Guanfacine and weight gain

[Anonymous]

I thought I remembered a post a couple of weeks ago regarding gaufacine and weight gain, but I can no longer find it. My son has gained a lot of weight these past 2 years (mainly in his stomach area). He used to be a stick and within a year (now two) he gained a signifcant amount. He is not very active (we try but he resists most physical activity) so I assumed it was from that. He doesn't eat terribly and often skips lunch due to the stimulant he is on. Anyway, I realized after seeing the post about gaunfacice that we started uping his dosage about 2 years ago and since then he has steadily gained weight and a lot. We meet with his doctor in a week, but wonder if others have experienced this? I had no idea this could be a side effect till I saw the post on DCUM and feel terribly if this could be causing some of his weight gain.

[Anonymous]

Guanfacine absolutely blew up our skinny, active DC around age 10. He began eating like crazy and was continuously exhausted and his self esteem plummeted. He was hugely fat. We now use Latuda (lowest dose) and chlonidine .2mgs twice a day and he went back to his normal weight within a few months. This is in addition to his methylphendiate. This trio of meds took us about five years to find and it works like a charm. DX is adhd + some dysregulation issues. GL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Guanfacine absolutely blew up our skinny, active DC around age 10. He began eating like crazy and was continuously exhausted and his self esteem plummeted. He was hugely fat. We now use Latuda (lowest dose) and chlonidine .2mgs twice a day and he went back to his normal weight within a few months. This is in addition to his methylphendiate. This trio of meds took us about five years to find and it works like a charm. DX is adhd + some dysregulation issues. GL

Thanks! The weird thing is she also began eating like crazy on other meds but has been eating much less on Guanfacine! So hard to figure all of this out.

[Anonymous]

Yes! It makes you gain weight. The dr. totally tried to gaslight us and say that it isn't a side effect. Her little face was so chubby-the only thing that kept her at normal weight was that she did swim practice 3x a week and took dance.

She's now on Strattera and Vyvanse. Normal weight-about 5ft3, 110lbs at 13yo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes! It makes you gain weight. The dr. totally tried to gaslight us and say that it isn't a side effect. Her little face was so chubby-the only thing that kept her at normal weight was that she did swim practice 3x a week and took dance.

She's now on Strattera and Vyvanse. Normal weight-about 5ft3, 110lbs at 13yo.

Was she eating more? I wonder what causes the weigh gain?

Mine is 5’3” and 183! But she’s only been on the Guanfacine for a month or so, so it didn’t CAUSE the weight gain (that was other meds), I just don’t want Guanfacine to be another culprit.

[Anonymous]

Sorry OP I made the same post and I thought the replies were to mine!