Starting New Intuniv

Hi chezit...Was just wondering how it was going with the Intuniv now that it's been a month or so since your last post. My DS is almost 8 and has been on AdderallXR (20mg) for over a year now. It does not seem as effective as it used to be. BY the way, I would describe his behavior but it would just be a duplicate of how you described your son. In fact, I just pulled him out of scouts because he was totally going nuts at those evening den meetings. (And I was the den leader so that made it especially tough when your own kid is the worse behaved.)

Anyway, his doc just suggested Intuniv and told me to do some reseacrh. She knows I won't try anything with him unless I research it myself first. One thing on the info she gave me that bothered me, it said it has only been tested in 2 studies and for no longer than 9 weeks. Makes me worry about longer term side effects. He already has a problem with stuttering sometimes. It comes and goes like bad weather.

Please let me know how it is working out for you. Thanks!

Hi ProDad,

So glad to hear from you. It's been a difficult 3 weeks or so.  My son went back on the 1mg and we continued to lower his concerta to 18 mg.  Then increased the the intuniv to 2mg one week later.  He woke up looking drugged, eyes half shut, and overly happy and giddy.  A constant smile on his face.  This happened over a weekend.  I just couldn't continue the 2 mg of intuniv the next day because he had school.  We increased the concerta to 27 mg and dropped the intuniv to 1 mg.  In the mean time, I received the first email from his teacher telling me that he has been distracted and bothering other classmates for about 1 week or so.  At his afterschool  program he only had one incident where he was really mad at another student in the gym that wasn't following the rules of some game.  He was told to leave the gym. The 27 mg of concerta wasn't quite enough for the hyperactivity so he is back to 36mg and the doctor wanted to try a little longer on the intuniv...1mg.  His ticks have not come back, although he was doing this twirling motion with his whole body at his basketball clinic when waiting his turn to shoot.  My husband and I believe that the intuniv alone just makes him to sleepy and giddy and mixed with the concerta  I am not seeing any benefits.  We have a med check with the doctor this Thursday, I will let you know.  By the way, At one time last fall my son was taking the concerta, did great during the day, then as needed took Ritalin (6pm soccer practice etc..) this worked pretty good, not perfect but he wasn't Karate chopping the air and bothering anyone).  This was prescribed by a psychiatrist that his doctor had referred us to, but when we went back to our doctor, she didn't want him on two stimulants.  Last week she finally agreed to prescribe it as needed. So sorry that you had to leave scouts, I can completely understand.  We don't usually stay for whole pack meetings at night. Our den leader has been great about having some meetings during the day on weekends.  My son is very fortunate to have a great support through scouts. We have a huge den...15 and quite a few fathers have been just great with our son.

keep you posted, have a great day. chezit (that's my son's favorite snack)

Thanks for the update. doesn't sound too positive for the Intuniv. Please do let me know how it goes.

I tried giving my son an extra dose of 10mg of Adderall in the afternoon before one of our evening pack meetings, but it did not seem to have any effect. Doctor said it might help, but I didn't see it. I'm hesitant to up his stimulants anymore because he is so skinny and hardly eats as it is now. Plus he has some trouble getting to sleep some nights. I've heard of people giving their kids something with caffiene in it in the afternoon to get them through the rest of the day, but my son won't touch anything with caffeine. He just deosn't like tea or coke or anything like that. I even tried making ice cubes out of green tea and he tasted it and said no.

Super picky eater!

Hi ProDad,

I can relate to the super picky eater too! He only and when I say only I mean only eats yogurt, milk(slightly warm), Vfruit jucie, Juciy jucie, Chezits, fish crackers, cereal-cherrios, cinn toast crunch, kixs etc..., I was excited when he put a microscopic piece of pizza in his mouth and then said no.  He is bothered by food smells-peanut butter, eggs, meat, pasta sauce, everything. I have two other children that eat more variety and don't have these issues. When he was a toddler, I would put small pieces of chickhen in the side of his mouth and he made the most horrible faces.  We use to make him eat little slices of toast and he looked like he was in pain while he chewed it.  I don't know what to do, we have to bring food everywhere we go with him. I don't know how he isn't really skinny, he hardly eats his lunch.  He gets extremely hungrey when the concerta wears off and we just feed him until he is not hungrey even up to bedtime. The doctor said let him eat as much as he wants when he is hungrey. I have never tried the caffiene, but he also doesn't drink those beverages. 

We give our son, 3mg melatonin about 1 and 1/2 hours before bed, it helps a bit.  He hasn't needed the melatonin while taking the intuniv.

Keep you posted, chezit

My DS is 11 and can't take any stimulants due to the horrible tics.  He is struggling soo badly in school.  Has the most difficult time sittting still and paying attention.  At home he is so fidgety.  He always has something in his hand he is messing with.  It drives me nuts.  He doesn't even know he is doing it most of the time. 

I just got a script for Intuniv today- Ouch it was $50 for one month.  I like the generics that are $15 but if this works we are going to keep it up.  Four out of 5 of us are ADHD in our house so the meds add up! This is to me our last and final chance at a medication.  I've done a bit of research and it seems like the studies show that it does help with concentration too.  I hope so!!! 

The fast acting form of this drug- tenex or gufenix SP??  has been around for quite a while so I think this drug should be ok since it is the same thing just lasts all day instead of just a few hours.  I'll let you know what happens.