Clonidine for ADD??? - ADD / ADHD Message Board

jtdpmd · 12-23-2005, 05:44 PM

Hello all, I'm a new poster here (lurk all the time).... My 6 year-old son has is in the middle of being diagnosed with either Oppositional Disorder or ADD... Pediatrician thinks ODD, therapist thinks his acting out is because of the ADD, but anyway... The pediatrician but him on Clonidine since she thought he was more ODD, and thinks that he should still use it even tho the therapist thinks ADD... So has anyone else had a child start on Clonidine for ADD?? I'm wondering if it has helped any? For the first week he is taking 1/2 a 0.1 MG pill in the evening, then second week he is supposed to take 1/2 pill in morning & night. Any input would be good.

nickkaylee · 12-25-2005, 01:30 AM

First I want to say that most of the time a child with ODD also has ADHD...they are comorbid which means they go together/coexhist. Then I will tell you that for a time my son who has severe ADHD (and most likely ODD but hasn't been officially dignosed yet) took Clonidine at night to help him sleep. That was all he took it for.

index.html · 12-27-2005, 07:53 AM

My son took Clonidine for his ADHD for a while. It helped alot with his hyperactivity, but did nothing for his concentration (and may have even made that worse). Clondine can be quite sedating.

The problem with taking it by mouth is that it is short-acting. It only lasts about 3-4 hours, I believe. So, your son may have something of a rollercoaster effect from it. There is a patch form which my son used and it worked quite nicely. The only problem he had on it was severe constipation.

jtdpmd · 12-28-2005, 07:05 PM

Well, we've started week 2 of the medicine... 1/2 pill in the morning & evening.. We have not noticed a change in his attitude at all, it almost seems like it is worse b/c the medicine makes him sleepy.. Like this morning, I didn't cut the pill totally in half & he had the larger of the 2 pieces and about 30 min later he was asleep on the couch. School starts up again next Wednesday & I'm really concerned that this medicine isn't working like it should. The other thing I'm worried about is constipation, he has a problem holding it in as it is now, causing constipation & it sounds like this med will have that as a side-effect.

Can anyone give me names of other drugs your kids' have taken for ADD?? He's not hyper, so he doesn't really need anything to slow him down, he needs to concentrate!!! Any help will be greatly appreciated!! THANKS!!!