Guanfacine Er

[Kikimonkey]

ok. So we saw improvement with Guanfacine IR. Doctors goal was to get her on Guanfacine Er once we got used to taking pills. She did great taking pill so the switch to Er was made for. 1 mg Ir to 1 mg Er. Did not work. I couldn't decide if it was just no coverage and all the ADHD symptoms were back.or iit was making her more hyper Doc upped dose to 2 mg after her response. First day on Mg 2. She is bouncing off the walls. I believe the Er is making her worse.

[Onthemove1971]

Have they suggested 1 pill 2x a day? This helped our son a lot.

[Kikimonkey in reply to Onthemove1971]

ok. Ir or Er 2 times a day?

[Onthemove1971 in reply to Kikimonkey]

1 mg Ir- 2x a day instead of ER.

ER means extended release when is when a small amount is dispensed 3x in a 24 hour time frame.

[Kikimonkey]

Yes. We did that when on Ir. She switched to Er to maintain a more smooth steady dose. Not working. We will need to go back to Ir Doc said because of the short acting of IR taking it a night didn't make any sense really. So it interesting Thank you for responding!

[Mmagusin]

it’s a blood pressure med. it’ll make her tired. Are you also using a stimulant?

[Kikimonkey in reply to Mmagusin]

No stimulants Both her parents had substance abuse issues Along with anxiety issues

[Mamamichl in reply to Kikimonkey]

Then I would go with a non stimulant like stratera if the child gets light headed. Many stimulants raise anxiety, and nonstimulants other than stratera lower blood pressure, my anxiety sucked on stimulants. The stratera is doing great for me. I also have an issue with low blood pressure (partially natural, but exacerbated by anxiety and depression meds).

[Mamamichl in reply to Mmagusin]

Guanfacein actually made my partner and stepkid light headed, and my stepkid feint. Just keep an eye on this.

[SecretAgentIEP]

This happened to our son and then we stopped Guanfacine altogether. He just takes Vyvanse twice daily plus magnesium and melatonin at night now

[Kikimonkey in reply to SecretAgentIEP]

Ok

[Mamamichl]

hello! Definitely raise the dose. My doctor said that when switching to er after it, it’s best to start with double dose. Here is an example:

Say ir gives 4 hours of help. Using 1mg in 4 hours would mean you would need a booster an hour later with another 1 mg. And say an er med lasts 8 hours. You would have to raise it to 2m to get the same effect because the same amount of medication goes into the bloodstream over the same amount of time. Doing the same dose over er and ir would mean she is getting half of the medicine in one hour rather than the same amount per hour.

Hope that clarifies some things. Zen hugs 🫂