Post by kellyh on Jun 4, 2009 7:45:39 GMT -5
Megan is on 54mg of Concerta. Her psych also runs drug trials. Shire had one for Tenex that we were asked if we wanted to participate in. Knowing that tenex could help her sleep and possibly help with some behaviour, I signed us up quicker than you can blink.
It was a 10 week trial where we kept her on the Concerta and then started her on either 1mg/1mg (morning and night), 2mg/2mg, 3mg/3mg or 4mg/4mg. 1mg did squat. Which I knew it would because about a year and a half ago, we tried it briefly. And I just gave up on it back then (but being paid to do this again certainly helped our decision to try again...that and free doctor visits with her psych
). So the next week, we upped her to 2mg/2mg. That seemed to be working....so the next week, I upped her to 3mg/3mg. I liked that dose, too, but I really didn't find that it was doing much more than the 2 mg dose was, so the following week, I put her back down.
Our mornings were almost blissful! I'd get her up in the morning and she was in a GOOD mood! No surliness or sarcasm. It was wonderful!!! At night, she'd take the pills anywhere between 6 and 8ish as bedtime was 9. She used to be awake sometimes till 11 or so....now she was falling asleep by 9:30-10!!!! That extra one to two extra hours of sleep was HUGE!
It was a blissful 5 weeks (well, actually 7 if you include the first week at 2 and the next week at 3)....and then we titrated her down and off of it over the next two weeks. And our lives suck again. Mornings blow. She's NOT a nice morning person anymore...and we still have her on 2mg of guanfacine.
The clinic coordinator (after the trial was over), did reveal to me that one of the doses was a placebo, so she was really only getting 2mg a day. But we have no idea WHICH dose was which. So, the psych suggested that we take 1mg in the am and 1 mg at night. Well, since Megan has had SOLs these last 2 weeks, I didn't want to play around with possibly making her tired during the day, so we've been giving her the 2mg at night. She's not always falling asleep as easily as she was during the trial.
And let me tell you....by mid-afternoon, she's back to acting like she was before the trial...all fidgety and goofy and hyper. Great. That was another reason we put her on this...to see if that could help with that behaviour because I really don't want to up her dose to the 76 mg. Actually, she'd done SO well on the trial that the psych and I decided to reduce her dose of Concerta to 36 mg!!! Well...now I'm 2nd guessing THAT decision. I have to get the script filled today as she's only got one more pill left. I think we may as well give it a shot and I'll start giving her the 1mg pill in the am at night and in the am...but I think we're going to have to actually try the 2mg am/pm dose....
BUT, here's something else I was thinking about....does anyone think that it could be the guanfacine that's just not doing the same job that the Tenex was? I know that sometimes, it IS better to get the brand name...because although the generic drug has the same dose...it may not be formulated the same. I've read articles on this....so I'm wondering if this is maybe what's wrong. Anyone got any thoughts on this? Because even my oblivious husband has really noticed the change these last few weeks. So that means even the blind can see the difference!
It was a 10 week trial where we kept her on the Concerta and then started her on either 1mg/1mg (morning and night), 2mg/2mg, 3mg/3mg or 4mg/4mg. 1mg did squat. Which I knew it would because about a year and a half ago, we tried it briefly. And I just gave up on it back then (but being paid to do this again certainly helped our decision to try again...that and free doctor visits with her psych
). So the next week, we upped her to 2mg/2mg. That seemed to be working....so the next week, I upped her to 3mg/3mg. I liked that dose, too, but I really didn't find that it was doing much more than the 2 mg dose was, so the following week, I put her back down. Our mornings were almost blissful! I'd get her up in the morning and she was in a GOOD mood! No surliness or sarcasm. It was wonderful!!! At night, she'd take the pills anywhere between 6 and 8ish as bedtime was 9. She used to be awake sometimes till 11 or so....now she was falling asleep by 9:30-10!!!! That extra one to two extra hours of sleep was HUGE!
It was a blissful 5 weeks (well, actually 7 if you include the first week at 2 and the next week at 3)....and then we titrated her down and off of it over the next two weeks. And our lives suck again. Mornings blow. She's NOT a nice morning person anymore...and we still have her on 2mg of guanfacine.
The clinic coordinator (after the trial was over), did reveal to me that one of the doses was a placebo, so she was really only getting 2mg a day. But we have no idea WHICH dose was which. So, the psych suggested that we take 1mg in the am and 1 mg at night. Well, since Megan has had SOLs these last 2 weeks, I didn't want to play around with possibly making her tired during the day, so we've been giving her the 2mg at night. She's not always falling asleep as easily as she was during the trial.
And let me tell you....by mid-afternoon, she's back to acting like she was before the trial...all fidgety and goofy and hyper. Great. That was another reason we put her on this...to see if that could help with that behaviour because I really don't want to up her dose to the 76 mg. Actually, she'd done SO well on the trial that the psych and I decided to reduce her dose of Concerta to 36 mg!!! Well...now I'm 2nd guessing THAT decision. I have to get the script filled today as she's only got one more pill left. I think we may as well give it a shot and I'll start giving her the 1mg pill in the am at night and in the am...but I think we're going to have to actually try the 2mg am/pm dose....
BUT, here's something else I was thinking about....does anyone think that it could be the guanfacine that's just not doing the same job that the Tenex was? I know that sometimes, it IS better to get the brand name...because although the generic drug has the same dose...it may not be formulated the same. I've read articles on this....so I'm wondering if this is maybe what's wrong. Anyone got any thoughts on this? Because even my oblivious husband has really noticed the change these last few weeks. So that means even the blind can see the difference!
