ADHD Guanfacine HCL

[PinkMamabear1990]

Does anyone have experience with the extended release guanfacine hcl to treat ADHD? My kiddo just received that prescription and after reading about it, I am quite hesitant to have her try it as it is not as straight forward as Vyvanse or Concerta. I'm also concerned bc she has been diagnosed with low blood pressure and a side effect can be low blood pressure.

[Aspen797]

I think your concern about low blood pressure is a good one for the doctor to address.

Our son takes guanfacine. We found it helps to start really low and very slowly increase to the goal dose. Too quick an increase can cause side effects, like night-waking. It really helped our son with impulse control, frustration and emotional regulation, though we actually began it to help with tics.

I hope you get your questions answered by the doctor soon.

[Littleme2000 in reply to Aspen797]

Same here, we started it in combo w Focalin XR to help w tics. It helps w impulse control and being able to just slow down. It doesn’t really help w some of the academic areas like writing and focus during math. The XR formulation works better for my son that the short acting. We had some sleepiness and mood swings when starting, but it evened out w XR formula. We stopped Focalin XR due to weight loss and have just kept w Guanfacine XR, which doesn’t relieve all symptoms, but helps him catch an edge. And I’d also recommend talking to doc about low blood pressure, as lowering it is what it was originally designed to do. Also, I recommend Genomind to find the medication that works best for your daughter’s genetic makeup if you are at the start of your medication journey. It saved us years of trial and error and confirmed that Atomoxetine was not the right fit for our son, which we saw after a week of troubling side effects. Sending you good vibes! 🙏

[PinkMamabear1990 in reply to Aspen797]

Thanks so much for the insight! I appreciate it.

[Pema20]

my daughter 18 tried it out for 6 months. It had little effect on her focus, but did take the edge off her irritability and emotional dysregulation. Ultimately, she decided to stop. It made her sleepy all the time. Since going off, she’s been much more active, and that has been great. My understanding is that some people feel it works for them, others not.

[Willowbee37]

I would definitely follow up with the doc about the low blood pressure. Typically they wouldn’t put someone with already low BP on it.

[CHADDMOM]

I think that you should bring this up with doctor immediately. This medications was originally prescribed as a blood pressure lowering medication, and has been used as a ADHD medication more recently.

[Familyfirst13]

Definitely you should ask your doctor about the low blood pressure issue. I don't understand why any doctor or psychiatrist would write a prescription for guanfacine if your daughter has low blood pressure. My son is on 3 mg guanfacine for adhd. At first I refused to consider having him on adhd meds until his doctor advocated for him and said I could atleast look in to non stimulant options. It's helped a lot. He still looses focus with school work but not as bad as before and his acting out has pretty much stopped. And I also had to start out low and work up on the dose. Oh and it's important to note that for my son, he had some unpleasant side effects for the first week or 2. He was so sleepy that he could barely stay awake. He was irritable and almost argumentative. However, we stuck it out and I'm glad we did. We also had to adjust the time of day he took it. The psychiatrist said if he was getting too sleepy during school, to take it when he got home from school. It worked out just fine. Good luck to you.

[PinkMamabear1990]

Thank-you everyone for all of your stories and insight. I spoke to the psychiatrist and we decided not to give her that medication. We are now trying 18mg of Concerta. We are on the 3rd day. I am so glad I always research every medication before giving them to my children....if I would of given her Guan. W/o looking into it, it could have been a bad situation.