ADD/ADHD

I have a 4 and a half year old son Gray. He has been going to a county PEP preschool the past two years which is for kids with a number of special needs and developmental delays. When Gray was younger we were thinking Autism but he has now been diagnosed twice by dev peds with ADHD and he has it BAD. He is going to a "typical" preschool in the mornings and they have no idea how to handle him. He is a doll but his impulse control, loud voice and overall busyness is proving to be more than they can handle. Cognitively he is doing great, but behaviorally he is a nightmare...much more than in his PEP class in the afternoon. So we may have our first official rejection coming up with the preschool. Breaks my heart.

So as a last resort I thought we would look into meds again since he is fighting his impulse demons constantly. We've tried methylphenidate and Strattera. Neither worked for us. His new dev ped just put in a RX for Clonidine and we are going to give this a try. Since it can make you sleepy we are starting out on a very low dose once a day. Has anyone used this med? Any thoughts?

I just want him to be happy with himself and not to be struggling with what he knows is the right thing to do and his ADHD impulses. I've heard the kids are already shying away from his craziness and at 4 years old that makes me so sad. Any imput would be great. Thanks!

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Hi

We tried Clonidine when DD was 7, and it did nothing but make her sleep, literally 6-8 hours more per day than usual. She has ADHD/Inattnetive, and was having some impulse control issues, so we tried it. Honestly, Straterra did nore for her impulse control than any other med. She seems to have outgrown that problem however.

I am curious as to how long you tried each med? Methylphenidate is  usually evident within a week or so, but Straterra takes several weeks, usually 6-8.

The problem lies in him being so young, none of the meds are approved for kids his age. Thats frustrating, since it limits you.

Our son was given Clonidine when his ADHD started causing problems in preschool. It's SUPER mild. In fact, we didn't even see the anticipated sleepiness and we had to keep increasing the dosage and it never did calm him at all. It was pretty much like giving water to our son. The other mild one we tried was Tenex and that was the same. We only saw major change when he was put on Ritalin when he was four and then our whole world improved. Have you exhausted all of the forms of Ritalin?

Wish I could share a great story about Clonidine, but it just didn't do a thing to help our son.

Also, be prepared: even if this medication does zip to help your child, it can take months to taper off of it. You can't just stop it like traditional ADHD medications. We wasted a lot of time on this medication before we could try anything else.

Michelle

Hi!

We tried Clonidine during the day as well, but it didn't do much for Nick's impulse control and focus.  He is very much ADHD hyperactive and impulsive as well.  He is on Concerta now (our 3rd med) and finally doing better.  We do use the Clonidine at night though to help him "come down" so he can go to sleep.  Nick seemed a bit tired for a couple of days in the beginning, but now it just helps him wind down and feel a bit more tired.  If you are going to try it, start off at 1/4 of a pill and see how he does.  At that small of a dose, if it doesnt help, you can always either bump up a bit, depending on what your doc says, or stop it without any withdrawal.  Good luck!

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Christine, Mommy to Nick, my summertime kid!!

My son also takes clonodine.  Basically he has alot of anxiety and thats where I feel most of his behavior problems come from.

We can only give it at night though as it makes him fall asleep.  I have tried several different doses during the day to see if it could help but what happens is it makes him feel exhausted and he hates feeling that way during the day.  When I cut the doses down, it does nothing for him.

I am going to take him to my other son's Neurologist here in about a week to see about something else for him during the day.  He also has Tourette's so I am trying to stay away from anything that is considered a stimulant as it has a higher chance of increasing his tics.