One day I will properly be able to spell clonidine on the first try. Anyway…
Clonidine wound up not working that well for Bub. Sometimes it was a hit, other times it was a miss, and it tended to be more misses than hits as far as consistently helping him achieve restful sleep went. So he was switched over to Mirtazapine (another medication that I am continuing to learn how to spell), which has actually worked really well helping him restfully sleep almost all of the nights that he takes it. The only problem with that is that his meltdowns have worsened over the last few months, and Bub is beginning to hit, kick, and pinch during these, which in turn is wounding the people that he does it to… and he’s even begun to have these meltdowns during therapy sessions with his therapists, which is particularly problematic since I would not mind as much if it were just me that his frustrations were focused on (“bad cop”). I put in a call to his developmental pediatrician asking if he could be put on something during the day to help him better cope with overwhelming moods, and I’ve been corresponding with them over the last few days to fine-tune what I hope is a helpful change to his medication regimen. We may try trazodone out.
Trazodone is not normally given to children, but it can be in some cases when benefits outweigh risks.
Luckily Bub was just seen by his developmental pediatrician though, so we’ve been able to start to sort this out over the phone rather than commute and bring him in for yet another visit… during a global pandemic.