clonidine

[hygienehollie]

hello! My son seems to be very tired and lethargic in the evenings, but school says he is one of the most active kids during the day and doesn’t seem lethargic at all. It seems to be interfering with his participation in sports. Just very tired and not his energetic self. He is taking .2 mg in the am and .1 in the evenings, along with other meds for adhd/anxiety/mood. Has anyone else experienced this?

[Elijah1]

Talk with his prescribing doctor about this behavior. You can check if it occurs after he takes a dose of medication. Also check how well he sleeps at night.

[julieboolie]

We are supposed to start Clonidine once insurance approves it. We were told it's very fatiguing, especially in the beginning so only dosing at bed time until he adjusts. I would definitely talk to your Dr and see if one of the meds is at fault. Or possibly dose and timing too.

[julieboolie in reply to julieboolie]

Just checking in. We have been doing clonidine at bedtime each night for 3 weeks. We are now going to start spitting his tablet and giving him half in the morning and half at bedtime. I am just updating here since I have learned a lot from other parents' experiences and wanted to keep sharing. The nighttime dose does make him tired and it's been hard for him to get up on time each morning. But the half dose will help and I'll try it this weekend for the morning dose. Hoping it'll help keep his anxiety down and help him be less combative.

[hygienehollie in reply to julieboolie]

Hi!

We started out at .1 in the evening and .1 in the am. Then bumped to .2 in the am and .1 in the evening. That’s when I noticed the lethargy in the evenings . Not wanting to play outside and not having much energy at football practice. So we tried changing it to .1 in the am and .2 in the evenings and bumped the evening dose back to 7:30-8 pm instead of earlier in the evening. This has helped his energy level some. He still doesn’t have the drive he used to with sports. But his behavior has been so much better on this medication combined with his other meds. Our home life is much more peaceful, he’s more redirectable, and he’s overall controlling his emotions/outbursts better! I hope it helps you. Our son is getting up in the am pretty good. It sometimes takes 10-15 mins to actually get him out of bed, but once he’s up he eats and gets ready for school fine! Hope this helps

[julieboolie in reply to hygienehollie]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your reply. So far Clonidine is the only med we've tried that has helped my son.

We just started a 0.05 in the morning and then 0.05 in the evening. He was a bit grouchy during the day yesterday but definitely more relaxed which was good. I think the tiredness caused the grouchiness. I am hoping that as he gets more used to the daytime dose that'll subside and we can up it to the 0.1 in the morning (splitting the little pills is really tough!).

[hygienehollie in reply to julieboolie]

did the pharmacist or doctor say to split the pill?

I have used a pill cutter I ordered from Amazon in the past for other medicine. I know they say splitting them can lessen the integrity of the drugs.

[julieboolie in reply to hygienehollie]

I did buy a pill cutter to use and it's a bit better, definitely not ideal. The Dr suggested the splitting to start him on a very low dose in the mornings. Hopefully we can move t the full 0.1 in the mornings.