Guanfacine

[Formyson8]

My 7 yr old son with adhd who had been taking Concerta recently had Guanfacine added and takes it in the afternoon. The results have been amazing. For a week almost no issues at all. My wife and I couldn’t believe it. But last night he was extremely difficult when it was time for homework. Lost his temper several times, said very mean things. Same thing when it came time to brush his teeth. He did however fully cooperate when it was time for him to go to bed. This morning while I was getting ready for work he surprised me. He hadn’t gotten up from bed and put his uniform on. This never happens. He was very proud and I was very happy. But after breakfast he would not. Rush his teeth this turned into him getting very mad and said very mean things. I tried to calmly talk to him about it but that made him mad. Trying to get him out the door for school and he threw his shoe at me. So right away I am panicking. Thinking here we go again. A med is not working again. I know it was all within a 12 hour period and sometimes there are bad periods but all I can think about is that the med could be failing again. Trying to talk myself off the ledge.

[Onthemove1971]

Thanks for sharing your experience. It is great news you guys are willing to try medication. It feels amazing when you have struggled for so long and then you have success.

Not sure the dose of the Guanfacine he is taking. Our son took a 24 hour dose and we needed to add a second dose in the am and it really helped..not to say your son needs that, but just know if it is helping, it can be adjusted.For us we also needed a little bit of time to settle into a new medication or a new dose.

I remember those days well and now our son has been stable for a while, when I look back and remember how hard those days were, i am thankful they are behind us.

Just know this could be frustration and often they just don't know how to deal with it.

Best of luck with getting things dialed in. Hope peace is ahead for you guys.

[Speckled_frog]

My 7 year old boy has been trialing Guanfacine too. We are in the early stages of medication management. We did 1mg of Guanfacine for about 2 weeks, then upped it to 2mg, and been on it for 4 weeks. He takes a stimulant (vyvanse) in morning. Guanfacine hasn’t been particularly positive for us. We will go back to psychiatric soon. I find him more rigid, controlling and anxious since starting Guanfacine. But the thing I could relate to in your story, is that I find him more erratic on Guanfacine. I find the outbursts so much less predictable in terms of cause/time of day, and I find that hard to manage.

[Formyson8 in reply to Speckled_frog]

Thank you for sharing

[Mamamichl]

How long has he been taking it? although many side effects are temporary (up to 6 weeks), my family had trouble with Guanfacine. It is initially a blood pressure med. if you have low blood pressure, you can be sleepy.i know when I’m sleepy, I get cranky. Sounds like it’s working well for concentration. My stepkid feinted, and me and my partner got light headed.