Intuniv and extreme sleepiness

Reneemaull - posted on 10/19/2012

I also just put my 8 yr old daughter on Intuniv, the nurse at the doctor's office has a son on it and her advice was to give the pill just before bedtime. That way the child is already sleeping when the tiredness side effect is at it's climax. By morning she should be refreshed and ready to go. I'm only on day 1 though...

Laura - posted on 08/26/2012

My son in on intuniv 3mg, he was very sleepy as well, falling asleep in class. I researched the half life and peaks of the med and it peaks in about five hours. He now takes this at 3:30 in the afternoon and what a world of differnce this has made. No more falling asleep during the day and at bedtime the sleepiness kicks in and at bedtime he is ready for bed. During great at schoool now too.

Renee - posted on 04/06/2011

I have a student at school who was on that and he was sleeping all the time, so his mom took him off of it. I had never heard of it as mine take Ritalin and Adderall. He hasn't been as sleepy in class since he changed. I teach third grade, BTW.

LuvMyBella - posted on 04/06/2011

Thanks everyone! My Daughter cannot have stimulants. She also has NLD which is associated with depression. When my Daugther tried Concerta and Adderall (sorry spelling errors) she was so sad after only one or two days so her doctor decided to take her off stimulants and try the alpha agonist since they have the lowest risk of bring out depression in children who have a higher risk factor. Bella is such a happy, funny, playful girl who isn't depressed at all so if I can avoid that situation as long as possible I'm going to. Thank you all for your input.

Michelle - posted on 04/06/2011

My dr sugested we give it to him at night. It helps going to bed early and get up restfull

Karen - posted on 04/06/2011

When my son started taking Intuniv he was sleeping as well. He is now on 3mg every morning. It really works great with him. He is not sleepy like he first was. It took a good month for that side effect to go away. He has been on several different meds and I am most impressed with this one. But everyone's body chemistry is different, if you don't see the sleepiness side effect get better I would ask your doctor for something else.

Michelle - posted on 04/06/2011

My son began taking intuniv last december. It took about 1 month for him to get back to his normal slipping hrs. At the beginning he even pee on his sleep. I think the medicine is working great, Much better than ritallin.

Teri Lyn - posted on 04/05/2011

My step daughter is on intuniv... She was on it alone for awhile then they added concerta. When she started the intuniv she was a little sleepy. but it got better. Then she increased to 2mg then 3mg. With the 3mg she was too sleepy to the point she was falling asleep at school and it was not getting better. The took her back down to the 2mg and thats when they added the concerta. She is now not having any trouble with sleepiness. Our doc told us that she was not surprised of this side effect because in high dosages its used as a sedative. We are still working on finding the right meds and dosage.

LuvMyBella - posted on 04/05/2011

Hi Michelle, I will keep you updated :) please let me know how your Daughter is doing. I'm so sorry any of our kiddo's have to be on any medication but I'm grateful it's out there. Bella is only on Intunuv and I'm not sure when they will up it to the next MG but I know we were working toward giving it to her at night about two weeks after she started taking it to help with the tiredness. Take care and let me know how you are both doing.

Michelle - posted on 04/04/2011

If you find out maybe it will help me my daughter just started her and was so sleepy on day 1 of her 1mg and it just goes up every 7days till she reaches 3mg, she is also on Abilify and Depokote Im sure they play a part in it.