Thinking of switching my son from Strattera to Intuniv.

Florence - posted on 08/21/2012

Did your son have any side effects with the strattera? my 9 year has been taking it for 15 days and says he feels annoyed with people around him. wondering is this will go away or get worse, he is about to start the 40mg pill.

Victoria - posted on 06/21/2012

Every child is different. My child has Asperger's, ADHD, ODD, & Mood Disorder. The Intuniv did NOT work for him. It was like taking a sugar pill. On top of that, he developed a bulge in his abdomen from it. The doctor kept trying to put him back on it, but we refused to do it as obviously, his body did not like it. However, what may not work for one child, may work for another. It is always trial & error. As for chewing, there are some necklaces & things out that are specially made for children to chew on.

Pilar - posted on 05/22/2012

My daughter Mya is 10. She takes Intuniv for ADHD (1 wh. pill) in applesause every am. It lasts til 4pm. She is able to focus and stay on task during school. and has few meltdowns. She is small for her age also at 65lbs and is 4'6 3'/4". She also has OCD which she takes Sertraline. She has been on both since sept of 2011. The only side effect has been decreased appetite and tiresome. She has finally been dx with Aspergers and has Anxiety Disorder. She was dx with Epilepsy at 3yrs old but has been seizure free for 5 yrs.

Linda - posted on 05/18/2012

Hey ladies! My Andrew used to be a chewer as well. He would chew his t-shirts right below the neck and a few sleeves. I was an expert patcher! Chewing goes along with the Sensory Processing Disorder that a lot kids with AS have. For more information you can read "The Out of Sync Child". There are chewy things they make for kids who do this to hopefully prevent chewing clothes (and our pocketbooks). Andrew luckily out grew this. Our OT tried having him chew gum (he hated it), and they tried these rubber band things you put around your wrist to keep a key on (also didn't work). Good luck!

Kimberley - posted on 05/17/2012

I have always contributed to an ocd thing. I have never really had it looked into, there always seems to be bigger fish to fry at DR appointments. But yes from my research and laymen understanding of ocd it would be. OCD is more or less any uncontrollable compulsions. There are the examples that every one knows about like repeated washing of hands and having to do things a certain number of times. But it also includes things like the need to always have your toys lined up in a train, over neatness, and things like chewing. From what I have observed with my son he is unware that he is doing and it the likely hood of him doing increase with the amount of stress he seems to be under at the time. All that being said i am not sure if a dr would consider it OCD but after buying 5x the number a shirts that average parents buys for their kids and discovering the meds prescribed for adhd seem to control it and knowing that a lot of the same meds are used for ocd and adhd i willling to go with my laymen theory. Also bare in mid I am presently looking for a a new DR for my son because mine seems to be out of touch when it comes to spectrum disorders so i may very well end up finding out the chewing is something else.

Katherine - posted on 05/17/2012

My daughter is NOT on the spectrum but chews things. She chewed through her glasses, shirts, headbands and ponies :/ What is that? An OCD?

Kimberley - posted on 05/17/2012

i do not know but it did seem to work for him but i will say this by the time we switched to it he was mostly being medicated for his obsessive chewing. ok let me make that a little more clear. His Dr was still medicating for ADHD, the only reason I left him on medications was the impulse to chew. He is now 10 and was chewing through everything. He would chew a collar off a shirt in 20 mins and had no idea he was doing it. My son did not like this so I decided i would leave him on it. I guess what i am saying is it did control his compulsions and his behavior stayed about the same. Looking back though when he first went on medications i was not as aware of AS and all the possible thinks that could be going on. Both medications will work to control compulsions which is where a lot of his behavior problems stemed from. So I guess in all honesty my opinion on the drug is colored by this. It is possible that drug works well for ocd type problems more so then adhd or other behavior problems which may be why we had such a good out come. :)

Katherine - posted on 05/17/2012

Kimberley, you are the FIRST mom to have a positive opinion about Intuniv. Everyone else has had nothing but problems. Maybe it just depends on the kid?

Kimberley - posted on 05/17/2012

I personally liked Intuniv. My son was originally mis diagnosed with adhd we now know he has apsergers. Any way he was on a controlled substance can not remember the name at the moment for 3 years. Did not gain any way weight and was very tiny. So two years ago I told the doctor i wanted to take him off of the meds and i would learn to deal with the behavior. He suggested the intuniv. He said it would not suppress his appetite. I was very impressed with this drug. My son gained weight and was back to normal on the growth chart and his behavior was about the same as with the other medications. One of the added benefits was one of the side affects is when it is wearing off at the end of the day it makes them tired. My son always has had problems with sleeping and had in the past had to be on meds for sleeping on the intuniv he was able to go off of the sleep meds. This summer we are going to enter the brave new world of meds and see what happens. He has matured a lot over the last few years and we have decided to try and see how he does with no meds. If it works great if not we will go back on them. But I have faith it will work. fingers crossed.

Linda - posted on 05/17/2012

Actually, read up on it and decided not to switch because it's another one of those pills that has to be swallowed whole. Might as well stay with what works as I know how to work around it with the Strattera. Thansk though!

Katherine - posted on 05/15/2012

NO!!!! Intuniv causes behavioral issues. I've heard it from every mom who's child is on it. For some reason it's just one of those "bad" meds. I would suggest you don't. Just my opinion.