Intuniv and incontinence? | ADHD Information

I started my 8 year old on Intuniv about 5 weeks ago after spending two years on Focalin XR 15mg twice a day.  We wanted to get him off of the stims to allow his growth to catch up and eliminate the need for a dosage at school.  We started Intuniv at 1 mg, then 2 mg for a few weeks, and are now on the 3 mg.  Good news is that the hyperactivity is in control and his facial tics have improved (still has mild tic).  Still trying to get a pulse on focus and attention (doesn't seem as good as the Focalin but may be manageable). 

The bad news is that he's having incontinence issues since he's been on the 2 mg.  Is anyone else having this side effect?  My doctor thinks I'm nuts, but it's definitely the med.  He was on night time dosing and wetting the bed nearly every night.  I switched him to morning dosing since I thought maybe he was sleeping too soundly after taking the med.  Now the nights are only an occasional problem (but he gets up once or twice each night to use bathroom), but he wets his underwear nearly every day which is sure to be embarrassing once school starts. 

I don't want to take him off this med until we see how school goes, and he doesn't want to go back to focalin either.  Any thoughts/suggestions?  Help ! 

My son is on Tenex (short acting Intuniv) and he's 5.  I never really thought about it but he still has to wear pull ups at night.  He wets every night.  He also takes a nighttime dose...hmmm....

Thanks for the reply.  After 6 weeks now, my 8 year old is still having daytime incontinence.  I really hoped that it would get better, but it hasn't.  His doctor thinks he's just not paying attention to when he has to go and that it's not a side effect of the med, but I have a hard time believing that.  When he was night wetting (on bedtime dosing), she thought he was probably just sleeping so soundly because the medication peaks about 4 hours after taking, but I don't know what to think at this point. 

Not sure the med is really helping his attention issue (definitely helps hyperactivity issue), so is it really worth it to keep him on this and risk some embarrassing school issues with incontinence?  He doesn't even seem to care about the accidents which totally perplexes me...how could he not care?  And I don't want to put him back on the stimulants since his growth has been so stunted for 2 years now on stims and he's much smaller than all of his classmates.   Plus, the kids were making fun of him at school for the tics and for having to go to the nurse at lunchtime every day to take medicine. 

Arrrgh!  It's so frustrating to want peace and normalcy for your child and to not be able to get there.   It's almost like a "pick your poison" with all of the adhd meds....each one you try seems to have something about it that's a deal breaker.

I completely understand how frustrated you are!  I've been there and I'm sure I'll be there again before this journey is over!   I just hope it's brief!

Have you tried Strattera?  It take a while to build up in the system but it work very well for some and doesn't have the appetite issues that stim have.

My DS, 10 years old, was on Intuniv for a few months and he also had a horrible time with bed wetting.  He had been dry at night for years and all of a sudden he started wetting the bed almost every night once he started the Intuniv.  The doctors didn't think it was related but I am absolutely positive it was.  We are off the med now and the bed wetting has stopped.My 7 year old son was on Intuniv and he became depressed
and violent. His dr. today prescribed Tenex and I am very
nervous to put him on meds. He does not sleep much at night
and they thought maybe it was sleep apnia so they took his
tonsils out, that did not help.

For the past four weeks my soon-to-be ten-year-old son gradually went from 1 to 2 to 3 mg.  We dropped back to the 2 mgs because he was falling asleep during the day.  We thought we were in luck.  The tics slowed as did the hyperactivity and the a lot of anxiety.  BUT...he has wet the bed twice in three weeks.  He hasn't wet the bed since he was probably three or four.  This is such a bummer because I thought we finally found the one.  I definitely think there is a correlation between that med and the bedwetting.

It is so odd that I find this post because our DS8 is on his third week of Intuniv and is at 3mg (has been now for 4 days) and seriously...since we changed from Guanfacine twice a day to Intuniv...he has been "missing" the toilet practically every time he goes!  I have noticed no decrease in hyperactivity at all and I am so tired of cleaning urine off the bathroom floor!  I know he can't help it but it is very frustrating!  As much as we felt that his Guanfacine doses were no longer helping to the fullest extent...it was definately better than what the last 3 wks have been.  Hubby also decided he wanted a "separation" from our marriage about the same time we changed meds...lucky me  so I'm having a hard time knowing if the changes I'm seeing are med related or family life related.  I really have seen no change in his hyperactivity level since day 1 of Intuniv and totally thought I would see at least some by 3 mg.  I thought I read somewhere that you can't just stop Intuniv either...does anyone know if you have to gradually back down again, just like ramping up?  At this point for my own sanity, I would love to go back to our med combo before...although it wasn't perfect, it was way better than what it is now and I have enough on my plate as do my kids.  Thoughts?

To Logan'sMom, we have not tried Strattera and are too nervous to do so.  In our ADHD parent support group, all five of the parents who've tried it on their young children (not teens), have had horrible experiences, so I don't know that we'll go that route. 

To bkrusen, glad to hear I'm not crazy and that others have seen an issue with incontinence on Intuniv.  I wish there were a way to fix the daytime incont issues since I'd like to keep him on this med for school to see how it goes.  Arggh...so frustrating.  I can't even imagine how frustrated my son is...he's just so tired of being messed with which I can totally understand. 

My eight-year-old son was in Intuniv, it gave him night terrors and he began ocd behaviors with his sleep. We stopped giving him the meds., but he was always having to go to pee. I thought he had a UTI, but as we got further away from giving him the meds. he stopped having issues. I think there is something going on with incontinence issues and they are still doing studies so the doctor is foolish to discount your observations.

That is a tough call.  We tried my son(12) on just Intuniv because he had not gained much weight in the two years he had been on the Daytrana patch.  Alone, the Intuniv did not work at all for his hyperactivity and focus, so we added the Daytrana back in(had been on Tenex for facial tics for a month prior to starting the Intuniv).  My son was SO irritable, uncaring, mean, dark, and disrespectful.  When I made the connection that it might be the Intuniv I stopped it, and started him back on the Tenex.  DS's psychologist did research trials on Intuniv, and did not believe that DS's issues were caused by the med, but I KNEW that they were.  Go with your gut, if you think it is related it probably is.

I know it is so hard to find a med that works. My DS is in 7th grade this year, and is taking generic Ritalin that he has to take at school.  He also still takes Tenex.  This combo seems to work really well since DS is a rapid metabolizer, and we both had to come to terms with the fact that he has to take it at school.  I don't want to embarress him, but you have to do what you have to do.  DS did not have incontinence as a side effect, but I don't think I would have kept him on it if he did.  I can't imagine the embarressment that an accident would cause.   Just my own opinion, of course, I know it is a hard call.

 

My then 11 year old daughter definitely had problems with bed wetting that started with Tenex and ended immediately when we stopped giving it to her. I did not see much improvement with Tenex other than she was really spacey and became kind of "ignorant" for lack of a better term. This is apparently also a side effect of this drug.  I stopped after about 3 months and she became a bright girl again.
Daytrana seems to be the call so far and I just put her in her room by herself for about an hour after she pulls her patch because she becomes really nasty and intolerant as the Ritalin begins to wear off. Tenex however never made her nasty.