Tics - does Clonadine help?

[joneliemom]

Our son, 11, has been on different stimulant medications for the past 5 years for ADHD. He's had problems with tics off and on over the years and he struggles to fall asleep every night (not because of the medication, we've discovered, but due to anxiety). The tics are very upsetting to him and seem to be getting worse. Our Dr. has suggested clonadine. I'm wondering if anyone has had success with Clonadine related to anxiety, tics and sleeping?

thanks

[index.html]

Well, first, I have to say that if my child developed tics while taking stimulants, I would promptly discontinue them (after discussing with our doc). If your child had tics before he started medication, though, that's a different story.

My son developed tics years before we tried stimulants. Yes, Clonidine was very helpful. It greatly diminished his tics, decreased his hyperactivity, and helped him sleep.

One thing to know about Clonidine is that the pills are very short-acting so you get alot of peaks and valleys in their effectiveness. There is a clonidine patch that worked wonderfully for us. The patch is advertised as being effective for a week; we got 5 days out of it. Some children can't tolerate the patch because of skin irritation, but we didn't have that problem.

Oh, one other thing about Clonidine. Keep an eye out for constipation. It constipated my son so badly that we thought he had Irritable Bowel Syndrome when all along it was the medication.

Good luck!

[m.newgent]

when my daughter was 5 she was told she had tourettes,adhd,shool phobia,sleep disorder,seperation anxity disorder, but because dispite pointing the tics out to teachers they told dr. that they see no signs of any problems mentioned and all diagnosies were with drawn, but she is still the same and is now 9 i am not convinced she has tourettes but from what i gather from you is that tics also come with adhd is that right

[hmxsgt]

I'm taking it that that stimulants cause the tic and not the ADD. I have just noticed that my son has started with a Tic, actually a few tics. He's always moving his neck, tilting his head and twitching his lips. I was starting to wonder myself about a slight form of tourettes, but I'm happy to see that it may only be his med. He's on dexa-something or other. Is the Clonadine a replacement med or is it used in conjuction with the stimulant? A call to his doc is in order regardless.

[m.newgent]

tics started well before any meds were given