will be the key and he can get back on track.  Fingers crossed!!They are crossed and hoping for the best results for your son and you both! Anyone have problems with Tenex making their child too sleepy?  Today was the first day back to school on Tenex and the school nurse just called saying that the teachers think my DS seems drowsy and sluggish.  Last week he was non compliant and stubborn, the week before that hyper and uncontrollabale and the week before that irritable and aggitated.  I don't know what they are complaining about  (just kidding) Anyway...He's also on Risperdal.  He takes an AM and PM dose of both.  Any thoughts???yes, too sleep, when increased like a zombie, stopped meds on sunday and it's like he came back to life.