INTUNIV Reviews (GUANFACINE HYDROCHLORIDE)Average Rating: 2.1 (38 Ratings)Filter ResultsCompare INTUNIV with similar:
Type: Rx Drug
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Results are sorted by Date added. Key to Ratings: 1=LOW (I would not recommend taking this medicine.) Page: 1 2 |
More on INTUNIV: Reviews Summary | Drug Safety Information
| RATING | REASON | SIDE EFFECTS FOR INTUNIV | COMMENTS | SEX | AGE | DURATION/ DOSAGE | DATE ADDED |
| 1 | ADHD | Sedation. Unable to function. Glassy eyes. | Unless desiring a zombie this is useless. When not sleeping my daughter was either curled up on the floor with her head down or sitting listlessly on the couch with no reaction to anything around her. What little talking she did was done in a very slow quiet monotone. The only thing this medicine accomplished was making me check vitals non stop | F | 5 | 1 days 1mg | 11/4/2015 | 2 | ADHD | Double vision, Dizziness, Fainting, Racing & Obsessive thoughts, Anxiety, Insomnia, Fidgety, Irritable | M | 24 | 2 weeks 1 1X day | 11/19/2014 | 4 | ADHD, anxiety, OCD | Sleepy, not aggressive in sports (not a problem before), seems less coordinated. | My son cannot tolerate stimulants due to his anxiety, so we tried Intuniv to help with impulse control. It was getting to be a safety issue. It has helped him socially - less arguments with classmates. We tried taking him off over the summer, but he really needs the impulse control. Sports are very difficult: he is now timid and acts as if he does not care. | M | 8 | 15 months 2mg 1X day | 11/16/2014 | 5 | adhd/tourettes | First two weeks he was sleeping all,the time and aggressive. We stuck it out and his tics were gone and was more focused for about 2 months. We will be asking for a higher dose but has really worked wonders for us. | M | 9 | 1 days 2mg | 9/20/2014 | 1 | ADHD | My daughter has been taking an ADHD stimulant since the 3rd grade. Our pediatrician recommended adding Intuniv. I feel like the drug ruined her life in just 3 weeks. She had never had a nightmare until then. We didn't realize they were linked to the drug, or we would have stopped sooner. At 15 she began fearing the dark, couldn't be alone, saw monsters, was absolutely terrified! She could barely go to school, and her grades fell apart. She dropped off the cheer team. Even after stopping the drug the symptoms didn't go away. Biofeedback helped, but it's been 2.5 years, and she's never been the same. She doesn't go anywhere, only has one friend - the friend has to come to our house, and she has gained 90 pounds. My heart breaks as a parent. I shouldn't have said yes to trying this medication. | F | 15 | 3 weeks 1 to 4 mg | 7/26/2014 | 3 | ADHD | Extreme Drowsiness Mood Swings Irritability Swings between Increased and Decreased Appetite | Doesnt really help with ADHD when im not tired from it. I think I still seem kind of annoying to my friends with or without it. I end up falling asleep in my first class after lunch almost everyday. I'm thnking about secretly going off it, its that bad. | M | 15 | 2.5 years 4MG 1X day | 3/2/2013 | 3 | ADHD/ADD | Tinnitus, Fatigue, Extreme sleepiness, Mood swings, and nerves. | F | 14 | 9 months 15mg | 10/25/2012 | 2 | Adhd | Tinnitus | M | 10 | 1 weeks | 5/28/2012 | 4 | ADHD | tired at first. Some grimacing. | had PK son on guanfacine (tenex) for 1 year. Trying intuniv to decrease need for sleep. With guanfacine, my son needed 1-2 more hours of sleep a day and a long nap (3+ hours) was necessary. Good news with intuniv: he needs less sleep and the results seem better. Less squealing and screaming. Teachers have reported more affect (facial expression) than when he was on the same amount of guanfacine. One problem: intunive cannot be taken with fatty foods. As a PK kid who is thin, that's about all he eats. Can be a pain to find a time without a fatty snack. | M | 6 | 3 weeks 3 mg 1X day | 4/28/2012 | 3 | ADHD | Drowsiness, some irritability, some dizzyness | My daughter has ADHD, anxiety and mild OCD. With intuniv her extreme ADHD symptoms have improved. She is now making straight A's, maintaining friendships, and is overall easier to get along with. Intuniv causes her to get sleepy so she takes it at night along with 20 mg celexa for the comorbid anxiety condition. Without the celexa she is pretty irritable and anxious. Intuniv has worked better for her than adderall or concerta, but this is something she will be dealing with her whole life and I wish there was a complete cure. | F | 16 | 1 years 3mg 1X day | 10/10/2011 | 1 | ADHD/Agressive behaviors | Paranoia, Hallucinations, Nightmares, Fatigue, Irritability, Aggression, Foul Language | This medication was an absolute nightmare for my son. He refused to do his schoolwork and was sleeping for half of the school day even though he was going to bed at a reasonable time. He suddenly became afraid of the dark and refused to be alone for even the shortest amount of time. He woke up terrified from a vivid nightmare on the second day and had to sleep with us, which has not happened in years. He told me he heard noises and saw monsters all of the time, and this has NEVER been an issue with him. We were told to wait it out, that the side effects would go away, and changed the dosing time to early evenings instead of mornings. He was sent home from school for defiance and aggression and we implored his doctor to let us stop the medication at that point. He has been off of it for 2 day now, and while waiting to start a new medication over the weekend so we can closely monitor for any side effects, he has become so hyper and aggressive-10x worse than before the medication-that I feel Intuniv has caused some serious damage in the short time he was on it. I really hope I am wrong. | M | 6 | 2 weeks 1mg 1X day | 4/8/2011 | 2 | ADD, anxiety, OCD | weight gain, lethargy, lack of motivation, fatigue | this med made my son zombie-like & I didn't know how badly until nearly a year later. He is a wrestler & his coach thought he didn't want to do the sport any longer, because of his zombie-like behavior during practice, lack of effort during matches, slow reaction time, etc. He was also falling asleep in school for months. A teacher who liked him let him sneak iced coffee to get through the day. Doc kept saying give it time, try different dosing, etc. Off of Intuniv he dropped 10 lbs. (on a 4' 8" frame), and is a fantastic wrestler (quick, balanced, aggressive, etc.). It's like a whole different person. The point is not about wrestling. it's about the embarrassment he suffered while on the med, with fat on him, getting teased for sleeping during class (laid under a desk once & got a detention), for losing all the time, etc. Sure, he was more subdued and did have fewer compulsions while on the med. But his good feelings about succeeding at something are outweighing the benefit of being more subdued at school. If you go on it, watch closely and if you don't like what you're observing, don't wait to get off of it. | M | 14 | 5 months 30 1X day | 1/26/2011 | 3 | ADD/Anxiety/Concentration | Irritability-- and how. Surprised family and friends didn't gang up and beat me up. Helped sleep initially, then screwed it up. Tired, lack of energy. Had some minor stomach problems while taking--some pain, some constipation, some slight diarrhea--but not sure attributable because no consistent symptom. | Took concurrently with Adderall. My Dr. had me phase on very slowly. While phasing up to 4 mg, I felt it had positive effects. My ability to go to sleep on a close to regular schedule improved and I felt less "driven" to do everything. Then after I had been on the full dose a while, the irritability started, trouble going to sleep until very late at night--4am late--and didn't want to wake up and had little drive or energy in the day. Next time I see my Dr. I am going to discuss phasing down the dose and see if the positive effects return. Might be worth a careful try for someone who has tried other things without satisfactory results. Will update this review (which I'll call the "Early Take") in the future. | M | 49 | 10 weeks 4mg 1X day | 12/19/2010 | 3 | ADHD | Dizziness especially after laying down for a bit. Mostly gone after one month but comes back when i was trying to go off and get bac on. I tried going back on this drug after a brief hiatus at full strength and it knocked my socks off so definitely cycle on. | I also take adderall and I am using this drug as a way to go off. So far works much better especially oas I lower the adderall. I hope it works as well when Im off. | M | 41 | 5 months 4mg 1X day | 12/12/2010 | 1 | Anxiety / ADD | Loss of appetite and "constipation" -- which would be better described as severe medically dangerous intestinal blockage. No reduction in anxiety. | My doctor started me on a trial of Intuniv since it can both enhance concentration and help with anxiety (a rare combo). I had recently come off Buspar so I was expecting dizziness and other mental side effects and was quite happy to have none. Even better -- I got the side effect of appetite suppression (I need to lose weight). However -- in the time I was on it there was no reduction in anxiety whatsoever (there should have been rather quickly). I ramped up to 3mg too quickly -- a huge mistake. The instructions say that it may cause constipation -- which sounds like a mildly embarrassing problem that you don't discuss and is no big deal. I want to make it very clear that this was dangerous. Without warning I found myself spending a very unpleasant hour in the bathroom at work wholly unable to pass stool without DIGGING it out... It was so large and hard as to be totally unnatural. I say this not to be disgusting but because I want this dangerous side effect paid attention to. If you take this drug, ramp-up very slowly and take stool softener for the first few weeks until you know your side effects! I honestly thought I had a humiliating ER trip in store for me. I'm never using Intuniv again. | M | 41 | 8 days 1X day | 11/17/2010 | 4 | Dtr:now 12 mixed inattentive ADD | This is an update from post in May 2010. Only Intuniv on board. None @ 1mg. 2 was too much; sleeping every afternoon after school, too tired for homework. Would not consider adding a short-term afternoon stim so went bk down to 1 mg. | Has done a nice job w/ the anxiety and inhibition variables. Tolerance for homework and all things in general continues to increase. She is such a smart and funny girl and it is SO good to see her stepping out of her shell more and more! I definately see an upturn in length of processing time and attention span for lengthy assignments. Grades are getting slowly better insofar as the test taking anxiety is down; study time is up; homework tolerance is up; general mood is up. She's doing a bit more work independently and I believe that trend will continue. A lot less drama; seems more comfortable in her own skin and reports being "more relaxed" and "happy" with this med. @ present dose. Overall, very pleased :-) . | F | 12 | 4 months 1mg 1X day | 9/4/2010 | 1 | Bipolar 1 | Extreme exhaustion. Sleeping 14 plus hours each night, plus taking 2 to 4 hour afternoon naps. Muscles felt like lead. | Went up to 2mg on the 8th day, and was barely able to stay awake for 4 hours. Couldn't think straight at work, and was falling asleep at my desk. Had to quit because the exhaustion was so extreme. I am told that the usual dose for a child is 3 to 4mg. | F | 38 | 8 days 1mg 1X day | 6/28/2010 | 4 | ADD/mixed/11 y/o female | (Profile:for dtr w/ "ADD/inattentive type" Is very quiet yet stubborn and resistive; not a "behavior" problem in the least; scarey saw-tooth grade pattern; not outgoing/shy; prefers to be "invisible") No significant side effects at all. Brief afternoon tiredness which cleared up after day 3. Initially taking 5mg Focalin only (6 mo), but eventually felt that comorbid high Anxiety should be looked at, as emotional unrest is a huge processor-hog; and did not want to go thru the worse crap-shoot of antianxiety meds at her age. Felt that a light "blanket" on the CNS would be best route. Dtr is tactile defensive, has elevated reflexes, very low sensory thresholds ergo very distracted...is generally a little rubber band wad. 1mg Intuniv has somewhat decreased her levels of tactile intolerance and has improved general "state" with more humor, and less resistance to all things in general. It's no miracle, mind you, but change has been observable | F | 12 | 2 months 1 mg 1X day | 5/29/2010 |