loulou Report post Posted September 9, 2005 Hi all, Kai (7) has ADHD and AS. He was put on Ritalin last year, which did calm him down but made him paranoid and very down, so i stopped it. He was recently tried on Strattera, but the capsules are huge and he couldn't swallow them. Yesterday, we saw the consultant, who wants to try him on CLONIDINE. Does anyone have any experience with this? All i know is that it is an anti-hypertensive that for some reason helps with ADHD. I feel very apprehensive about giving this to him as he is due to start his new school next week. I have read that it can cause drowsiness too. I can't seem to find much information about it, only that it is usually used in conjunction with Ritalin to treat ADHD. If anyone has any experience or knowledge about CLONIDINE, i would be grateful for your input. Loulou x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted September 10, 2005 Hi Auriel was given Clonidine, in addition to Ritalin, to 'help' him through Year 6 SATs. It seemed to work well, and we continued with it into Year 7 and his secondary transfer. It was tried again in Year 9, but his anxiety was too acute by this stage. To be honest, in retrospect I now wish I had known enough/had enough confidence when he was younger to have fought for a specialist AS placement instead of medicating him to 'help him cope' in mainstream This is just my personal opinion, and the Ritalin certainly enabled him to concentrate long enough to take in the intense behavioural therapy that we did for years. I wish I hadn't agreed to the Clonidine or, later, Sertraline...but they were the only 'solutions' we were offered. I took him off all meds last summer, when his consultants wanted to put him on Risperidone as well as Sertraline, and then he went to his special school for AS...he's been absolutely fine without them, because he's in the right environment Bid <'> Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lil_me Report post Posted September 10, 2005 (edited) My sons been taking it for about 7 months. He also takes Ritalin for school. It was given to him to reduce the violent behaviour, which has improved I do find it can cause him to be sleepy now he is on a higher dose if he doesn't take the concerta. I keep him off the Concerta when he's at home as tbh I am used to dealing with him and he sleeps better but the Clonidine I was told never to stop suddenly. It tends to be late evening before he gets drowsy with it and can be a plus for bad sleepers Edited November 5, 2005 by lil_me Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hev Report post Posted November 3, 2005 stevens been put on that today 25mcg,she said it would help with his ticks as they are bad lately,said it would take a while to work and if they did it wouldnt be obvious results,any more experiences of this tablet if youve any please Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest hallyscomet Report post Posted November 8, 2005 Hi, My son took this along with Ritalin, Catapres was the brand name but the ingredient is Clonodine, it helped him appear normal and removed a lot of the odd behaviours he was presenting. This generally works well until the child reaches puberty in my experience, the most children continue taking Ritalin but go on to take Risperdal from the age of 12, for some reason the Catapres stopped working at that age. My son thanked me as he was really having trouble talking and had no mental energy for conversation and was very aggressive and had a short fuse and became very violent. This was when he turned 12, so whenever you notice the meds not doing what they are supposed to do, go straight back to the Paediatrician as he will do a medication adjustment and all will be fine again. My son gets reviews every 3 months. I think it is important. Regards Hailey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
