Clonidine for behavior issues

[Guest guest]

Is anyones child on clonidine for behavior issues? has been

having increased fits with her autism and the doc is giving my an RX

for clonidine for these times. she is giving her a dose of .05mg

(smallest dose there is I believe). Wondering if anyone has had any

luck or any bad reactions to this med. cannot be on ativan

because it causes increased agitation (instead of decreased). Last

night I had to give her benedryl to calm her down. I don't know why

this is happening all of the sudden with her.

Dawn

[Guest guest]

Dear Dawn: I don't have experience with Clonidine for behavior/mood

issues. We have, however, had severe mood issues with Seth, our 12

year old mito kid. I really hope that for this is related to

being wiped out or is just temporary. I have never had any medicine

to use for Seth's bad episodes (although that really sounds nice to

have on hand) but Seth has had to go on high doses of Zoloft on a

regular basis. This brought him out of a depression and out of the

severe mood swings. He is 165 pounds and 5'2 " . He is not normal

cognitively and when he would get angry, he sometimes would get wild

and that's getting dangerous at that size! We plugged in with a good

child psychiatrist to help us manage the mood meds and it has

helped. Then you have someone to call regarding these issues. Seth

has had to be on a pretty high dose of Zoloft and it has really

helped. I know some others have had to use these types of meds, too,

as psychological symptoms (mood swings, depression) can definitely go

along with the mito. (Seth also has autistic tendencies) Good luck

to you and . I pray for peace in your house tonight so you can

all sleep!

Cindy mom to Seth (13 Thursday) and Ben (8) both with mito

> Is anyones child on clonidine for behavior issues?

[Guest guest]

Dawn,

My daughter is on clonidine for sleep. She also has a mitochondrial disease (MIDS) and profound autism. We don't use it for behavioral issues really, but we do use it for sleep. The only side effect I would be worried about would be drowsiness and clonidine is an anti-hypertensive, so if your daughter has any dysautonomia (or even if she doesn't) I'd worry a bit about blood pressure drops. We have been using clonidine for about four years, and haven't had any real problems.

Jen (mom to ,6)

[Guest guest]

Dawn-

Austen is on 0.4 mg of clonidine ONLY GIVEN at night. We tried him on

a clonidine patch in the day and he was really agitated as you

described. The clonidine pills at night seem to help him at night

into the day, but he also takes trazadone and nortriptyline for ADHD

and inability to sleep at night. We have a psychiatrist working with

us who is familiar with kids with metabolic problems (and visual

impairments). It seems to be a situation where the meds may work for

a while, but then he outgrows them as he has been taken off tenex

which we thought was helping him in the day. He also has autistic

like behavior and can get very irritable and prone to awful tantrums.

Finding the right psychiatrist or doctor knowledgeable with psycho-

pharmaceuticals makes all the difference. Maybee reducing the

clonidine a bit will help?

Good luck...

Gwen

mom to Austen age 7 GA2

> Is anyones child on clonidine for behavior issues? has been

> having increased fits with her autism and the doc is giving my an

RX

> for clonidine for these times. she is giving her a dose of .05mg

> (smallest dose there is I believe). Wondering if anyone has had any

> luck or any bad reactions to this med. cannot be on ativan

> because it causes increased agitation (instead of decreased). Last

> night I had to give her benedryl to calm her down. I don't know why

> this is happening all of the sudden with her.

>

>

> Dawn

[Guest guest]

>

>

> Dawn,

we have used clonidine with good success, we had the same reaction to

ativan as well as demerol, morphine, ritalin, and others.

clonidine and risperidal have helped us alot. We cannot use

klonipin, my son had to be restrained for hours on that one.

good luck

S.