Clonidine...

Specialties School

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...used as a sleep aid in a child. This was my first experience with this and I was curious if anyone else has had this run in before???

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Specializes in School Nursing.

Yep. I have a handful of students on clonidine. Do you have specific questions about it?

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Yep. I have a handful of students on clonidine. Do you have specific questions about it?

No :) It was just something I hadn't come across yet. Student came to me after concerns they had accidentally took it this morning instead of their ADHD medication. Chief complaints were dizziness and drowsiness. Dizziness was fixed with a snack though. They stated they had eaten zebra cakes for breakfast :sarcastic:

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.

"Anxiety" and ADHD are the reasons I give clonidine during the school day (exclusively to our kids who have autism spectrum disorder - I have no other anxious children in our mainstream classrooms on clonidine). But you'd not be giving the med for sleep in the middle of the day, right?

I'm sure it's probably soothing. Are you concerned enough to ask the prescribing doc?

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"Anxiety" and ADHD are the reasons I give clonidine during the school day (exclusively to our kids who have autism spectrum disorder - I have no other anxious children in our mainstream classrooms on clonidine). But you'd not be giving the med for sleep in the middle of the day, right?

I'm sure it's probably soothing. Are you concerned enough to ask the prescribing doc?

It wasn't a med I gave. Student came down because they were concerned they had mixed it up with their ADHD meds this morning before coming to school.

My only experience with Clonidine was in the hospital and it was only used for treatment of HTN, so when they said they used it to help them sleep at night, it threw me for a loop. I was just picking y'all's brains to see if that was something to continue expecting because I'm learning that meds are used in the school setting for different reasons that what I was used to using them for in the hospital.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

Yep we give it for anxiety and ADHD as well.

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Specializes in Med-surg, school nursing..

I give it for ADHD. At first I was like "whaaa?" because I'd only ever given it for HTN.

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I've given it for anxiety/impulsivity before (esp kids and teens).

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I give it for ADHD. At first I was like "whaaa?" because I'd only ever given it for HTN.

SAME!!!! This is why I asked you lovely peeps!! You learn something new everyday! :yes:

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Doesn't work very well, is off label, so there you have it.

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I have usually given it in conjunction with a stimulant med to kids with ADHD/anxiety diagnoses. Just like most any medication, works great for some and not so much for others...

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We used to give it all the time when I worked in child/adolescant psych. One word of caution - If this is an older kid, and they have depression/SI, this could be a lethal drug if taken as an intentional overdose.

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