Keith was on Risperdal for about a month and gained twenty pounds.
My 11y girl (non-ASD) gained 10 lbs the first 14 days. It's been a few months now and a total of 15 lbs. She is also getting taller. At this age for girl---they seem to all gain weight before their growth spurt anyways. She did grow 1 inch in 2 months.
I have not heard melatonin causing weight gain.I have noticed Gage is gaining a lot of weight lately. He used to be SO skinny people would ask me if I fed him! Then all of a sudden he started gaining & gaining. He has low muscle tone so a lot of it is that he can't run or push or really do anything that requires a lof of his muscles, but he does have TONS of energy and twiches/ stims all day long. He started Melatonin a while back, does anyone know if that would cause weight gain? good luck...i hope you find something that works better...I have been there, I know the struggles!Hi, we are having the same thing going on. My son started Risperdal in early December. He has gained 25 lbs since then He has also grown about 2inches taller. We have just switched to Abiliby a couple weeks ago. He is still gradually increasing the dose but he is close. It is the impulsive agression that is still the main issue. He is at 7.5mg of Abilify in antoher day or so I will up him to 10mg. The psychiatrist thinks he needs 10-15mg. Which is somewhat equivilent to where he was on Risperdal. He was great on 3mg of Risperdal but started having urinary accidents at so he was ok at 2.5mg of Risperdal.No.... he truly has that med induced belly! I did talk with the doctor and she is going to see him on Thursday and decide what to do. Clearly he isn't doing well on the risperdol anyway as his aggression is spiking quite a bit. We will see what she has to say. John is very active and eats a wide variety and it is mostly healthy foods.....so I am not sure what is going on with that. I will keep you posted.I took Risperdol for a short time, and over the course of 3 months I gained 50 POUNDS! I couldn't stop eating sweets no matter what I tried...that's ALL I would eat. Come to find out, there's a warning about a possible link to diabetes with Risperdol and Seroquel. In addition, long term use of anti-psychotics can lead to an irreversible movement condition called "Tardive Dyskenisia". I don't know what to do short of weening him off the medication and trying something else. Risperdol is an anti-psychotic medication used for serious disorders like schizophrenia and psychosis. It is my opinion that doctors give it out far too freely. This may not be the case with you, so disregard anything I've said if you wish. It may be that the drug works well for your child, in which case I'd suggest reducing the dosage and limiting fattening/sweet foods. Encourage exercise and feed him 6 small meals per day instead of 3 large ones and emphasize HEALTHY snacks like raw almonds, natural apple sauce, and soymilk. Hope this helps!
Do you feel he has gained 10-15 extra lbs besides what he would gain anyway? I'm just wondering because I'm pretty sure my 9 yr old has gained about that over the last 2 years, just from growing...He just went to the doctor and weighed in at almost 70lbs and I couldn't believe it, lol...he definitely doesn't look like he gained weight, so it must all be in his height!
Sorry I don't have any advice on how to help...Mason has been lucky so far that he hasn't had any weight gain...he is very active and a very finicky eater...but sometimes what I can get him to eat isn't always the healthiest!
I just wondered how people managed the weight gain that comes with some meds? John has been on risperdol for 2 years now and has very slowly gained about an extra 10-15 lbs in that time. We really watch what he eats and try to limit portions but it doesn't seem to help. Anyone else have any ideas to successfully deal with it?DOes anyone think it is true that abilify has less liklihood of weight gain as a side effect? ANd, does it work as well as risperal?My daughter's been on Risperdal for almost 7 months and has gained 5 lbs a month. Fortunately she was initially underweight and so now at 128 and about 5 ft 1 she is not too big YET. I'm waiting and hoping for what the doctor calls the plateau effect. Where her weight gain is supposed to level off.