• Welcome to Autism Forums, a friendly forum to discuss Aspergers Syndrome, Autism, High Functioning Autism and related conditions.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Private Member only forums for more serious discussions that you may wish to not have guests or search engines access to.
    • Your very own blog. Write about anything you like on your own individual blog.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon! Please also check us out @ https://www.twitter.com/aspiescentral

New to the site..

Hello everyone,

I have a 3 year 3 month old daughter that's been recently diagnosed as autistic. I'm very new to this and joined the forum to connect with other's in the same situation.

I guess I can start by explaining my daughters symptoms. My daughter Lucy hasn't progressed as most kids do. She can't speak. Although she's very enthusiastic. Has trouble maintaining eye contact. Has many "tics" including chewing, playing with the tip of her nose, clapping, ect. She has a lot of confidence issues around walking and falling. Has alot of anxiety so she's chews her nails.

This has all been evaluated by a behavioral specialist. We've had both physical and speech therapy at the home also.

So the official diagnosis came a few days ago. With that a prescription for .1 mg Clonidine as well as 1mg of melatonin was recommended nightly for sleep.

I looked into Clonidine briefly and it has many uses as well as some not so great side effects.

So I have many questions and didn't know where else to go or whom to ask.

Are any of your kids taking this combination? If so, does it help sleeping at night? Any negative effects?

Anyways..I apologize for being both long winded and all over the place. I thank you in advance for any advice you can provide.

Very nice to meet you all!
 
1675905434841.png
 
Hello. May I ask does your child have hyperactivity issues as well? Our youngest 10 year old has Autism, but the .1 mg of clonidine is given him for his ADHD condition, as otherwise he nonstop will mostly prefer to run throughout the home, go from place to place, climb on things, chew on hard toy objects, do other damage throughout the home with his hands, etc. This med causes him some drowsiness about two to three hours after taking it in the morning, and him wanting to take a nap a bit later than that, that he otherwise would not take, and one of those pills at nighttime too or else he would flounder trying to fall asleep and in the middle of the night when awakens.

Clonidine .1mg was prescribed for him a few years ago for him. It's an off use med for ADHD, which we feel is likely safer than the stimulants which we would not consider anyway, even though he is likely eligible for such now based on age and weight. With regards to any other side effects, we are not sure as he is still mostly nonverbal, but has ability to speak on rarer occasion up to two to three words spontaneously or from question.. His speech and clearness is mostly at a year to eighteen month old level though, mainly wanting to speak briefly to name objects or actions, or to echo.

With regards to walking, he seemed to jump over that stage, as from around age one he went from crawling to running, as he seemed to either fear walking or because of his hyperactivity then needed to run throughout the home instead. I cannot remember him having the ability to walk until age five or so when he could stand for long duration or walk more than a few steps. The rest of the time before that he ran. Physically he appears more like a five year old, based on facial features, and as he is short in size, but his weight is appropriate based on that. He has to get his powder vitamins mixed in with his yogurt, as his diet is extremely limited because of his Autism and severe sensory issues, if not also dysphagia.
 
Last edited:
Hello. May I ask does your child have hyperactivity issues as well? Our youngest 10 year old has Autism, but the .1 mg of clonidine is given him for his ADHD condition, as otherwise he nonstop will mostly prefer to run throughout the home, go from place to place, climb on things, chew on hard toy objects, do other damage throughout the home with his hands, etc. This med causes him some drowsiness about two to three hours after taking it in the morning, and him wanting to take a nap a bit later than that, that he otherwise would not take, and one of those pills at nighttime too or else he would flounder trying to fall asleep and in the middle of the night when awakens.

Clonidine .1mg was prescribed for him a few years ago for him. It's an off use med for ADHD, which we feel is likely safer than the stimulants which we would not consider anyway, even though he is likely eligible for such now based on age and weight. With regards to any other side effects, we are not sure as he is still mostly nonverbal, but has ability to speak on rarer occasion up to two to three words spontaneously or from question.. His speech and clearness is mostly at a year to eighteen month old level though, mainly wanting to speak briefly to name objects or actions, or to echo.

With regards to walking, he seemed to jump over that stage, as from around age one he went from crawling to running, as he seemed to either fear walking or because of his hyperactivity then needed to run throughout the home instead. I cannot remember him having the ability to walk until age five or so when he could stand for long duration or walk more than a few steps. The rest of the time before that he ran. Physically he appears more like a five year old, based on facial features, and as he is short in size, but his weight is appropriate based on that. He has to get his powder vitamins mixed in with his yogurt, as his diet is extremely limited because of his Autism and severe sensory issues, if not also dysphagia.
In regards to the Clonidine she was prescribed that because she has problems not sleeping throughout the night. I was unsure about it's side effects or dependence issues in the future.

Her walking issues have to due with the eye condition she has. I forget the technical term but her eyes never straightened. We have to patch one of her eyes four hours a day and she wears glasses also. I believe, this makes it even more challenging for her.

Thank you for taking the time to reply 1forall!
 
In regards to the Clonidine she was prescribed that because she has problems not sleeping throughout the night. I was unsure about it's side effects or dependence issues in the future.

Her walking issues have to due with the eye condition she has. I forget the technical term but her eyes never straightened. We have to patch one of her eyes four hours a day and she wears glasses also. I believe, this makes it even more challenging for her.

Thank you for taking the time to reply 1forall!

That makes sense, yes. I mean clonidine does work for sleep too. Without that son taking it, we parents got/get little sleep because of his severe difficulties falling asleep and after awakening in the middle of his sleep. That medication is supposed to lower blood pressure also, so your doctor did put her on a low dose. Our son was as high as .1mg four times a day but we had to reduce that to two times a day as he had more meltdowns on the higher amount which defeated the purpose of taking that med. I am not sure about dependency or future side effects. I just when we increased the dosage and later reduced it, both with with doctor's permission, the doctor advised do not do it abruptly, but gradually, giving us instructions there.

His doctor said too big of such a change suddenly can shock his system, creating at least minimal risk for the heart, etc. So, be careful, and monitor her blood pressure too regularly if she allows it. That is the tricky part though for our son. Very touch sensitive and afraid of such things, and with other sensory issues as well. He won't tolerate most tests. Also, very sorry to hear about your daughter's eye and walking difficulties. That sounds really hard for you all to have to go through that. I hope things will improve there. During difficulties with each of our children we tried to focus more on our efforts and just doing our best, without lowering expectations, but not elevating them at too high of level. I mean, each child will have their own unique desires, needs, abilities, and limitations, temporary or static for the latter. We focus on those obviously, and any accommodations needed to tailor to that/those too..

We hope you can give yourselves a break too at times. We cannot do everything perfect, but just try our best at what we know how, and research more if need be too. Medical people can help some, but often we will need support from others along the way. You found a great place!
 
Last edited:
Hello and welcome! It’s good to have you here. I hope we can be supportive to you and Lucy.
 

New Threads

Top Bottom