From Strattera to Intuniv?
Hi there. My son is 10 and has Aspberger's and ADHD along with anxiety. He's being treated with Strattera and a little Clonidine at night right now for about 2 years. It's definitely helped but he's having a bad school year. Seeing more noncompliance, arguing, crying and emotional behavior, along with more anxiety. Doc recommended Intuniv but I don't know how it will help if at all with anxiety. It seems like he wants to treat the ADHD and never really gets at the anxiety, although Strattera does somewhat. My fear is taking him off Strattera he will lose any antianxiety effect. Has anyone noticed improvements for anxiety using Intuniv? Any other thoughts/suggestions? I'm really struggling with whether to switch. I'm pretty conservative as he has a lot of tics, etc. But today he refused to go to school (first day back), saying he'd rather kill himself or run away, which is much more than he's ever said.
Thanks for any advice. It's tough to make these decisions and this board is great b/c I realize I'm not alone!
I also have a 10 year old son with Aspgers and ADHD, and we too are having a bad school year. My DS takes Tenex (short acting Intuniv) and Risperdal. We are also having lots of problems with noncompliance, arguing, anger, irritability, tantrums and threats. He was on stimulants for the ADHD for years but they failed him this year with an increase of negative behaviors that made it necessary to take him off them. We tried the Risperdal to help with the negative behaviors and to restart the stims but no luck. The Tenex seems to help the hyperactivness but he's still struggling horribly at school. He was fully mainstreamed last year but had to be removed from the classroom this year and now works with a one on one alone. We have not tried Strattera and I have a feeling that it might be next if we don't get the results we are looking for from the Tenex. I know a lot of people use the Tenex in conjunction with stimulants. They say that it smooths out the side effects of them. I don't know if this helps you at all but I wanted to respond because it sounds like we are in the same boat right now.It does sound like we're in the same boat. My son had a really good year last year but this year is different. Not as bad as 3rd grade though during which he wasn't on anything until the Strattera. He's being removed for math and some time in the morning and at the end of the day and he hates it. He says it's what's "ruining his life." I don't think Intuniv will be enough for him. I just don't know what to do. I'll probably call the doc and talk it through with him again. It gets confusing with the mix of disorders/syndromes. Sometimes I think OCD or anxiety in general is his main problem. Keep me posted. I'll post back once I make some decisions. Thanks for your help!I have an appointment today with a Psychologist that we started working with in September for other Aspeger's reasons but we haven't seen in a few months because of the crisis mode we are currently in. He's a specialist in Asperger's/PDD-NOS and even though he's not an MD he's good with meds. I'm hoping he'll be able to give a fesh perspective on our situation. I just need a sounding board to run past all the stuff that's going on. Next week we go back to the dev. ped. to discuss how the meds are doing. Later this week I'm supposed to go and look at new classroom placement for my DS. This has gotten exhausting!You are not alone. My almost 8 year old DS has ADHD/Asperger's and is now taking 36mg Concerta and 3mg Intuniv. Concerta alone was horrible for him and adding Intuniv has helped the ADHD symtpoms, but hasn't helped the anxiety. I'm almost feeling like the Concerta should be lowered now or something because he is almost too focused at times, gets stuck and then irritable when you ask him to move on. His anxiety is bad right now. We have an appt. with our psych on Thursday. I too feel like his anxiety hasn't bee addressed.My daughter has adhd, severe anxiety, ocd. We did Intuniv for about 3 weeks. The first week she took it w/ her Vyvanse, the second and third weeks she took it alone.
We found Intuniv took the edge of the Vyvanse, meaning she was not as physically agressive while on both. But she was still extremely agitated. On Intuniv only, she was less hyperactive and a bit less anxious, possibly because she was so sleepy. Intuniv did absolutely nothing for focus and attention. We stopped Intuniv because after three weeks she was still extremely sleepy on it. But it might be different for your child, since he is older.
She is now on Zoloft w/ Concerta. The first two days have not been great - I called the doc yesterday because she was obsessively tying her shoes for 58 minutes straight! He took her down a dose to 18 mg Concerta. I don't have much faith in stimulants anymore. I guess we'll see.
Hello! I am new to this forum, but have used it as a resource for quite some time. My 8yo daughter has ADHD. The symptoms have been fairly well controlled with the Daytrana Patch. However, the skin irritation from Daytrana is horrible. So, because we need a long acting med, her doctor recommended Intuniv. We have only been on it for 1 day at 1mg, and it's a complete nightmare. I am asking for any insight with this med. Because it's so new, it's very hard to find usable information on it on the web. I do understand that 1 day isn't a decision maker. However, how long before we should start seeing results? We tried Straterra 2 years ago without any real effects. I would appreciate any insight or opinions on this. Thank you in advance!
My son has severe anxiety (separation, social, OCD), so I understand what it is like to have a child refuse to go to school. Treating the anxiety for us was first on the list and you may find by doing that he will "calm" himself in a way, his body may start to "settle"down. By introducing an anti-anxiety, you then may notice an increase in activity level, which I know you are trying to control. Stim meds can increase the anxiety in children, and that may what you are seeing. I agree with you, I think addressing the anxiety should be first, have that med settled and then try something to help with the affects of the anti-anxiety meds. I know this is exhausting, we are currently trying to find something to control impulsiveness, foucs, etc. along with the Zoloft my son is taking. I will say that the times we have increased the Zoloft I have noticed my son a bit more "calm" but there is a fine line with that, you don't want to go too high or you may find the increased in activity level. Good luck and hang in there, I know this is very exhausting, mentally.My son is 13 yoa and diagnosed with high fuctioning autism, but also has alot of anxiety. He did not respond well to the stimulants and was doing OK on Wellbutrin, but has started to develop tics. We met with the doc today and got started on Strattera. He will be on the starter pack for the first three weeks, then get to his target dose of 40 mg.
The doc said to start him on the Strattera at night due to possible drowsiness. Has anyone done that - does the med last throughout the following day?
Thanks
[QUOTE=mst2432]My son is 13 yoa and diagnosed with high fuctioning autism, but also has alot of anxiety. He did not respond well to the stimulants and was doing OK on Wellbutrin, but has started to develop tics. We met with the doc today and got started on Strattera. He will be on the starter pack for the first three weeks, then get to his target dose of 40 mg.
The doc said to start him on the Strattera at night due to possible drowsiness. Has anyone done that - does the med last throughout the following day?
Thanks
[/QUOTE]
My husband and I both have adhd and w both tryed strattera. Our dr said to take it at night too. That was horrible! I couldn't sleep only for a few hrs the two night I took it. My DH took it for about a month. He's a bit more hard headed than me. He couldn't sleep either but thought that would go away. He was sleep deprived for a nmonth. He couldn't go to sleep well and woke up several times a night. He did wake up early ready to go but then was dead tired throughout the day. I know our dr said to take it at night too but I'd see how he sleeps the first night. If I had to do it over again I'd try it in the AM. We both quit with the strattera and i take adderall now and my dh is just dealing with it non medicated.
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