Do all Stims cause tics? | ADHD Information

My son (6 -years) has been taking 300mg of Seroquel XR for awhile, but
he started kindergarten this year and has been on a downhill path as far
as behaviour, focusing, etc. His Psych. suggested Vyvanse, 20mg, which
we tried on the first day he had off for Thanksgiving break. By 2pm he
started having tics like licking his lips, sticking his tongue out over and
over, clenching fists, one hand clapping, and it just got worse as the
evening went on! He normally goes to bed at 8, but we had to keep him
up til 9pm to help him calm down because he couldn't stop these
uncontrollable movements. We haven't given him any more (the doc told
us to stop), and we have another appointment coming up but I thought I
would ask anyone here - DO ALL STIMULANTS CAUSE TICS?

If my son has had tics on one kind of stimulant, does that mean that any
stimulant will cause them? He was still taking the Seroquel during this
time as well, which the doc said should help with some of the negative
side effects, but as you can see certainly didn't.

Anyone have any answers or similar experiences?

There are some variation to the types of stimulants, but you may struggle.  My daughter cannot take any of the stimulants without tics.  For us Tenex (guanfacine) was an option that we used ofr 1 1/2 years, but then she became so angry and nasty, I had to pull that too. 

We are using natural alternatives now with success.  I cannot go back to the meds.  I have my slightly hyper, sweet kid back.  We struggle with focus, but the alternatives are helping so far. 

One day at a time. 

 

If your son has tics on one type of stimulant he may have them with another type of stimulant but it's not certain that he will.  Some kids can't manage on one stimulant but another may do the trick with minimal tics.  Also, sometimes docs add Tenex to the mix to help counteract the side effects of stimulants-one being tics.  My son doesn't have tics but he does have other annoying side effects and the Tenex helps those.

Is he on the Seroquel for bipolar, trouble sleeping? I was just wondering if that has any effect on the meds or not. I'm not that familiar with it.

Also, even if your son cannot take stimulants, there's still Straterra or he could try Tenex by itself. 

Good luck and I hope things get better for your little guy!  

I think different stimulants can cause different reactions.   My daughter has tics from time to time with stimulants.   She takes tenex for this and also to help her be a little more even keel.    We found that on focalin xr the tics were far worse than on Ritalin LA or Concerta. My son is on Seroquel for his ADHD, to calm him down, and it worked up
until early October. He wasn't 6 years old before Oct. 24th, so the doctor
waited to try any of the true ADHD meds until he was 6.
We tried Straterra right after we started seeing his new Psych about a year
and a half ago and we didn't see any results, but I don't know if that was
because he was so young (he was 4 at that time)? We requested to try it,
it was not the doctors recommendation. We liked the idea that it didn't
work like the other stims.
We haven't tried Tenex at all, but he has been on Risperdal and Clonodine
in the past that caused him to wet the bed every night.

I suppose I'm just not ready for the trail-and-error of it all, we had
another bad report from the teacher yesterday, both his behaviour and
focus are just going downhill fast! I've snagged an appointment with his
Psych today, so I'll ask her about these things.

Thank you all for your feedback! It is greatly appreciated!

Strattera seems to help those who are not impulsive or hyper, just the more inattientive type.

I have experience with concerta and tenex as a combo. DS tried addrerall xr and strattera ( to be used along with concerta at the time) but both of these the side effects were very negative for him.

We have been very happy for the past 5 years with concerta and tenex. It gets us through school, homework, he eats, and sleeps.

As far as tics go, he clears his throat. Prescribing doctor believes it is a tic, but it goes away. He does have phlem, however. Maybe the pill causes that in his throat, not sure.

I hope you find something that is successful for him.

BETHANN40149.3455208333Just met with the doctor today and she has prescribed some Tenex (she was
interested in that new longer lasting type, but worried my insurance
wouldn't cover it, so we are going with Tenex).

She suggested we try NO other stimulants right now. She thought that we
had already tried the Tenex before, but we haven't. She is also suggesting we
stay on the Seroquel as well, so it will be a no-stims combo.

Going to pick up the 'script and try it out this afternoon!

I am hoping it works!Oh, okay, good to know, we're getting started this afternoon. He will be
taking 1mg of Tenex 2x per day.

At this point, I'm really ready for ANY positive results, no matter how
small. We need to see him start taking steps forwards instead of
backwards, so any little progress would be great.

We've got our next doc appt. in 4 weeks to evaluate, so I will keep that in
mind, I didn't know it needed to build up in his system.

Thanks!

I agree - each of the stimulants has a unique effect.  My daughter had tic reactions to 3 or 4 meds.  Because they are all in similar families, for now, we are not trying anything new. Her reactions were pretty severe in some cases - Concerta was the worst, in her case.  Focalin was mild, Vyvanse, the tics started after a couple of days and were worsening. 

Unfortunately it is trial and error for the most part. 

 

Just be aware that Tenex has to build up in the system before you see any results.  They say up to 4 weeks.  We started seeing positive results within a few days but didn't see the full effect until about 2 weeks.  Good luck!