Dara

New Member
Hi all. It has been a long time. TO update: I was in school this semester. Trying to get certified in medical billing so I can work from home..
Sammy has been doing ok for the most part. This week he was "suspended" for the day because he was hitting. I told them thank you for rewarding his behavior. He had no idea why he was sent home or even in the office....ANyways, the neuro put him on clonidine and we are slowly upping the dose. Today we started the second dose and he has been tired and grouchy and weepy all day. Anyone have any input on clonidine and the side effects. I would greatly appreciate it!
Happy mothers day to all of you!
 

jannie

trying to survive....
Hi Dara-
It's great to hear from you again. Sorry Sammy was sent home from school this week. I don't know much about the clonidine except that it is a blood pressure medicaiton that is supposed to help with hyperactivity and such....How old is Sammy now? Is he in a public or private school? Other than this week, how have things been? I remember a few months ago you were trialing different medications. I always hope that when we haven't heard from people in a while its because things are going a bit better. What a great idea to get certified in billing so you can work from home.
 

Dara

New Member
Sammy will be 5 in June. He is in a private school. He only qualifies for 1 hour of speech per semester for the public school. Other than that he qualifies for nothing with them. He has had great progress for the most part at this school. His teacher is really great with him. I am still not sure of exactly what happened and I dont think Sammy is too sure either. The Clonidine is being used for impulse control. I know that the one side effect is that it can make him very tired. We started at nightime and then 6 days later which is today we give him half a pill in the morning and half at night. He was so tired today and inconsolable at times. I dont know if he is just overtired or if it is the medications and if it is the medications does that effect go away....
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
My difficult child has been on Clonidine for a long time and it has been a good medication for him overall. He takes it at night to help him sleep and two 1/2 dosages during the day to help with his ADHD symptoms since he can't take any stimulants. When he first went on it for the ADHD part it did make him tired (probably grouchy too but he is almost always grouchy).
 

devira

New Member
My difficult child was on clonidine when he was 5-6. He was taking a very small dose, with the intent of helping him sleep at night. It worked well for that purpose. Our psychiatrist was about to put my difficult child on the clonidne patches to help calm him throughout the day... but we did not go that route, for his diagnosis changed before I filled the prescription.

I am sorry he got sent home from school... My sons old school did that often... if is very frustrating when the school does notunderstand that rewards the negative behaviors.
 

amazeofgrace

A maze of Grace - that about sums it up
both my difficult child's (17 & 12) are on clonodine. I say it's the medication that keeps them from beating me up (literally). difficult child II (12) takes .05 mg 4 x's a day. It does not seem to make him overly tired, but if he's already tired for some reason it definatley amplifies it. difficult child I (17) only takes .05 before bed, and I don't think it does very much, I am hoping he's getting his medications ok in JVC, again something I have no control over, sigh..............
 

Shari

IsItFridayYet?
Hi.

My difficult child tried clonodine to help with sleep issues and to try to calm him down. He never acclimated to it, so it always knocked him out cold, and even on the smallest doses (we were literally shaving .1mg tablets and giving him 1/8ths or smaller...). Tho it did help him sleep, the downside was a grumpy, whiney, and meaner difficult child thru the day.

I am told that most kids will acclimate and the over-tired effect goes away, so I would give it a chance, but wanted you to know our experience, too. I can't recall if we gave it daily for one or two months, but it never got any better and the babysitter finally said ENUF!
 

susiestar

Roll With It
We never worked with this medication, but I hope it is successful with Sammy. I am so very sorry that he does not get the appropriate services from the public school. that must place a huge burden on you, esp financially. I can believe he only needs 1 hour of speech therapy per semester. That is just pure garbage. I bet it is so they can report that they have Q number of students getting accommodations and therapy with-o haveing to actually deliver those services. How is 1 hour of speech every 4 months going to help? Heck, I couldn't benefit from a service given 1 time per semester - and I am an adult with a good memory!

As far as the clonidine, Wikipedia has a good entry for it. Here is the link:
[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonidine[/ame]
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Our psychiatrist for son did not feel Clonadine was a useful medication. I have no idea if that helps you, but thought I'd chime in. I hope Sammy adjusts to it and that it helps the little guy succeed.

He may have to try a public school at some time. My son was in Catholic school for three years, but the public school was a much better fit. He sort of stagnated at the Catholic school. He really took off once he had special services in public school.

Good luck to your sweet little boy!!!!
 

smallworld

Moderator
My son took Clonidine for sleep. It worked well, but we had to discontinue it because he needed to be on another blood pressure medication for migraines, and his docs didn't think it was safe for him to be on two blood pressure medications. Our psychiatrist warned us that in addition to sedation, Clonidine can cause a "hung over" feeling, which may account for Sammy's irritability. You might want to give it a few more days to see if his body adjusts, but if the side effects don't subside, you may need to go on to something else.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Hi Dara,
sorry he got sent home.
My son is phasing off of clonidine but it has worked well for him, overall. It really took the edge off of his nastiness.
I think Smallworld gave a good explanation for what could be going on in reg to Sammy's reaction. Until I read that, I couldn't figure out anything. :)
Best of luck.
 

Christy

New Member
My son took clonidine for a few months and while it helped a great deal with the ADHD symptoms, it made him tired, frustrated, irritable and eventually very depressed. He now takes small doses of tennex which is also a blood pressure medication and he tolerates it better.

I hope you see a turn in Sammy. School is such a struggle. My son has had a great year until spring. Now he is in trouble everyday, and we are meeting on Wednesday to see how we can help him make it though the year.

Planning to work at home is an excellent idea. I quit my job as a teacher two years ago because difficult child's needs were so intense and it made the biggest difference in our lives. I miss teaching but I am so much more available for difficult child and not always on the verge of a nervous breakdown!

Good luck to you!
Christy
 

Dara

New Member
We had tried zoloft, ritalin and resperdol and all of those had terrible effects on Sammy. We know he needs medication but my goodness finding something that works well for him has been quite a struggle! I gave him half of a half this morning to see if that will help a little. He also has been waking up at 6:30am for some unknown reason! The school he is in right now has been the best place for him for the most part. They do struggle on how to handle Sammy because they have no idea how to handle a special needs child. We had talked at one point about sending him to a special needs school but after much evaluation everyone agreed that mainstreaming him is best because he connects with people by immitation so if he were at a special needs school just imagine the fun new behaviors we would get!
 

Dara

New Member
Well, after days of inconsolible crying and Sammy punching himself in the face leaving a very nice bruise, I called the Neurologist and the Clonidine seems to be having the opposite affect so we are at square 1 again...
 

jannie

trying to survive....
I am so sorry...It must be so frustrating. Isn't he on depakote for the seizsure disorder? I know you've trialed so many things. I hope you come up with a new plan.....Hang in there
 

Dara

New Member
He is on Depakote. We had weened him off at one point because the neurologist thought the medications were doing more harm than good. It had stopped the seizures at least. When we weened him mostly off, his behvaior went backwards a year so we are back on the depakote. He is thinking of putting him on Topomax for behavior but is hesitant because it has a side effect of language problems and we all ready have language problems. We all know that Sammy needs medication for his impulsivity and behavior but the problem is that he has such bad reactions to all of these medications!
 

smallworld

Moderator
Dara, has a Depakote blood level been taken recently? If so, what is it? The blood level for mood issues is generally higher than the blood level target for seizures so maybe there's room to go up to address the behavior issues. You might want to ask the neuro about this, or get a consultation with a psychiatrist.
 

JJJ

Active Member
Whenever Tigger's Depakote levels are too low, we have lots of behavior problems with him. For Tigger, his Depakote levels need to be 95 or higher. (For epilepsy, they look for 50-100 but for bipolar it is usually 90 or higher.) I'd recommend making sure the Depakote is at the correct level.
 

Dara

New Member
We have actually tried using depakote for behavior as well but it doesnt change anything. This behavior change is in direct correlation with the clonidine. The uncontrolable hysteria and tired didnt start until the clonidine. We have seen it before but not like this...
He is due for a check of his levels next week so... Usually his levels are on target.
 
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