Clonidine

[FallingApart]

Have any of you ever tried Clonidine for yourself or your child? Clonidine is a BP medication. My doctor wanted me to try it bc I am such a basket case and am beyond anxious. Her theory was that if your BP is automatically lowered, then your anxiety will follow. I've been taking it on an as needed basis for a few months. I think that I (Like all of you prob) am SO stressed out, that this will never touch my anxiety. But what it does do, is at it's highest dose, is knock me right out for sleep. And I never sleep anymore, so I love this drug. And I now have high BP from all this stress anyway.

 

Onto the children. I told our ped the GPs thinking on Clonidine and anxiety and said I wanted to try it on my PANDAS daughter and she prescribed the lowest dose for her. I saw no improvement and stopped using it. Last night I told DD she had to sleep in this morning (yeah, right!!!) She asked me to giver melatonin, but it was way past an appropriate time for that. SO I pulled the Clonidine out and gave her a whole pill (the dosage is for 1/2 pill). Next DD comes out and can't sleep either. I gave her a half of the pill. My entire house, including DH is asleep right now. Exciting, yes!!!!! Coffee by myself. However, when will they wake up? 7 pm?

 

So, I looked up user reviews on Web MD and this drug is used for Autism and ADHD. I had no idea!!! And this drug calms down rages and helps the non sleepers sleep.

 

I only get on here now and then, so if this is old news, sorry. But when I have a house full of sleepers, I want you to have it too.

 

Love,

FA

[pr40]

our dd tried it at the beginning when we did not know it was PANDAS. on of the side effect is urination which kept waking her up so we stopped it. are happier with melatonin.

otherwise clonadine was much better than what clonazepam a dr from Boston Children gave us.

so, in all, not a terrible experience

[JoyBop]

Our doctors have all recommended a very low dose (either Clonadine or Intuniv) to help with the rages and intense motoric hyperactivity that sabotages him in school. Our psychiatrist, nuerologist and psychologist have all said tgeyve seen good results for PANDAS pts. We haven't given it to him yet as we want to wait and see how much progress he makes with antibiotics yet. I'm curious to see how other PANDAS pts do on these drugs as well. We did decide that if we proceed it will prob be .5 tablet of 0.1 mg 2x per day.

[Guest]

I have terrible dysautonomia (POTS) so yes I've tried it and am currently taking bystolic another beta blocker. Personally, it has a paradoxical effect on me and raised my heart rate and kept me awake. However the bystolic did help me sleep A LOT in the beginning because it does help with anxiety by lowering heart rate and consequently adrenaline. But these drugs are notorious for losing efficiency and I'm in a situation where it isn't working like it did at first.

 

Beta blockers are very helpful for anxiety and especially dysautonomia but they do cause next day lethargy and tiredness sometimes.

[kthomas]

Ds8 was perscribed Clonadine at the lowest rate 1x per day in Feb. of 2011. It turned him into a zombie and he was non-functioning even on the lowest dosage and was still ticing and had major ADHD. He was then given Intuniv,again at the lowest dosage, this did not stop his tics or impulsivity. He was taken off of it and was given Risperdal for 6 months. Still had issues with AdHD and focusing. He now takes Strattera 10 mg which we have found to be very helpful for impulsivity and ADHD issues.

From my experience you should not double the dosage of Clonadine as it is very sedative and should be used with caution.

[4Nikki]

I have terrible dysautonomia (POTS) so yes I've tried it and am currently taking bystolic another beta blocker. Personally, it has a paradoxical effect on me and raised my heart rate and kept me awake. However the bystolic did help me sleep A LOT in the beginning because it does help with anxiety by lowering heart rate and consequently adrenaline. But these drugs are notorious for losing efficiency and I'm in a situation where it isn't working like it did at first.

 

Beta blockers are very helpful for anxiety and especially dysautonomia but they do cause next day lethargy and tiredness sometimes.

 

Since DD stopped her raging 5 days now after her course of Abx, I haven't been giving her anything except for quercetin a few times. She doesn't seem afraid to leave her bed she just seems prefers it there I think because she feels safe. I'm not sure because she can't find the words to describe it. I know she has anxiety which was and is one of her primary symptoms. She seems tired a lot now. Yesterday she took a bath all by herself and then cut off half her hair which was to her elbows and now is to her shoulders. She can't explain why but perhaps she did this for the same reason she took a bath? I'm thinking self motivation, because for the past couple of months we have tried making a trip to the hair stylist but each time she can't do it. I asked her before if she felt afraid and she said know. So I just asked her if she is standing up does it make her feel dizzy and she nodded yes. uh?

Edited May 19, 2013 by 4Nikki

[FallingApart]

So here is an update from yesterday. Both of my daughters the Pandas and the NT slept until 11. We then went on to have one of the best days in quite a while. Now the sleep alone could have been what was needed to help her. But her constant humming was absent.

 

The reading I did about this on webmd for user reviews for ADHD and autism were to do .25 of the .1 4x/day daily. When I had been doing this for my daughter before, I was doing it on an as needed basis.

 

Having taken the drug myself, I think an entire .1 mg pill given to a child before school, playtime, or homework is too much. They will get tired.