Intuniv Er And Sleepy (Page 2) (Top voted first)

Hello there,
My son has been on Intuniv ER 1mg for four days. The Dr says give it time, but how much time he didnt say. My son takes it at 8am, and at 2pm each day he is tired. after a nap, still tired for the rest of the day. Anyone know how long this might last?
Thanks

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REPORT

I hear all of your struggles and everyone here has the best interest of their child in mind. My son was a normal happy very active youngster, and growing up myself with some dyslexia and ADHD (unmedicated)I did what I needed to do to provide him safe outlets and means to plug in. We did art therapies, horseback riding and lots of spacial athletics. I had the luxury and liberty of time being that we live on a large property and I am a work from home/ stay at home mom. All this changes in middle school when he developed severe depression. The odds now- of size and maturity- were in his favor. His reasoning skills were very developed but the rationale was extraordinarily skewed. A dangerous combination for a physically strong and irrationally stubborn young man. The aggressiveness is scary. And while I could understand that the feeling of always playing catch up- dyslexia- and fear of failure can be overwhelming to the point of depression; there was nothing I could do to break the cycle. As a threat to himself, he had to be medicated. And the trial and error period was terrible. But now he is stabilized to the point the we are implementing dietary changes and it is really working. We have gone gluten free and casin free and have begun- under strict monitoring- to reduce his medication needs. There is so much related to spectrum disorders and autoimmune that effect neurology. Our family has a history of Ulcerative Colitis and this is a genetic disorder but so many gene mutations present as autoimmune and go undiagnosed. Keep trying and do what works for your family. But don't rule out that dietary changes can have huge impact on your health. It's been worth the effort.

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I am not sure if t here are different forms of intiuniv. But it is a time released formual and you should not open it, cut it or crush it or it will go into your childs system all at once. be careful..ask your daughter about crushing it if you havn't already....also.my dr. switched my son to a morning dose from evening and for some reason this has made him less tired during the day.

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Hi. My daughter has been on Intuniv for about 9 months now and sleepiness is no longer an issue. It took her 2-3 weeks to get over the sleepiness. We had great success with switching the time of day we gave it to her. We tried morning, made her too sleepy. we tried night--made her too restless. We eventually went with 4pm and had no problems with this time. We have since increased her dosage and give her half in the am and half at 4pm without any noticable sleepiness increase. So I say give it at least 2-3 weeks, but also play around with the time you give it and see if evening or night helps. Good luck! (this medication has done WONDERS for my daughter, by the way, so I do recommend giving it a while to see if it works).

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The tiredness gets much better after the first three weeks.

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Thank you so much for sharing and your honesty. I am a special education teacher and also have a child with ADD and anxiety. You're right when you say that it isn't easy, but we try to do what is best for our children. Other people who don't have children with special needs really can't relate.

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It does help his concentration. He notices a difference to being on meds or not on meds. He's 9 and it's his choice as to whether he needs them or not. He also realised that it easmt working enough on 2mg so he asked to increase his dosage. That shows incredible maturity and understanding.

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Take it at night and it takes about 6 weeks to adjust

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The side effects from Intuniv can also get worse to some degree with time, with some emerging over the course of several weeks.

http://healthlifeandstuff.com/2009/09/intuniv-for-adhd-concerns-efficacy/

On the other hand, they can also subside as your body gets used to them.

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Hi, my five year old daughter has been on Intunive ER for a week and a half. The first six days she was exhausted everyday; wanting to go to bed for the night at 5pm. But the past few days the combativeness has come back...and she is WAY less tired...Anyone else have this? What should I expect next?

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Many medications have side effects that subside as the body gets used to it. Tired and slightly lethargic would be tolerable knowing that in the long run my daughter would be less agressive and would gain more self control. It is a trade-off I'd be willing to accept. We will be starting Intuniv next week

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UPDATE from my 10/10 post: My son has now been on the Intuniv for approx 3-1/2 months. His dosage was increased to 4mg a day (we did go thru a 2 week period where he refused to take the medication, but we are back on track now). The sleepiness does wear off, but it took my son approx 3 months for that to subside. Unfortunately, I do not see much of an improvement in his self control or impulsivity. I will give this more time as I do not want to give up too soon.
In response to "Karen" thank you for your words of encouragement. My son does not have ADHD, but was diagnosed with ADD and ODD. He was prescribed Cymbalta (for anxiety/depression) and after about 2 months has stopped taking that. That medication was in essence altering this kids personality and although his psychiatrist strongly disagrees, we have eliminated that medication for the time being. I will not give up hope.
In response to "worried", I agree with you about the lack of discipline in this society. Things have dramatically changed from when I grew up. You can thank the liberal mentality, media, schooling, etc for that. I will save my political views for another posting site. I can however assure you that I will not hesitate for a second to discipline my kids regardless of where we are (shopping, church, etc). I have a child that has as a few reputable doctors in my area have "diagnosed" him with - genetic mental issues inherited from his father. I will not just accept that and not have my child realize his full potential. Having my son on medication is a temporary situation and if his doctors cannot help him, then I will. I am a research freak when it comes to all of this terminology that has been attached to our children. I do not believe lifelong medication is the answer and you can bet that I will see to that, as far as my son is concerned. Where there is a will there is a way. Will try to update in the next month or two with any potential results....

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Cndy rains, your son and mine are similar in that my son is a stress eater as well - he will eat whatever he can get his hands on. He is slightly overweight and as stated in my previous posts was diagnosed with ADD and anxiety, depression, (and ODD). I don't really see the depression part - I see self induced stress and worry mostly. My advice (and I am no doctor of course) but I would give it some time - my son acts the same as yours in school and he is currently taking 4mg a day. The docs appear to start off on small dosages and then increase accordingly until they think it is working. It took my son approx 3 months for the sleepiness to subside and as stated, although some have had success. With this time released med, so far I have not seen improvement...I too will give it a decent run before I have him stop. Will keep posting just in case it helps anyone with similar situations.

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Marisa my son is 7 and wears 46 pounds, he was on vyvanse and countiued to have aggressive problems in school. The Dr. has prescribed intuniv at night what time do you give it to your child?

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I am seeing the same listless, drunken-like behavior in my daughter. Iw as told the sleepiness wears off. But I don't know if I have the patience to wait. I will try the night time administration. But since she gets sleepy about 3 hours after she takes it, she's getting it early.

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My son started 1 mg a week ago and is the same--listless and just seems drunk (or drugged). He typically sleeps at least 3 hours mid-day and then goes to bed at night normally (8pm) and wakes up around 6 or 7. He doesn't really want to play or go outside or do much of anything. I hate it! Has anyone ever tried giving .5 mg? I'm supposed to move him up to 2 mg tonight but forget it. I'm definitely not doing that!

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My seven year old is on 3mg. I'm thinking about tapering down to discontinue. He is so moody simply because he is so tired. He comes home school like a zombie. I'm just seeing more problems with medicine, not sure if this is the right decision.

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My son is on day 8 of 1mg intuniv & all behaviors r still present- aggression,hyper,fidegty,poor focus,& this is usually more at school but he is even now nasty at home. He seems more tired & not as social at home.dr said wait another week & stay on1mg.is this normal?

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intuniv does not make the person depressed, just sleepy, all it is, is blood pressure meds and im not even into meds

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I am a parent who is struggling to help my child. My child was a happy, well behaved child until his father (without my consent) took him in for "behavioral problems". He has been on Intuniv and now Methylin and gets in more trouble in school and is not my same little boy. The court said he needs to take the meds so now I can't protect my child. He doesn't need any medical help and is getting worse by the day so I DO know what it is like to try and help your child... Children with ADHD have different wiring, I get that. Not until they receive an EEG will I acknowledge that. Psychiatry is not science and if you look at the DSM IV, anybody could be diagnosed with anything based on the symptoms. My family has extensive medical background so I am not just stating my opinion. I'm just only on this forum to warn parents of the long term dangers of these types of medicines. Question, how did your mother focus enough to obtain all those degrees and raise a family? Was that before or after her medication?

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Thank you for your reply. Good luck to you with your child and I am glad your mother is doing well!

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