Guanfacine and Anger: What Users Say

• Lou...
• March 6, 2017

Guanfacine for ADHD "My son has ADHD and is taking Intuniv 3 mg. I find with this drug, he is so sleepy, all he wants to do is sleep. It's supposed to help his concentration, but it doesn't. He's too tired. It also makes him angry, and he's in a bad mood all the time. I stopped giving it to him for a few days to see if it would make a difference in his mood, and it did - he was so much happier. I don't know what to do, whether to keep him on it or stop it. The doctor is adamant that it's not the drug, it's behavior, but I know it is the drug. Anyone else have this problem..."

• amg...
• January 19, 2014

Guanfacine for ADHD "My son has been taking Intuniv for 3 years now and has shown major improvements. The prior medications were causing my son to have tics and violent outbursts. This medication helps him more with concentration and focus, but when that is under control, I notice the hyperactivity is more tolerable. My son's grades improved drastically, and I no longer receive phone calls from his school and teachers (this was a weekly if not daily occurrence)."

• Mom...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 18, 2018

Guanfacine for ADHD "My 8-year-old daughter started this medication to help her behavior in school along with her other stimulant medication she takes for ADHD. This medication increased her irritability, aggression, and changed her happy, sweet self. It did not help her, it made her symptoms worse. Took her off of it as it didn't improve anything besides making her overly tired and grumpy. Increasing her bad behavior. Stimulants work best, but will try more behavioral therapy along with her current medication that helps, as Intuniv didn't help any behavior issues and being impulsive in my daughter."

• cau...
• September 23, 2015

Guanfacine for ADHD "My 8-year-old son was prescribed 2 mg in the morning. He has been on it for two weeks. At first, it helped him concentrate in school, but he was still aggressive with his sister and others. In week two, he now cries almost every day at school and at home. He constantly talks about death. He keeps asking me if I will wait for him in heaven when I die. It is awful to see my innocent little boy go through this. I took him off of it right away. Vyvanse worked for him a lot better at the lowest dosage."

• Anonymous
• January 24, 2012

Guanfacine for ADHD "My 13-year-old son has ADHD and oppositional defiance disorder. He takes Adderall for his ADHD, and 4 months ago, we added Intuniv. He complains of being tired, and he is only on 1 mg of the Intuniv. I have concerns because he is becoming increasingly aggressive and emotional. I do not know if this is a side effect of Intuniv. I'll be taking him back to the doctor, and I don't think we'll be continuing the Intuniv."

• Ama...
• July 12, 2016

Guanfacine for ADHD "We began with night wakings, then more aggression. He was never aggressive like this before. Raised to 2 mg, symptoms increased again. Still hyper and seemed worse than before. Upon reducing back to 1 mg to none, it's been a nightmare. Red, red cheeks. Bouncing off walls. Bouncing up till 3 am. Starting to come down a bit, but oh my god, the havoc on his mind and body and us, plus no sleep. Doc said there wouldn't be any withdrawal."

• Mot...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 21, 2016

For ADHD "My 4-year-old was put on a quarter of a 1 mg pill. Take in the mornings. He's been on it for a little over a month, at first, I kind of saw a little bit of a difference, but then things took a dramatic turn! He became very mean, aggressive towards everyone, hitting, biting, pushing, and crying all the time. :( His emotions were all over the board, and he himself could tell. He would say he doesn't feel right. So we took him off it. I'm not sure if this pill just did not mesh well with him because of his age, but I will never recommend this pill for a toddler with ADHD."

• Mar...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• June 9, 2019

For ADHD "My daughter was on guanfacine since July 2018. In those 11 months, her irritability and aggression multiplied tenfold. Long story short, it was not helping her ADHD, and so her doctor kept increasing the dose (she was up to 3 mg). I expressed my concerns, so her doctor put her on Zoloft. I finally found a new doctor, who doesn't agree with Zoloft, we weaned that off. She was just taking guanfacine again, still very aggressive. I decreased to 2 mg, after not being able to take the irritability anymore (the doctor was planning on starting to wean anyway). In the 5 days since I decreased milligrams, I've seen an immediate decrease in irritability. She's finally becoming my daughter again. I've only given 4 because other families I know who are on it like it."

• Eha...
• November 19, 2020

For ADHD "This medication, guanfacine, made me more angry, made me unmotivated instead of helping me focus, didn’t help my anxiety at all, and made me very tired. I slept for 17 hours yesterday! And every time I stood up, I got so lightheaded my ears would ring."

• sw3...
• February 11, 2016

For ADHD "My 6-year-old was diagnosed with ADHD, and I never wanted to put her on medication until recently. The school pretty much made me because of her disruptive behavior. Her grades have always been good, but the ADHD got so severe it was causing anger outbursts and bedwetting. This was her first day taking 1 mg Intuniv, and my husband and I could see the difference almost instantly! We are definitely amazed so far. I hope this keeps working. I've also seen parents on here talk about it being too expensive. If you look up clinics that are income-based, a lot of the income-based doctors/clinics have a pharmacy at the same location, and you can get the medication at the income-based price as well. We paid only $7.10 for the medicine. Hope this helps!"

• Tir...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 22, 2019

Guanfacine for ADHD "I don't recommend taking this drug, Intuniv. 18 male, 63 kg, 170 cm. Was prescribed for my ADHD and anxiety, 2 mg. All the way, first 2 weeks only tired, but concentration improved. 3rd week was real bad, I got extremely anxious, random panic attacks all the time, heart pain, dark thoughts, started crying every other hour, was exhausted and irritated, also lost control of my emotions, got angry out of nowhere. And worst of it was that I forgot who I was sometimes, panicked because I couldn’t remember my parents. Please don’t take this drug, look for something else, stimulants or whatever, but Intuniv can destroy your life or make it much worse."

• Gin...
• August 23, 2011

Guanfacine for ADHD "My 7-year-old has been on Intuniv for 7 days now, and it's great. He was on dextramp/amfet for 3 years, and it had stopped him from eating, sleeping, and he was always angry. Since he has been on Intuniv, he eats, sleeps, and is not angry. But it has not helped him to stay focused at school. But all in all, I am happy with Intuniv."

• Poo...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 14, 2016

For ADHD "I started giving my daughter this medication, and she started getting more aggressive and having more of an attitude and being more violent towards people, so I stopped giving her the medication. She was taking Adderall with the medication at the time, so I don't know if it was a combination of both together or what."

• Bs ...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 15, 2017

For ADHD "My son was prescribed this medication for the second time. 2 years ago, along with amphetamines while in kindergarten, and he became very aggressive to the point he hit me, he had terrible anger outbursts, and a LOT of issues at school. But I was going through a divorce, and 2 years later we decided to give it another chance in case it was more behavioral; however, after 2 weeks, I received an email from his teacher about how his behavior changed dramatically for the worse. Again, we stopped. This time we know he's in a happy home environment, and his behavior is much better, so it became obvious it's the medication. Not for my son. He's on Vyvanse only now, and we'll see how that goes."

• Bs ...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• March 15, 2017

For ADHD "My son was prescribed this medication for the second time. 2 years ago, along with amphetamines while in kindergarten, and he became very aggressive to the point he hit me, he had terrible anger outbursts, and a LOT of issues at school. But I was going through a divorce, and 2 years later we decided to give it another chance in case it was more behavioral; however, after 2 weeks, I received an email from his teacher about how his behavior changed dramatically for the worse. Again, we stopped. This time we know he's in a happy home environment, and his behavior is much better, so it became obvious it's the medication. Not for my son. He's on Vyvanse only now, and we'll see how that goes."

• My...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 26, 2015

For ADHD "This was prescribed to my son to treat his aggressive behavior (he has autism with disruptive behavior), but after a week, he was even more aggressive. He started hitting himself in the head and developed a rash. I took him off of it because, even though he doesn't communicate well, it was obvious that he was hurting."

• onl...
• October 9, 2010

For ADHD "To make this short, my son was diagnosed with severe ADHD at the age of 5. I've tried every single medication known to man. At the moment, he takes 60 mg of Focalin in the morning with an antidepressant and a mood stabilizer. He takes the mood stabilizer before bed also. After school, I give him 5 mg of Ritalin. Before bed, he takes his other stabilizer and 3-0.3 mg of Clonidine to force him to sleep. He has major anger issues. I tried Intuniv about a year ago, starting at 1 mg. He seemed to be a little better mood-wise, however, his Focalin would wear off at 2:00 PM instead of 5:00 PM. We bumped him up to 2 mg. He would take it with his clonidine, and he would sleep, but not very well, falling asleep or staying asleep."

• Mar...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• November 26, 2018

Guanfacine for ADHD "This medicine just made my son worse than he was before... more aggressive and antisocial. I'm so afraid to try new medications. Feeling sad Intuniv was a nightmare for us."