Clonidine at bedtime

[LF2023]

Hello! We just increased my daughter's dosage from 0.05mg of Clonidine at night to 0.1mg and this morning she was extremely lethargic, not talking very much and went back to sleep on the couch after she ate her breakfast. Is this normal? We only increased the dosage last night, but will she gain a tolerance to it and make her less sleepy. I almost kept her home from school- I am feeling pretty guilty and wondering if I should explore other medication options since we weren't getting much results from the smaller dosage and don't want to go back down to the 0.05mg. I feel I do remember her seeming a little bit low energy the first few days of the original dosage.

Has anyone experienced this?

Thank you!!

[El-Eektrified]

Hello,

Since you are asking these questions, I was wondering if your doctor hasn’t explained possible side-effects?

I know clonidine should be monitored closely, like guanfacine which is in the same class of medications and my doc explained that there is a difference in mechanism, so one could be better tolerated than the other. You could ask about it, in case there is no improvement.

He also explained that the sedation will help restless children to become more comfortable and cooperative with treatment.

So I was warned that it would be highly sedating… and it did and still does… I’m on guanfacine, but need to take a stimulant just to fight the side-effects.

But it really helps with ADHD, sleep and restlessness. So I still like it, but monitor your daughter closely and if it doesn’t improve, talk with your doc. It might not be the right medication for your daughter.

[LF2023 in reply to El-Eektrified]

Thank you for your reply! We did go over the effects, so are only giving it at night time- She did seem to do much better this morning and a lot more awake- SO relieved. We have an appointment with the doctor on 5/30 to check in. We are still trying to avoid stimulants because she is still so young, but I think Guanfacine is next on our list to try if this fails.