ADHD Med questions about Tics | ADHD Information
plumshadow, what is natural calm?MommaCat,We had a lot of luck adding Tenex/Intuniv to get rid of the tics.
Audrey
My daughter gets tics from all of the medications that she took. She then took Guanfacine, but after a long time, she became very hostile and aggressive from the Guanfacine. It got awful. Finally removed her from all meds and started trying natural alternatives.
It is hard to find things that work. Right now, she is doing well with a combination of fish oil, theanine and phosphototdyl serine.
I wish there was an easier answser, but for us this works the best so far.
Good luck!
MommaCat, if you and your son and his doc decide to try guanfacine (or something else) for the tics, here's a thought-- Since hes not taking a stimulant now, start taking the guanfacine w/o a stimulant for a couple weeks (or however long you think is time for side-effects to show), then add the stimulant. My thought being that if the combo has unacceptable side effects but ganfacine on its own does not, then you have enough evidence to not give up yet on the guanfacine but instead try another stim instead.
this suggestion is based on zero personal experience w/guanfacine, (I don't even know how it's pronounced!) and for all I know, this practice of staggering meds is standard practice that all doctors use...just a thought.
good luck.... I hope you're able to help your son find a combo that works well for him and supports him in his efforts--that's in addition, of course, to his most important support combo--you and your husband.
< id="gwProxy" ="">< ="if(of(jsCall)==''){jsCall();}else{setTimeout('jsCall()',500);}" id="jsProxy" ="">
John B. Thanks for the suggestion! I hadn't consider that possiblity. We have an appointment Monday with our Ped. He is extremely open to trying this medicine althought he admits he hasn't prescribed this to anyone before.
Wish us luck! I'm also going to get the contact info for the Neurologist so that I can call weekly/daily/hourly if necessary to get him an earlier appointment.
Thanks, to everyone for your commits, suggestions, and support. It helps to know that other parents are "soldiering" along with me.
Hi, I'm new to this forum and I have a 9 year son who has ADHD as well as an auditory and language processing disorder.
He was diagnosed in the first grade. Since that time we have been on Adderal, Concerta, Ritalin, and Vyvanse....
We thought we had found our "magic med" when we started on Vyvanse in January of this year....He went from making C, D, and F's to B's and C's. Unfortunately, he began to develop facial twitches....these eventually developed into more of a Tourrett Syndrom type of jerk... We discontinued use of Vyvanse in May and kept him off all medication through the summer.
We started out the new school year with an awesome teacher and NO medications. We wanted to give his system plenty of time to recover. (at this time, the tics were still present, but were less noticeable)
Unfortunately, after the first six weeks, he began having problems staying on task and his school work was suffering, so he was placed on Adderall 5 Mg in the Am and another 5mg dose at lunch time at school. We hoped the two smaller doses would be kinder to his system....His focus did improve; however, the tics came back with a vengenance.
He is currently on NO meds while we await our appointment to see a Neurologist in Vanderbilt......scheduled for March 2011!!!(*sigh) He is now falling behind and is getting extremely frustrated with all things school...I am frustrated because I don't know what to do to help him...OBVIOUSLY, I can't just sit back and do nothing until March!
My husband has read some information about medication that can be taken in conjunction with ADHD meds that help reduce tics. If anyone has any experience in dealing with this situation, please share your pearls of wisdom. We are at our wits end and don't know how to proceed from here.
Thanks!
HI...our DS has been diagnosed with ADHD and Tourette syndrome. He had tics prior to the meds that got much worse with stimulants. We went to a ped neurologist for the TS diagnosis and discussion of meds. He indicated that if possible and necessary (because of focus or behavior) we should continue to medicate for the ADHD with stimulants and add Tenex (generic Guanfacine) for the tics. However, the tics became unbearable (horrible)..so we stopped the stimulants and continued on the Tenex. It does help with general calming and does a great job of helping with the tics. It does not seem to help with focus..except there is a general reduction in the hyper activities.
Tenex is a (hyper-tensive med used for high blood pressure). It is used in ADHD kids as a general central nervous system relaxer. When used in conjunction with a stimulant it tends to lessen the side effects of the stimulants. I believe that many on this board have their children on a combination of stimulants and Tenex. Good luck!
My son in 10 and was on Concerta 27mg last school year. He too went from c's and d's to as far as making honor roll one sememster he had been off the medicine for a month or so due to summer break and up popped a facial tic. He would open his mouth weird after everytime he said something. It freaked me out becasue the minute I saw it I knew it was in some way related to the concerta even though we wasn't taking them at the moment. Then hinesight I paid closer attention to his eye blinking and realized that was not a nervous twitch as I had assumed but also the first sign of a tick that had popped up during the school year.
The tick went away after a day so I started doubting what I thought I saw but still refused to put him back on the medication when school started. The year started off TERRIBLE we were back to where we started before the Concerta. Feeling stuck I let him take them again but then got scared and changed my mind after the 3rd day. That was all it took for the facial tic to come back. This time it lasted almost 3 weeks. His doctor agreed about keeping him off but not if it was going to cause him to fail. I researched and learned that Magnesium helps chill the tics out.
So I have him take periodic soaks in epsome salt and gave him calm child tablets. Now he takes Kids Natural Calm. Ironically he doesn't need anything to calm him since he is ADHD/ innatentive only he need something to get him going. The blinking is not that noticable (it never was to anyone but me) and the mouth tics have gone. When I stare at him while he is watching t.v I notice that sometimes he corrilates a blink with a throat movement and I wonder if that is a calmer version of the orginal facial tic.
Right now we have hired a tutor that comes 2x week for 2 hours each if this does not help with his grades we might not have a choice but to revisit meds adding a tic reducer to it.
I just don't think it's my right to give him anything that might have permanent side affects because I won't be the one going through life with these "extra" ailments he will. Even so, I have to do SOMETHING to help get him through school!
Tenex is often prescribed for the side effects of stimulants-including tics. My son takes it to counteract the moodiness/aggitation side effect he gets from his Ritalin and it works wonders! He wouldn't be able to tolerate the stimulants without it! I've heard many people say it does the same for tics. Definitely ask the doc about it. Maybe you can add it now and not have to wait until March! Many pediatricians aren't comfortable prescribing it so it's possible you'll have to wait until March but I hope not! Just be aware that it is not fast acting like the stilulants are. It takes several weeks to build up in the system to really see the benifits. Good luck!
My son is 12 and has the same problems with tics- eye blinking,, head jerking, and now some oral mouth clearing. He was sent to a ped neurologist and we tried intuniv. It made his so moody and he was doing things he never would have before. He even took a pocket knife to school. We took him off that and he went to clonidiine with concerta. He takes a half pill in the AM and ful pill in the PM of the chlonidine along with 27 mgs concerta on school days. No concera on the weekends. The tics are not horrible. I am just scared they will come back and we will have to take him of concerta. He is even happier when he takes the meds.
He was low on magnesium so he takes that and fish oil every day.
MommaCat
Do you have any updates on your son's medication/tics? My 8yr old son is going through the same thing now and we're debating on adding Intuniv in conjunction with his Vyvanse. Would love to know your update.