Intuniv

[Guest guest]

I think it is a good idea to lower doses if you can. Especially

with medications like Abilify and rispedal that often put on weight.

My concern is that one month is not alot of time on abilify.

I know these medications work faster than the zolofts and prozacs but my

strategy has been to go very slow and low dose and monitor that before

increasing medication.

I would want to first reduce abilify and see what happens.

Then if there are no outbursts add another medication at

a low dose. If you do both at the same time is it due

to the lower abilify or the new drug.

I did notice the two neurologists I consulted with were less conservative than

the two child psychiatrists. Our child psychiatist would not prescribe abilify

even though she saw my daughter hitting me and biting me. And my 12 year old is

very aggressive at times. The child psychiatrists in NJ that I consulted with

for my daughter first do not want to use medication and when they did they

insisted on a zoloft trial before considering rispedal or abilify and then they

don't want to mix medications.

I realize this is only my experience and many people

probably have had good luck with their neurologist.

My daughter has anxiety, panic, agressive behaviors just at me and adhd and

other executive function disorders.

Pam

>

> Hello,

>

> My 7 year old son was put on Abilify a month ago for his aggression. He's only

had 1 major aggressive melt down since he started the medication, so I believe

it's working. We just met w/his neurologist and talked about bringing down the

Abilify dosage and starting him on Intuniv. I haven't found a lot of information

on Intuniv, so I thought I'd ask this group about it. Has anyone dealt with this

medication? If so, I'd love to hear your experience with it.

>

> Thank you!

>

>

>

> ***His doctor believes the Intuniv would help with his focus.

>

[Guest guest]

Our 16 year old CAN'T use Abilify, and we are confident IT was what started him 'ticking.' He was recently, against

our wishes and our permission while residing in a facility (as he is more than we can handle safely in the family home especially with our

3 younger sons) put back on it, and he started frailing, flapping, hitting himself ticking, and that took his parents (US) about a week but

we DID get that advocated for, and STOPPED. HE DID STOP THAT (THANK GOD!!!!---we were starting to panic, as it was very, very up-

setting, and he was very angry about it, could NOT control it, and he had no idea WHY he was doing it). He still ticks minorly with his

hands, but he NEVER DID UNTIL ABILIFY THE FIRST TIME. He did just fine on the other meds below......but just sharing our experience....

With our eight year old, also Aspie, we have used Daytrana patch for ADHD control about 2 years, Buspar 10 mg 2 times per day (about 3 months

for THIS dose---on Buspar about 3 years now), and Intuniv (2 mg) about an hour before bed time. We are using Intuniv (2 mg---child weighs 50 pounds dripping and soaking wet--LOL!) to help with him

relaxing and going to sleep. We thought 'hmmmmmm' when we were started on the trial by his psychiatrist, whom is great!!!!, and within 2 weeks we were THRILLED.

Insurance decided it wanted us to do cheap first and refused to fill scripts, so for a month, we were on wanthphasim (sorry, but that

isn't spelled right but others talked on here recently about another name it is known by) but it appeared to even negate his Daytrana

and maybe buspar but it was like he was on NOTHING, and a long month. We are able to do the intuniv again and our lives RIGHT NOW

with him along with having services for 3 years in our home for him (about 7 hours a week---1 hour 15 minutes of family therapy, the

rest is community support) and us being very stable, consistent, and about the best place as a family we have been during our

journey with 2 special needs kiddos, he is appearing 'normal,' and it is about like he doesn't even need services. (however, we know

it is 'luck of the draw,' by chance, and in reality, it is CONCERNING to know that, while on the med that 'negated' things, that it was

about like he has / had NO SERVICES and then makes us question how much the services are helping at all---that being said, we

can tell you, if we didn't have the services, the rest of us would most certainly have 'been dropped off at the looney bin by now!' LOL!!

So, they have 'done that' for us if nothing else, and it is great to have professionals coming and going that we not only KNOW our

son is safe with but are very helpful, supportive, and caring to ALL of us, too, which is worth a lot.

Just 'sharing' our experience. Not sure if that helps or not, as I have missed some threads.....

Ruthie Dolezal

From: susanonderko@...Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:06:49 +0000Subject: ( ) Re: Intuniv

I think it is a good idea to lower doses if you can. Especially with medications like Abilify and rispedal that often put on weight.My concern is that one month is not alot of time on abilify. I know these medications work faster than the zolofts and prozacs but my strategy has been to go very slow and low dose and monitor that before increasing medication. I would want to first reduce abilify and see what happens. Then if there are no outbursts add another medication ata low dose. If you do both at the same time is it dueto the lower abilify or the new drug. I did notice the two neurologists I consulted with were less conservative than the two child psychiatrists. Our child psychiatist would not prescribe abilify even though she saw my daughter hitting me and biting me. And my 12 year old is very aggressive at times. The child psychiatrists in NJ that I consulted with for my daughter first do not want to use medication and when they did they insisted on a zoloft trial before considering rispedal or abilify and then they don't want to mix medications. I realize this is only my experience and many peopleprobably have had good luck with their neurologist.My daughter has anxiety, panic, agressive behaviors just at me and adhd and other executive function disorders. Pam >> Hello,> > My 7 year old son was put on Abilify a month ago for his aggression. He's only had 1 major aggressive melt down since he started the medication, so I believe it's working. We just met w/his neurologist and talked about bringing down the Abilify dosage and starting him on Intuniv. I haven't found a lot of information on Intuniv, so I thought I'd ask this group about it. Has anyone dealt with this medication? If so, I'd love to hear your experience with it.> > Thank you!> > > > ***His doctor believes the Intuniv would help with his focus.>

[Guest guest]

For anyone whose child is on Tenex, have you tried Intuniv? It's pretty new, I

believe, and is an extended release version of guanfacine specifically indicated

for management of ADHD symptoms. I just wondered if anyone had tried it and if

they thought it was superior to Tenex.

All the best,

Robyn

[Guest guest]

We just learned from our psych that Intuniv cannot be cut in half. The drug rep told her that cutting it renders it ineffective.

We ask for samples when possible, which the docs are usually willing to give if they have them. In the Intuniv sample is a card that will give you some price reductions on the med, at least for a little while. Every little bit helps.

--Suzanne

[Guest guest]

While a drug rep typically would be one of the last people I would trust, in this case it may make sense because of the time release factor involved.Still I cannot understand why someone would pay the high cost of Intuniv when you can get the generic (Guanfacine) for sooo much cheaper and because it's not timed released cut it in half even. The only difference is I give 2 doses in 24 hours as opposed to one. No big deal.

Debbie Young

From: SBShaft@...Date: Tue, 4 May 2010 09:20:38 -0400Subject: [ ] Intuniv

We just learned from our psych that Intuniv cannot be cut in half. The drug rep told her that cutting it renders it ineffective.

We ask for samples when possible, which the docs are usually willing to give if they have them. In the Intuniv sample is a card that will give you some price reductions on the med, at least for a little while. Every little bit helps.

--Suzanne

Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. Learn more.