Intuniv: ADHD Medication for Kids

About Intuniv: Larry Silver, M.D., the author of Dr. Larry Silver's Advice to Parents on AD/HD explained that Intuniv is an "extended-release formulation of the high-blood pressure medication guanfacine (sold for hypertension under the brand name Tenex)." According to Dr. Silver, in the past Intuniv was prescribed "off-label" to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children. Read Dr. Silver's expert opinion on prescribing Intuniv to treat ADHD.

Patient Information: Intuniv may not be effective for children under the ages of 6, adults, or after nine weeks of use.

According to Intinuv's patient information sheet, you should notify your doctor if you:

• have heart problems or a low heart rate

• have fainted

• have low blood pressure

• have liver or kidney problems

• have any other medical conditions

• are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

• are breast-feeding or plan to breast-feed.

How to Take Intuniv

• Intuniv should be taken 1 time a day.

• Intuniv should be swallowed whole with a small amount of water, milk, or other liquid.

• Do not take Intuniv with a high-fat meal.

Side Effects of Intuniv Include:

• low blood pressure

• low heart rate

• fainting

• sleepiness

• tiredness

• drowsiness

The most common side effects of Intuniv include: • sleepiness

• drowsiness

• low blood pressure

• headache

• nausea

• stomach pain

• dry mouth

• dizziness

• irritability

• constipation

• not hungry (decreased appetite)

You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.

Head to the ADDitude forums to read reviews of Intuniv and to discuss side effects.

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ADHD Medication and Co-Existing Conditions

When it comes to ADD/ADHD, it is relatively rare that people just have the one condition. It is very common that people have 2 or even 3 conditions.

What else comes with ADD/ADHD?
It is very common for people to have the following conditions in addition to ADD/ADHD:

DepressionAnxietyBehavior DisordersLearning DisabilitiesTic disordersand more…

When doctors are prescribing medication for ADD/ADHD, they may not account for the co-existing condition. Sometimes, the ADD/ADHD medication may impact on the other condition, or vice-versa – i.e. the medication for the other condition (i.e. anxiety) impacts the ADD/ADHD. It is important to understand the nature of this relationship.

This post contains the audio from an interview that I did with Jennifer Koretsky for the Virtual ADHD Conference 2010. In it, I share some facts about ADD/ADHD and co-existing conditions. And, I also encourage you to join us for the conference – where I will spend an hour teaching on this concept, and there will be a lot of other ADD/ADHD experts to help you to find answers to your biggest issues, and learn more about many aspects of this challenging condition. The Virtual ADHD Conference is on October 4, 5 and 6 2010.

Here’s the interview: ADHD Medication and Co-existing Conditions By: Dr. Kenny Handelman

Please note – in standard medical terminology – the term for this is: Comorbidity. In other words, a doctor may say: “he has ADHD and comorbid Depression”. It’s my feeling that people with ADD/ADHD have to deal with so much negativity a lot of the time, that I generally use the term: Co-existing rather than comorbid. Just my preference

A Bribe To Consider Joining the ADHD Virtual Conference:
Is it wrong to bribe you to consider joining the ADHD Virtual Conference?
From my perspective, if you are considering joining, I want to give you a bonus – or a reason why to join today. If you feel that the conference isn’t for you, then this ‘bribe’ won’t impact you, and you won’t mind anyway, right?

To help to motivate you – especially since it is August – I’ll give a bonus to anyone who signs up before the end of August 2010. So – to qualify for the bonus, you’ll need to sign up before midnight on August 31, 2010.

What will the bonus be?
I’ve been thinking about what I can do to help you after the ADHD Virtual Conference. This conference will host a lot of great ADHD experts, and you may be inundated with information.
What you may need, after a conference like this, is the opportunity to ask questions about how to personalize the information to suit your personal situation or circumstances.
To help you with that – if you sign up from this blog (or my email list), I will host a question and answer call. I anticipate this will be a small group call, which will allow you to ask your questions of me directly. And different than many of the other question and answer calls I’ve done in the past, this one will be with an ‘open telephone line’. That will allow you to talk directly with me, and we can explore your issues in a discussion.
The date for the call will be chosen in early October. It will be one weeknight (i.e. Monday through Thursday) at 9 pm eastern time. There will only be one time and date for the call. If you can’t attend the call live, you can forward detailed question(s), which I’ll answer and you can listen to the recording. And if you attend live, I’ll chat directly with you.
The call will go for approximately 1 hour (or less or more depending on how many questions there are).
How many people will be on this call? If past experience is a measure, it will likely be a small group. This is a great opportunity for you to have a discussion with me, so that I can bring all of my experience and knowledge of ADD/ADHD to help you out in a small, personal setting.

Here’s what to do now:
If you feel like the ADHD Virtual Conference would be of benefit to you, and you’d like the opportunity to have a small group question and answer call with me (to discuss your personal questions or situation), then follow these steps:

Visit the ADHD Virtual Conference website and register for itForward your receipt email to our email support team: support@theadhddoctor.comWait for the announcement of the special, exclusive Q and A call with Dr. Kenny Handelman. You’ll find out the date in early October 2010, and the call will be in late October 2010, on a weeknight, 9 pm Eastern time. There will only be one option available for the Q and A call, and you can attend live for an ‘open telephone’ conference call to ask your questions, or submit your questions via email to get answers and help for your specific situation.

As a disclaimer, our company receives a small referral fee for sending you to the virtual conference through our link. However, we are encouraging you to participate because we believe that you’ll get great value out of the virtual conference, if you decide to participate.

I hope you’ll join me for the ADHD Virtual Conference!

Best,

Dr. Kenny

p.s. remember – this bonus is only valid for sales which are made before August 31st, 2010 at midnight.
p.p.s. if you’ve already purchased this conference through my blog or email list, you get this bonus already . You just need to forward us the email receipt so that we can put you on the ‘bonus list’

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Overcoming Medication Reluctance

My son was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder last summer. His kindergarten teacher, who was wonderful, urged us to have him officially diagnosed so that the school would be obligated to accommodate him in first grade and beyond.

I was reluctant to start giving him the medication, but after the first two weeks of school it became clear that we had to. His first grade teacher was inexperienced and insecure, and seemed to see his ADHD behavior as a deliberate challenge to her authority. And there was no question that he was having trouble concentrating, especially as the length of his school day had essentially doubled from the length it had been in kindergarten.

When I approached Lawrence with his first dose, I found that I was more ambivalent about the medicine than he was. He accepted it without any problem, and told us that he helped him to focus. He even wanted to take his medication on the weekend, because he said he liked feeling calm. I was only inclined to give it to him if he was going to a birthday party or had a playdate, or we had to work on a project for school. I kind of missed some of the goofy, crazy aspects of his personality. But he asked to take it on the weekend fairly frequently.

I was thrilled. I had been anticipating some resistance from him, as it's fairly common for children to balk at taking medication. But we went through the whole school year with him taking his medication before school and at lunchtime without a murmur.

I should have known it was too good to last. As I approached him with his medication on the first day of camp in June, here is what happened:

"Okay, honey, time to take your medicine."

"I don't want to take it."

Wait. What?

"Um...why not?"

"I just don't want to."

"Has something changed? Why don't you want to take it all of a sudden?"

"I just don't want to."

Aaarrrghh.

I finally told him that he didn't have to take it in the summer, unless I started hearing from the counselors about problems. He readily agreed, which should have made me suspicious.

During the first camp he went to, we didn't have any problems. It was a pretty active camp - swimming, hiking, etc., so it was a good fit for him. Then he started the second camp. The program was three hours of science in the morning, and then after lunch the kids went to a place called Athletic Playground, where they learned gymnastics and also circus activities. The circus activities included some aerial moves that required quiet from the onlookers and the total concentration of the teacher on the student who was performing at that moment.

I heard on the fourth day from the camp director that Lawrence had actually been sitting on the sidelines most of the week because he was so disruptive that neither the teacher nor the other students could concentrate, and of course, this created a potentially dangerous situation with the aerial activities.

I told Lawrence that he had to start taking his medication again, because it just didn't make sense for him to sit on the sidelines all afternoon, and he was missing out on an activity that he really enjoyed.

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