Clonidine vs Guanfacine
Question:
I find the general consensus of opinion to be fairly upbeat in terms of positive effects of Clonidine but what of Guanfacine ? can anyone tell me the difference between the two, is the drowsiness still a big factor with this med ? and which of the two is generally regarded as being more benign . My son was taking Methyfenidate until the tics got bad then we stopped it, although to be honest, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of difference . Now he has full blown Tourettes, is giving him this med a real no no, there would seem to be two schools of thought on this subject.
Response:
My son who is 9 yo, has been on guanfacine and clonidine. They are both blood pressure meds with the same risk factors, which are low compared to the other options. He was on guanfacine first with wonderful results for his ADD and his ticcing. I thought it was his miracle drug at the time. His ticcing is maybe 5 % of what it used to be. The only side effect he showed was a weight gain, which is not a common side effect for this med. He went from 68 pounds to 95 in the matter of 3 months, then the weight gain leveled off and he maintained this weight for a year. We did have some problems with sleeping, if he takes his pill too late (not after 6pm) he cannot sleep that night. (he takes a morning and late afternoon dose). Once we got everything adjusted he did very well on it for 1 year. Almost exactly a year and it quit working completely. He was also having other medical problems so we took him off the guanfacine. We wanted to see where he was at unmedicated, so did not use meds for about 5 months. What a rollercoaster ride that was! We decided to try Clonidine, he was on it for about 6 months. I didn’t think Clonidine did anything for him, but realized when we took him off it, that it had been taking the edge off the tics. He ticced way more on Clonidine and it took at least 2 months for any help from it at all. Clonidine did nothing for his ADD and he was having alot of ADD related issues at school, so we decided to try the guanfacine again. He has been back on it for almost 3 months and has gained another 15 pounds. I am hoping that it is going to stop and level off again. <<<fingers crossed>>>> My personal experience is that guanfacine works way better for my son, plus I get the ADD treated as a bonus LOL. Hope any of this helps, Jodi "JC" <jcbr35…@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:Wvvi8.12624$kF6.708465@news-binary.blueyonder.co.uk… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I find the general consensus of opinion to be fairly upbeat in terms of > positive effects of Clonidine but what of Guanfacine ? can anyone tell me > the difference between the two, is the drowsiness still a big factor with > this med ? and which of the two is generally regarded as being more benign . > My son was taking Methyfenidate until the tics got bad then we stopped it, > although to be honest, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal of difference . > Now he has full blown Tourettes, is giving him this med a real no no, there > would seem to be two schools of thought on this subject.
