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Alpha agonists are non-stimulant drugs and in this case, mostly refer to clonidine and guanfacine. They can be used off-label to treat some of the symptoms of ADHD. Most frequently, they’re used for RSD as they’re the only medication that is said to help it (about 1/3 of the population will have symptom reduction with either one drug or the other - and the last 1/3 won’t see a reduction in RSD symptoms at all). It also can introduce a greater sense of calm and make it easier to sleep. These medications can be used together with stimulants. I typically seen them most commonly prescribed by ADHD specialists who know more about the variety of treatment paths for ADHD, less commonly by GPs.
Having recently been diagnosed with ADHD as an adult I didn’t know what RSD was and had to look it up. Oh goodie another ADHD related problem it looks like I probably have, I’ll have to mention this at my next session and see what they say. Thanks for the heads up.
Best of luck, fellow neurodivergent.
To add and clarify: at least in the case of guanfacine - originally created as a blood pressure medication, it is however approved by the FDA for use as an ADHD medication. “Off-label” suggests otherwise to me so I wanted to mention that
Thanks! I was just about to ask what the hell an alpha agonist was.
For others like myself. Rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD) is when you experience severe emotional pain because of a failure or feeling rejected. This condition is linked to ADHD and experts suspect it happens due to differences in brain structure.
