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Post by jessicasmom on Jan 20, 2005 13:51:18 GMT -5
I am new to this forum and am completely confused and overwhelmed at this point. My daughter, who just turned 9, was diagnosed with ADHD last week. Her doctor placed her on Adderall XR 15 mg, 1capsule in the AM and clonidine 0.1 mg, 1 tablet ½ prior to bedtime. I honestly have to admit this has calmed her down tremendously. I guess my first concern is about the medication. As my luck would have it, her doctor is on vacation until this coming up Monday. The nurse in his office would rather I speak directly with the doctor. I can understand the Adderall, but I am very confused on the clonidine. He told me that giving her this medicine ½ prior to bedtime would make her sleepy and she would fall asleep quickly. This is not really the case. I was under the impression that the clonidine brought her down from the Adderall, I’m finding out this is not really the case. Prior to the medicine, my daughter would wake up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom, or she would end up going to her sister’s room to sleep with her. My oldest daughter is 16 and Jessica always feels more comfortable sleeping in her room, anyhow, she occasionally would turn on her sisters TV and fall asleep watching it. During the evaluation her doctor asked me about sleeping habits, I told her doctor she would do this. She did not do this every night, just occasionally. That was the reason he put her on clonidine. Since she has been on that medication I cannot get her to sleep at a decent hour most nights. Two nights ago she fell asleep in her sisters room and we left her there because her sister does not mind her sleeping in her room. Anyhow she woke up about 3:00 am, decided to get her craft kit out and make some bracelets. She woke up her sister because she was moving too much on the bed and had the TV on. Her sister tried to tell her to go to sleep, but this didn’t happen, she was just wide-awake. They ended up arguing at 3 in the morning. Has anyone ever had this problem with clonidine or adderall? Of course just going thru the evaluation process and being so overwhelmed and scared to death about everything, I of course… did not ask all the questions, that I know want to ask. Her next appointment is over a week away. All the information I have read on clonidine states to not stop this medication all at once. I honestly think it may be the clonidine. I have spent several hours reading the entries in this forum before posting. I am questioning if she really needs clonidine. Compared to some of the kids/posts Jessica’s ADHD does not seem to be severe. Her doctor did tell me that she was an easy case, is this really possible? . Anyhow, I know this post has now become a novel but if anyone has any suggestions, advice, comments, I certainly would appreciate it.  |
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Post by Linda on Jan 20, 2005 13:56:29 GMT -5
Hi and welcome to our family. I can understand you being overwhelmed.  I have been there and back. Clonidine does need to be addressed by the Doctor. I have no experience with this med but others here do and I am sure they will answer you,  Again welcome |
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Post by catseye on Jan 20, 2005 14:13:15 GMT -5
 WELCOME! My sd9 is on adderall, and was on clonidine, and I believe the same dose (1/2 a .10 mg pill)... The clonidine was great for her, and did put her out right away... Just a side note here, those little buggers are hard to cut, so I bought a pill cutter that holds it in place, then cuts with a razor blade... You may want to invest in that... It sounds like your daughter has only been on it for a week? I would give it a bit more time, and yes you shouldnt stop it instantly... It is something that should be weaned off from, actually sd was weaned on it even, if I remember correctly... 1/4 pill for a few nights, then up to 1/2... Did your daughter have an eeg done before starting the clonidine? (heart test) Yes it is possible for your daughter to be an "easy case" (or mild)of adhd... Considering her age, and that it is just now diagnosed, I would assume the symptoms werent as obvious as someone with a higher case of ADHD may have been... Unfortunately for my sd (or do I mean me?), she is NOT a mild case! LOL Dont beat yourself up for not asking all the questions the first time, finding the right medication (or combination of medications) is a tough road, that takes trial and error... cat
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Post by tridlette on Jan 20, 2005 14:51:33 GMT -5
Welcome to our family. We are definitely family here. Since your doctor isn't available, and the nurse is deferring everything to him... I suggest... CALL THE PHARMACIST... they often know MORE than the doctors anyway! If she has only been on the Clonidine for a few days, the pharmacist may say that she hasn't built up enough in her system to warrant a slow wean. My son never used clonidine... but the end of the day when the Adderall wore off... he got MEAN, NASTY, UGLY... I called him my Incredible Hulk... I recently started talking Restoril for my insomnia... OMG... I hate it. I have such vivid dreams, and I remember them... it's like being in a horror movie. I am going to call my doctor in a 20 minutes when the office re-opens just to change to a different sleeping medicine. Anyway... sorry to digress... can you tell I have ADHD also? Again, my suggestion is to call the pharmacist. If you ever have a question when the regular pharmacy isn't open... call the local hospital and ask to talk to their pharmacist... they ALWAYS have one in the building... AWAKE and with access to all sorts of resources to find the answers.
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Post by AnneM on Jan 20, 2005 15:47:42 GMT -5
jessicasmom!! A big welcome to you!! ... I also agree that the PHARMACIST is a good point of call here!! ... i know i have gleamed so much information over many years from the pharmacist .... Adderall is a stimulant which in effect COULD (at first) cause some sleeplessness ... Clonodine (and I have not had first hand experience of this med) is a "sleep inducer" (i understand) ... SOOOOO .... (and I am not a pharmacist OR a doctor) I have this little niggle which is wondering whether it might be the ADDERALL rather than the CLONODINE that is keeping your dd awake? IF this is the case, I can reassure you that this is normally short-lived and generally found at the START of taking adderall or ritalin ... BUT I agree you need to speak to either your doctor (or failing that) the pharmacist !! for clarification!! . GOOD LUCK!! ... and I can fully understand you feeling overwhelmed and very worried at this point in time !! ... When my own son (now 16.5 years old) was diagnosed and given meds at 13 I was completely overwhelmed and trying to take in both the diagnosis (add) and the new meds .... but it DOES settle down I assure you!!  |
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Post by camismom on Jan 20, 2005 16:01:09 GMT -5
Jessicasmom, . I offer you yet another welcome to our family. I do not personally know anything about Clonidine but I know there are a few posts about it in our Medication Section. There is one on page 5 of that section that is very informative. Go there and browse around if you can't get info from a pharmacist. Welcome again. |
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Post by vickilyn32 on Jan 20, 2005 16:08:22 GMT -5
Welcome. My DS is 14 and has been on adderall or adderall xr for 6 years now. He does not take it during the summers, and for a few days when he starts again we have trouble getting him to fall asleep, then he gets adjusted to the meds and no more problems. He has never taken anything to help him sleep, except maybe a warm bath and some lavender sents on his pillowcase to relax him. Talk to the pharmacist and ask him any questions you may have, then call the doctor as soon as he gets back. Good luck in your med search, we have all been there.
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Post by catseye on Jan 20, 2005 16:11:07 GMT -5
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Post by jessicasmom on Jan 20, 2005 16:11:25 GMT -5
Wow! thanks so much for the quick responses. I will certainly call the pharmacist and or hospital today. I think it is the unknown that I feel like Im in, I never thought of doing that. Catseye: No she has not had an eeg. We have gone to two different physicals but nothing like that has been done. We are currently on an every two- week appointment schedule. I will certainly ask about the eeg procedure. DD was diagnosed on Wednesday of last week. Her problems actually have been noticeable since she started kindergarten. She is now in the 3rd grade. DD is a chronic asthmatic and has been since she was three months old. During this entire time, she has been on so many different medications to control the asthma, including steroids sometimes. Trust me a child on steroids is like living with cujo junior. On some occasions, during an asthma episode she could be on five different meds. She was always a pampered little kid, because I always felt so bad for her when she was sick. This is something else I feel horrible about. On most occasions I attributed her behavior/hyper ness to the many medications she has been on. I now know this was certainly not the case. It didn’t occur to me until this year that the problem went deeper than the meds. Jessica has been having a terrible time with peers, finishing her work, following simple directions if she was upset, listening, basically symptoms of ADHD. On most occasions she would do as we ask, but it was not without arguing over everything. When she gets in trouble at school she never understood exactly why she would do something, she always told me she didn’t mean to. She is very impulsive in her decisions. She would also become very angry over simple things. I feel so horrible for her when it comes to friends. She can make friends easy, but cannot keep them. When she didn’t get her way, or her friends did not do what she wanted, she would get verbal and get mad at them. As I’m sure everyone knows, kids don’t like this. Academically she does pretty well. Her report card from last Friday shows she is a B student. The problem is that she couldn’t finish her work. She knew she couldn’t finish so she would fluff it off. If something made her upset at school, the day was pretty much over. Jessica has never been violent or malicious. She also has never been in the principals office for "bad behavior". She has a great teacher this year that is actually concerned about her and has worked wonders with us. DD can be the sweetest little thing and I feel kind of yucky for not getting her help a while ago. I can’t count the many times she told me she really didn’t mean to. Please excuse my rambling, this is all so new. It helps me think more about it by writing. Kind of like therapy, and cheap therapy too. Ha ha??? I so very much appreciate the responses and kind wisdom. |
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Post by vickilyn32 on Jan 20, 2005 16:16:11 GMT -5
Ramble on all you want to. Thats why we are here, because we can get some understanding, and out "there" we just get people who dont care, or cant understand what our lives are like. Keep in mind that if adderall XR does not work, or the cloindine does not work, there are other meds, and sometimes it takes several trials to get the correct med or combinations of meds that work for our kids. Dont give up if you need to try something else.
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Post by catseye on Jan 20, 2005 16:20:19 GMT -5
I may have misspoken, it might be an ekg? I get them mixed up since sd has had to have both... Whichever one is the heart monitor test...
As I understand it, clonidine is a blood pressure medication normally... Thus why they recommended the test for my sd...
cat
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Post by rosyred45 on Jan 20, 2005 17:44:08 GMT -5
Jessicasmom Welcome to the family, and YES you are allowed to ramble, and yes it IS therepy for those of us that love it here Anyhow, I don't know much personally when it comes to meds. We follow the Feingold program www.feingold.orgIt does seem overwheming at times I know. My son was dx'ed mild adhd, but that was in part due to school setting. I am(I think) undiagnosed adhhhhhhhd, so I know where my son gets it from. We just blame his dad because I feel like it :DOh and because he is the same way.  The Feingold program includes an elimination diet. NO it's not as hard as it seems, sorta like the road you are going down now, once you figure it out, at least the program, it's easy as pie. Mikey has so many problems irrupt when he eats a food that he is sensitive to or one that has artificial color, flovor or preservatives. We tried a natural powdered drink for him, but it changed his personality so much that I stopped that after a week. As the others have said there are alot of different medications out there and the trial and error period may seem like it takes forever (especially if it is a no good rotten day)BUT there is hope. We have a quite a few mothers out there that actually let their kids see teenagehood..... God help my daughter, who only has an attitude.......boy, that has been becaoming quite regular here lately hasn't it  Any how, welcome again and read around. I personally recommend looking at the natural section to see if anything there might help as well. Take care Kaiti |
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Post by camismom on Jan 21, 2005 8:41:15 GMT -5
Jessicasmom, I'm glad you found the info you needed. The link that cat posted was exactly the thread I was referring to. Why didn't I think of that? Anyway, come here and ramble all you want. This is all new to you so it's only natural that you would be searching for answers. We've all been where you are now and asking the same things. I wish you and your daughter luck on getting this all sorted out and getting her "on the right track". My daughter was dx'd with ADHD in the first grade and she is now in middle school. I have been there and done it all when it comes to ADHD girls, so feel free to IM me if you ever need anything. ADHD can sometimes manifest itself differently in girls. If you can stand it there is a book I read not to long ago that touches on that. The book is titled Understanding Girls with AD/HD by Kathleen Nadeau. Keep us posted on how it all goes. |
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Post by catseye on Jan 21, 2005 8:56:03 GMT -5
catseye said camismom said ;D ;D So we are a little behind huh camismom  We will catch up some day! ;D cat |
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Post by camismom on Jan 21, 2005 9:03:19 GMT -5
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Oh well! The important thing is SOMEONE got it out there.
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