question about Clonidine | Autism PDD

Hey all

My guy was stared on clonidine 6 months ago to reduce his impulsiveness. It made him fall asleep, but I didn't see a change in his daytime behaviors. Then we added ritalin to the mix...great effect except for about 30 minutes after the dose he became hyper hyper. so then we switched to concerta and he doesn't have the rollercaoster, and he is starting to make friends at school. He's only 4, and his peers shy away from him because he is so rough, and there's no obvious warning. He now has a 1:1 aide, that and the meds have made a huge difference. And he's still my puddin.

mikki

My son is 5 and is possible PDD/NOS. developmentally delayed, major senory issues, anixtey, and his doctor was thinking of trying Clonidine for my son so just wondering if anyone else has a child on it, and if so how do you feel about it? I don't really want anything that is going to be him sleepy in the day or anything. Just wondering.. thanks for any info!

Marie

My 8 yr. old asd son has been on it for almost a year for sleeping purposes only and it does work!! it's not addicting he gets a half a pill 1/2 pill an hour before bed it does calm him down enough to fall asleep. Chocholate does not go well with clodine so make sure you don't give him any after the pill !!

My daughter was on it....it worked for a while for her...

But she metabolizes so quick, that it stopped working...we used it for sleep as she doesn't sleep....well on her own at all

spending all hours up.

Now we just give her a teeny bit of benedryl.....docs rec of course...when she is having a difficult time

It didn't help with her mood or anything though....just her sleep and for us only temporary

My son is on chlonidine and it worked for awhile but then we added concerta because it , the chlonidine has a four hour window time of working. Now Gabe does take it at night along with melatonin to help with his sleep. He was on benadryl for a bit but that is a short term answer. You build up an immunity to benadryl and it will stop working after awhile. Also with some kids benadryl will make them hyper.

Tammy

i have a 5yr old pdd-nos,seizure disorder,cp with diplegia and adhd. he's been on clonodine for over 2 yrs, we use it for sleeping and to help calm him down. he takes a half pill at 4pm and one and half pills a night to help him sleep. as far as sleep goes it work at first then we added trazadone to it, and that works great. but as far as calming him down, i don't see a big change. hope this helps you some. mom2carloheres a link about Clonidine and

Common Medications Used To Treat Autism

Medications Information

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/autism/a/05_autism_rx.htm - different treatments & Meds

My son has been on clonidine for 7 years now for sleep. It works well to have fall asleep but as Tammy said its like a 4 hr med and it doesnt keep im asleep.

It is sometimes used to calm the child from aggitation or aggressive behaviors, some kids do ok with it others are sleepy with it. You need to give it several weeks to a month to adjust and see how it affects your child because each kid is different.

Not every med works for every kid.

My son is on clonidine to sleep. Otherwise he would be up after midnight every night and awake at 4am. I know of a few parents with hfa and asperger children who have low doses of clonidine in the morning to help with anxiety.

I'm so glad to find out about the chocolate connection. That explains so much, (and more chocolate for me now, LOL).

Well you know when his neuro first said that I didn't believe it. But then I eliminated all chocolate from his diet and tried it out a month later. And wow, he was so uncontrollable. So I definitely believe it now. I know over the summer he was given some chocolate and yep, he was uncontrollable, aggressive, and just wouldn't listen. After it was out of his system it was more controllable. Now I do like chocolate. I just have to make sure I eat it and get it out of the house before he gets home, lol.

Tammy

I must agree that all our children are different and react differently. To those who are very strongly against medication, I salute you and as long as your child is not suffering when they could be helped, I respect your choice. All I ask is that you return the favor and not be judgmental that I will give my son anything and everything that I feel will help him.

We have tried 2 different SSRI's and his Psychiatrist and I just talked 2 days ago, he simply can not take them, they make him very, very aggresive. The risperdal was a miracle- for about a month and them the weight gain caused the dose to be too little and it was increased 3 different times. That was stopped for now.

He takes clonidine at night (he will NOT sleep without it) and he can take none, 1/2 or 1 pill in the AM, my decesion. If he is agitated and not going out, he gets 1/2, if he has an appointment he gets 1 whole pill. When he first was on the resperdal, we weaned him off the clonidine, but had to restart it for sleep.

I will say this, if I had not seen my child's reaction to the SSRI's, I would have simply not beleived that it could cause so very much aggresion and I told the Dr that I shudder to think of what reaction an adult could have, if they were already aggresive and violent. She reminded me that many children and adults find this medication to be a real life saver, just not all people can take it (I knew this, but was so upset I forgot).

I appreciate you all for sharing your childrens medication results, I learn from them all.

My son is 6 and takes 1/2 a pill each night also. It helps him get to sleep, but it only lasts around 4 hours with him. Usually I am so exhausted that around midnight I let him get in bed with us. (I know, I know!!)

Once I took it by accident on a trip when our pills were mixed up and it was horrible!! I couldn't think, I was in a fog, felt like I'd been shot by a stun gun. Really interesting.

pat

Ryan has used it for over a year for sleeping purposes only, and only the nights he absolutely won't calm himself down to go to sleep. Works like a charm!!

I would think if it was taken during the day it would make your child very sleepy.

Kelly

Tammy,

That's exactly how it is with Paul. Right down to the "add if you need to". He's on Concerta--tried others but they made him crazy. He is also recently on Ability which has been amazing for him. I know there is a lot of negative reports on it but every kid is different.

pat

Gabe was put on depakote, two capsules twice daily, for his immature and impulsive behaviour. But so far I have not seen any benefits. Or maybe they are so subtle I just can't see them right now. I know at one time they had Gabe on adderall but that drug made him too irritable and aggressive. And we did try tenex out on him originally but that had no effect on him at all. So it is quite amazing how different drugs work differently on different kids. And even in the same family. One thing that helps Gabe is making sure he gets plenty of exercise. Which is real hard to do in the winter.

Tammy

Depends on their body weight. In the beginning Gabe took half a pill three times a day. After awhile that didn't work so it was upped to one pill 3 times a day. After that didn't work we went up to 4 pills a day. Then the concerta was added, along with 3 pills a day. Now at my discretion and depending upon how hyper he is, I can give him a fourth pill of the clonidine. At one time he was taking chloral hydrate to help him sleep. But I noticed that interferred with his sleep, even though it is a heavy sedative. So we then started giving him melatonin along with the clonidine at night to help him sleep. Now I have noticed that when he is on the clonidine and he has chocolate, the chocolate makes him irritable and hard to manage. And his neuro told me chocolate tends to counterreact against the clonidine.

Tammy

I did a search on Clonidine and this thread came up. We went to a
neurologist to discuss my son's repetitive movement ( he does this
weird arm movement, not flapping, more like a tensing his upper
body) when excited, and the doctor said that if this is really becoming
an issue with his social life, then we could try Clonidine, which helps
with tics.

NYmom, I am glad to hear it helped with the tics. Can I ask what kind
of tics they were? Most tics are facial, not like my son's. Also, have
you had any side effect?

Thanks
Nupur
I'm new here so I'll just tell you what I know. My little boy, Payne, is 6 years old. Was a very difficult pregnancy and horrendous labor...he was dev delayed for the beginning milestones. From then to know he has been dx : bipolar, epileptic, ADHD, PDD, migraines, intermittent explosive disorder. He is currently on risperdal (life saver- literally), clonidine, prozac, topamax, phenergan. He is doing really well and progressing in school. We have him in regular school, but in ESE classes - he takes therapy 2 x wk - occupational and physical. We have a great psychiatrist who is also a pediatrician (only practices as psych now) He goes to a regular daycare now - the asst director works with the special olympics so I feel comfortable with him being there. They all are taking a class through CARD (Center for Autism and Related Disabilities) tonight for 2 hours to learn different ways to help Payne (and I think there are 4 other autistic kids that go there). They are wonderful. You just have to keep trying. We are planning on going to a genetic counselor to see if Payne's challenges are genetic or from the cord cutting off his air supply in utero. Does anyone else have more than one child - one that is autistic / one that isn't? Has anyone determined that it was definately birth injury?

Payne's Mom- I also have 2 children- an 18 year old daughter that is perfectly healthy and an 8 year old with Aspergers, Mood Disorders, and ADD-Combined. My experience is not as traumatic as yours, but similiar: During labor with my son, I was given drugs to induce labor, and then drugs to slow it down. I was put on oxygen and his heart rate was dropping. He was "stuck" in the birth canal and eventually a vaccum suction was used to deliver him. My labor was around 13 hours. I was also given an epidural. My daughter, on the other hand, was born by C-section (she was "sunny Side up") and she had jaundice. But otherwise fine.

But in all reality- I cant say it was caused by that- I am just happy he is here with me and I am here with him.

Best of luck.

Hello, I am new to the group. I have a 6 year daughter with HFA. She doing okay but we just started on Focalin and now have a new med for clonidine for sleep.

I was doing a search and I found this group and all the posts and I am thrilled to see all the support and information.

She has become a little more aggrivated in the afternoons once the Focalin wears off. It appears to be the harder school is the bigger the melt down. She see things in numbers and said her life was going down to zero.

I may have pushed her to hard, she states almost daily that she wants to go back to kindergarden.

Most things do not knock her out. Chocolate makes her slow down. Really not much else.

Anyway, my question to any parents with autistic daughters.

Have you noticed any benefits on behavior or sleep while taking the clonidine?

She is about to start and I want to be ready.

My oldest has been on clonidine for about 5 years or so. He takes this in combination with Wellbutrin - and it helps his tics quite a bit! He has had to gradually increase the dosage over the years, however, and it is not a drug you can skip a dose, so you have to be careful.

He currently takes 1/2 a pill in the am, and 1 1/2 in the pm. He has asked to start weaning off all meds completely, and I have an appointment in March to discuss that.

His tics were horrendous from the ages of 6 until about 10, when they slowly started to taper off. I rarely see one anymore (YAY!)

Anyway, I had found out when he was first diagnosed that some of the things he did as a toddler were early signs. He was always blinking. Constantly! To the point that I took him to the eye doctor.

As he got older, he would clear his throat constantly, grunt occassionally, but jerk his neck/head a LOT! It got so bad in the early stages of the diagnosis as we tried different medications for the ADD and OCD that just make the tics worse. He was getting teased in class for the head jerks and it became physically painful for him. It was heartbreaking. Many people wonder why he is on something like Wellbutrin for his ADD and OCD, but it was the only drug I could use that helped a little, and didn't aggravate the tics.

Now it appears that the tics have seemed to have gone away, I'm considering changing his medications completely as his OCD has gotten worse over the years.