7 Year Old Boy with ADHD

Both of my boys are on Tenex - the "older" version of Intuniv. I tried to get Intuniv, but my insurance will not pay for it and it is VERY expensive :(

Tenex works pretty well, but one of my boys (ADHD) uses it in conjunction with a stimulant (Adderall XR). My other son is bi polar so he cannot take stimulants. Also, make sure that your doctor is aware of all other meds your child takes as it can interfere with other meds (Clonodine is the first one that comes to mind)

I am currently fighting with the insurance company to get them to pay for the Intuniv. If it works even better than the Tenex (which isn't TOO bad), I will be very happy. Seems to do a good job of helping with focus - especially when it comes to school work.

Good luck!

** Edited: I didn't notice any side effects from the Tenex (probably largely the same for Intuniv). Both boys eat fine, haven't lost weight, are alert, etc. For comparison they are each on 2 mg a day (same dosing for both Tenex and Intuniv I believe) now - started out at 1/2 mg or 1 mg per day (depending on the kid).

I actually just learned what Intuniv was ... it's just a new name for Tenex, a blood pressure med. It's one of the first meds we tried with our son, who has ADHD. He was put on that when he was three due to severe behavioral problems (he was a danger to others) and the need to try really safe medication options. The idea was that it was supposed to calm him or make him sleepy. It didn't do either. What I hated about this med was that you can't just stop it immediately like normal ADHD meds if you don't like it ... it has to be tapered off. That took many weeks, so we lost a lot of time being able to help our son.

If your son has notable ADHD symptoms, I personally would try the real ADHD medications -- the stimulants. That's what really made "Wow, this is incredible" differences for our son. He currently takes Concerta, a long-acting form of Ritalin, and you wouldn't know he has ADHD when it's active. His ADHD is quite severe and medications have been life-changing.

Good luck!

From what I've heard of kids on meds, many people try several before they find one that works well for thier child. I do have one friend with an autistic son using this med but it didn't make a difference for him. Dr. Amen, who does brain spect scans, has interesting information on how he tells which sort of medication will help a person.

My close friend has a 9 year old with ADHD. They use a brand of Ritalin and it works good for him. I know they tried this med and told me they didn't like it but also they had a large co-pay for it. Not sure if that's also a concern.