Posted by Elizabeth on October 15, 2001, at 9:56:17
In reply to Re: clonidine and stimulants » Elizabeth, posted by MB on October 14, 2001, at 15:00:07
> Yeah, I hear ya. I think they should really know for sure what the risks are (within reason, of course; you can't be 100% exhaustive) before they try stuff on kids...so I'd like to see some research being done on this too.
I agree. There has been quite a bit of research showing that stimulants are safe for kids to use, but little into clonidine or the combination of stimulants and clonidine.
> There probably just isn't any money to be made in setting up a big double-blind, controlled experiment on meds that are already approved (is there? I can't think of any).
I suspect that the drug companies could cut some type of deal with the federal government whereby they would get the patent extended if they did research on the drug's use in kids. This doesn't work too well with drugs such as clonidine (and, I *think*, guanfacine (Tenex)) which are already off-patent. Perhaps some drug house will come up with a "me too" drug, test it in children (with incentives from the govt.), and market it as the only alpha-adrenergic autoreceptor agonist that's proven safe in kids (hopefully including some research on mixing it with stimulants, too).
One thing I can say for sure: the combination works like a charm, especially for kids with behavior problems related to ADHD, and clonidine alleviates some of the side effects of stimulants (such as appetite suppression and insomnia). I'm less convinced about clonidine by itself: I think a lot of doctors want to try it before stimulants because it's not a controlled substance, even though stimulants are proven to be effective and better tolerated, and their safety in children is well-documented too.
One example of a safety issue: if a kid misses a dose of Ritalin, at worst he'll get into some trouble at school and maybe be a hassle for his teacher. If he misses a dose of clonidine, he could have dangerous rebound hypertension.
-elizabeth
poster:Elizabeth
thread:80969
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011015/msgs/81332.html