weight gain | Autism PDD

Why is he on risperdol? I know with drugs like depakote they do make some kids gain weight. Maybe it is a side effect of the drug?

Tammy

Hello, It's been a while since I have been on line, My fear is my son Ryan has gained 30 pounds since last Nov. He is 4'5" and has a fat little belly he weights 101 pounds and eats chocolate chip cookies,pancakes, chicken nuggets and fries nothing else will get past those gritted teeth, he drinks Milk with everything and takes Vitamins every day and he is very active. We go for walks,play ball and exercise but he still keeps gaining. He is on Risperadal and I know he can't be off of it but I am really concerned about his weight, It's bad enough that others know he is'nt society normal I don't want him to be made fun of due to weight also, My heart couldn't stand to see him hurt anymore. What does one do? And love his heart I have to stay after him about not hanging on to me or his grandparents he weights a very solid 100 pounds and it is kind of hard to hold it up. But in his mind he is on a level of a 4 year old and he is 8. I just hate worring about every little thing but he is my special gift and I don't want his feelings hurt. I guess I sound silly but I am worried.You are wise to be conscious of your child's weight and not denying that this could be the beginning of a problem. May I suggest something? I'm not sure what sort of chocolate chip cookies he eats, but things made homemade are almost always less fattening ... and you can exchange certain ingredients for others that won't greatly change the taste. For example, you could use the more healthful 'butter spreads' instead of butter (e.g., "I can't believe it's not butter" or something like that), skim milk instead of whole milk, egg beaters instead of eggs, etc. You could even maybe try to add a few things (in small amounts) to make them more healthy (like finely grated carrot or something like that). Also, if you make the chicken nuggets at home, you could fry them in olive oil and bread them with something whole wheat-ish. Would your son eat baked fries instead of real fried fries? Also, make sure your child doesn't drink a lot of soda or fruit juices ... or at least majorly dilute the fruit juice.

These are things we're doing to help keep our son Luke healthy as well as ourselves!

Kellie
He is on resperadol for temper management and his shakeness.He has a tremor and a twitch at night if he isn't taking it. It seems to help but man has he gained weight, Sometimes I get to the point I think what good is this, Is it better to be angry or fat I mean I really worry about it. He is such a beautiful little boy but his face is looking swollen and he just looks to big. I hate it for him. Seems like a catch 22 situation ya Know .

Hi Tracie..... My son is on risperdal as well for his moods,....... I am fortunate he isnt gaining tons of weight. It has increased his appetite that he cant take the increased dosage he needs so we use a lower dosage and it takes the edge off.

Couple things I would suggest asking his dr about,,..... ABILIFY if you havent already tried it. It is supposed to be just like risperdal but a little better with anxiety and not the increased appetite side effects. We did try it and unfortunately for us it was awful - he had screaming full rage anger fits every 3 minutes for hours at a time over nothing - but the advocate who works with us has a son on it and she said its been WONDERFUL ....... guess thats why they have different meds for the same things.

Another thing I would suggest checking out with the dr would be to see if he can have a lower dosage more frequently.... for example instead of just a evening dosage try and evening and a morning or if you are doing say 1 1/2 tablets in the evening and 1 1/2 tablets in the morning see about doing 1 tablet 3 times a day..... or giving the larger dosage in the evening before bed......... But ask the dr if it can be "adjusted"

Recently we added luvox to my sons meds for anxiety and OCD characteristics..... and I have seen less self injurious behaviors and more stable moods..... you may want to ask the dr about an anxiety/ ocd med if some of your son's behaviors are due to anxiety and OCD characteristics as well. Im seeing such wonderful results with luvox Im wondering if the risperdal is still needed?

hopefully you can find something else that will help him without all the eating side effects and the weight gain.

Okay. This is probably a stupid question but is the weight gain because of an increased overall appetite? or metabolism change? or wanting different foods?

Paul was on risperdal--he had a psychotic rxn. We didn't try anything again until about 3 months ago. Abilify. He has just done extremely well on it. It's one of a handful of interventions I can point to and say that IT made a big difference.

Paul's appetite is increased but it's hard to separate from beginnings of puberty. Luckily no big weight gain here, but maybe a small one.

Hey Tracie,My Carlo took Risperdal for awhile but he didn't have any of the weight problems.He's still real tiny and short.But like Michelle said ask about abilify.Carlo takes that now and it doesn't mess with his weight. But definatley check with your doc first. take care. mom2carloMy son jon who is 3 takes the rispteral only at night and he has gain about 10 lbs over 10 weeks

My son was on resperdil for behaviors, in 4 or so months the dose was increased 3 times and each time bought its own weightgain, thus causing the dose to be inadeqwate. The Child Psych has stopped the medication, she tells me that he is not going to be able to take resperdil because his rapid weight gain and a strong family history of diabetes makes it inappropriate for him. She did tell me that there is a like drug (I beleive it is abilify) that has many of the same 'good' things and is much less likely to cause weight gain. Perhaps you can discuss this in detail with your DS's Dr?

If my son would have only had weight gain, and the medication would have continued to have the wonderful results we saw when he first started it, he would still be on it!!!! But the Dr felt uncomfortable with his rapid weight gain and increasing the dosage, but also she didnt want him to take the medication at a dose that was not working for him. He rapidly lost the weight after we stopped the drug. I must say that I only had a couple of comments about his weight, one was from an OT and the other from (who else) my Mom.

Can you get a Dietician consult? THey may be able to give you some ideas. My son has a very, very, very limited diet and while his intake increased, his choice of food did not :(

I understand how concerned you are and wish you all the luck in the world in finding what works best for your child! We are taking a little medicationholiday and then may try the abilify.

My son is on Abilify, he has gained 20 lbs in 3 months. He has a really big tummy. We have him riding his bike sometimes up to 10 miles a day broken up in different parts. He has sensory problems and anxiety and riding his bike is his release. We have switched to sugar free kool-aid, and limit his portions. He also will eat a very limited diet. A big problem was he was on Paxil CR and when you couldn't get it they put him on generic Paxil which in combination with the Abilify really made the weight bad. Just keep him active and really try hard to limit the calories. Try your best to limit the carbs (hard when they won't eat much), these were all suggestions from our doc. I see a feeding team over hear in Philadelphia. I try my best not to feed him all of the time

My son has been taking Risirdal for 2 months now for his moods. He is definetly less irritable. His appetite has increased and he gained atleast 5lbs since he started taking it, he has also grown a few inches this summer so that helps.....he has always been slim like his dad........I can gain weight by looking at food.....lol....... I was also hoping that he would start to try different things with his increased appetite but so far he hasn't.....maybe he will...... I also worry that this could be a problem if I don't keep him active and watch what we eat.

Angela

Tracie, I'm new to this discussion board but I have a son who is 11 years old and has been diagnosised with ADHD. He also has alot of anger issues. When he gets angry he ends up yelling, hitting, cursing. My son is on Zoloft and Adderal. My husband and myself have been fighting the anger issue for quiet some time know and since he is getting older things are getting worse with his anger. I was just wondering if you have or anyone else has any information they can give me on this situation?

Thanks

Kim

My son is on Risperdol and is very much overweight. He is almost ten and weighs about 105 ibs.We even switched him to Abilify because of the weight gain. Abilify worked but not as well. When we switched him to Abilify he didn't gain any additional weight but he never lost what he gained on Risperdol. My only advice to to change everyone's diet in the house. I literally lock the freezer at night. I make my son play outside on the trampoline (ok make is a stretch he enjoys it!

Dorian also has no self control with food. The entire box of ceral or pop tarts disappears. He is addicted to sugar and carbs.