Our sweet son has been on risperdal for 2 weeks, and we are just now noticing a better mood, etc. Like ALLISA, it took us 2 years to go this route.... we DID NOT want our son on an antipsychotic med - but time took its toll and out of desperation, we decided to try it - a tiny dose -
unlike some who see changes the first day, we did not...BUT -
Yesterday was the FIRST DAY EVER our son did not HIT KICK SLAP OR BITE anyone including himself!
My daughter is 7, she is pretty small ( only 33 pounds) but we started her on Risperdal almost a month ago. This was the first drug we started with. So far so good. We also had a very strutctured behavioral paln, she saw a Behaviorlist daily and we did all we could before making this decision. But all her aggresisons and rituals took over everything. I debated the meds issue for almost 2 years, and I know I made the right choice to start. Her aggresions are directed mostly at herself ( head banging, slapping) they occur every 10 minutes and can be when she is happy or mad.....also she tips over every piece of furntiure in our house that she can move and throws objects constatnlty. The Risperdal is a very small dosage taken twice a day right now. Her agressions have defintley decreased, though not gone completely. At least now I feel like she can focus on me when I tell her "no" or re-direct her....postive praise is also very much a help, where as before the meds.....there wasn;t a real connecton that you need with positive praise. So to get back to your question....yes....it has helped us ( so far ). I saw a change in her the first day that we started. As long as you are working closely with doctors etc....I say give it a try.....he sounds like he needs something serious. Tyoza We have five different md's that ds sees and I work in healthcare but am not the most familiar with pysch meds. We have a Behavorial intervention plan in place and use it constantly. He is only five but the factors that play into this are the fact that he is 4'2" and already 70 pounds. He is not a small child. Originally we tried everything before meds but are now at a point where if the agression can not be controlled he will kill someone. From the point of view we are seeing this it is a last resort for us because nothing else is working. He will choke others and not see the harm he hits people with objects in the head this week it was a rake at my head that if I had not blocked with my hand I would have serious injuries. I don't have a specialist in this state who specifically deals with autism so this is why we are going with a pyschiatrist who also does all the med managment for the other nurses I work withs children. Let me tell you the story about an 8 year old Malay boy, LQ, who spent most of his childhood in USA with his family. But now, he is in Penang, Malaysia after the family decided to return back to their homeland. He enrolled in Daniel's school and is the same class. First day of school was memorable. LQ was not the only new boy. There was also an Indian boy MM from New Zealand. All seemed well, LQ and MM conversed in excellent English because of their prior pre-school background in foreign lands. Then trouble started.... MM, it seems enjoy provoking LQ and LQ would react by pushing down MM's bag, stepping on the bag, empty the pencil box contents on the floor, topple MM's water tumbler to the floor. Just short of physically attacking MM. The worse part of course was that MM seemed the unwitting victim.... BUT I saw through his tricks when I personally saw MM provoking LQ INTENTIONALLY. LQ's violence got really bad... even to the extent of attacking the other kids in the class, even wanting to jump off the 1st floor outside the classroom. ALL the other kids ran out and were scared of him... it was like a boy running amok!!! Bottom line.... he is ADHD.... Parents were informed, they saw the Psychiatrist (the same one that sees KP from my Violence & Aggression thread & the same one that used to see me for my Bipolar).... diagnosis obtained and treatment instituted... you guessed it, Risperdal... AND I TELL YOU, IT WORKED !!! Not immediately of course, but over the course of four months, LQ is just like a pussy cat, NOT the RAGING LION he used to be. Even his outbursts are pussy-cat like, suttle BUT NOT OVERLY AGGRESSIVE. At times he can engage in wonderful conversation and play with the other kids. Bottom line, I've read enough post about the benefits of Risperdal... especially when necessary. It took LQ to FULLY CONVINCE myself of its benefits. Though the accompanying side effects like weight gain should be noted with other side-effects that other parents here will be more than glad to share.
I said that her autism was barely detectable because she relates normally and shows concern for other people now (she didn't even seem to do this before her descent to the point of diagnosis). She plays with younger children that she can relate too as she's mildly mentally retarded. She converses and asks questions. She gives hugs and enjoys them very much, giving satisfied groans.:) She says I love you to my good friends and me. She asks if we would like some of what she's having and shares. She never used to do this even though she wasn't even diagnosed as autistic until age 13. She was considered "at risk" of autism because of characteristics and the presence of it in the family until age 13 (when she was diagnosed with it). She's more friendly now than she has ever been in her life. I usually pay more than half of my earned income (and rely on subsidized housing and her disability payments and what's left over of my half time student loans each quarter) for her childcare after school. It's only three hours but they're charging me an hour. This comes to 9 a week and around 0 a month. I do this because I haven't found anyone else that I can trust to watch her in place of the professionals (fortunately she has school year around - which she hates even though she likes school more than daycare). She's vulnerable because of her niavety and mild mental retardation. I took her to meet my boss and best friend at work and I almost had to drag her away because she enjoyed talking to them for so long. I thought it would never end. She told my boss that I had given her over a hundred penny's, which I had- and my boss wisely said, "do you know how much that is?" and Meghan thought for a long time and then said, "about a hundred dollars." :) No matter how many times we try to teach her she just does not get the concept of money and can't even count a dollar. Yet my friend and boss were very surprised at how intelligent she seemed and how clearly and well she speaks. She tells people that her doctor and mother think she's autistic but she doesn't think so. She then says that she thinks she has aspergers syndrome or high functioning autism. She's very interested in learning to drive and getting a car although I've told her I don't know if she will be able to. She also looks forward to working and says she wants to work at a grocery store. She used to say that she wanted to work on computers but she hasn't said that recently. I think she'll find a niche in anything she wants to do and I plan to always support her and am getting my degree so we can make more money which we love to spend together. :) We're best buddies. One recent funny incident that cracked me up yesterday was she was taking a shower and needed to pee so she tried to make it to the toilet but inadvertently peed on the bathroom rug and floor. I asked her why she didn't pee in the shower and she said "because it would kill the fish" (in the ocean... /runoff). I got a kick out of her concern. She's a real sweet heart! There are strong side effects, especially weight gain. I'm writing a paper in my Research and Writing class on the Safe and Effective use of Risperdal in treating Autism and I'm coming to realize that it's very important to be continuosly monitored by a doctor. My daughter's case was very serious and disabling and she was completely socially cut off. As with all medications there is a cost benefit analysis involved. What I'm saying is that you may not be in desperate enough need to resort to Risperdal. :) I know what you mean. I read where some one wrote without risperdal their child would have to be institutionalized and I feel the same about my daughter but with risperdal she is so "normal." She's gained 5 lbs a month for the past 7 mos and I'm hoping she'll plateau soon. Risperdal has been a life-saver for us. Jacob started it at 5y for aggression/violence. He is 7.5 y and still on it. We did do a med wash at 6yo and he needed the risperdal back within 3 months. I was tired of getting the crap beat out of my younger child and older children and me while driving in the van!! He was a danger to all and himself! He has had no side effects. My 11y dd is on it also. She uses it for mood. It has worked great for her depression. (she can't take antidepressants). She has gained the weight---alot. Maybe it is just the age or what--but she has gained about 15 lbs in a couple of months.
We used to use Clonidine which is a blood pressure med too and had the same problem over time. I tested his pressure and it is not very high to start so I wonder is using these kind of drugs don't work for him. I would give Risperdal a try..it really helps and I feel that some children just need a chemical restraint cause they just can't handle life without it!!
Good Luck!!Tenex is a blood pressure medication and those kids who are on it must have their blood pressure checked REGULARLY. Please use a doctor who is an expert in autism if you are choosing to medicate your child. He looks VERY young. Our psychiatrist totally hesitates medicating any child who is under 60 pounds, so it's clear if you need to medicate your son, you NEED an expert who truly understands autism. Risperdal can have a lot of positive effects, but it's a SERIOUS drug. The FIRST thing you must try with your child is to get an excellent Behavior Intervention Plan going. Implementing it 100% of the time at home AND in school. And tweaking it until it IS working. At that point, bring all the data from the behavior plan with you to the doctor. This will give him information that will help him understand what sorts of things are still a problem. Based on that information, he can choose a medication and try tiny doses at first, working up to a dose that either works or shows signs of being negative, at which point you back off the drug and try something else. This can take months or even a year. Medication won't change a child. It will only take care of symptoms that are otherwise out of a child's control. And only if it turns out to be the right med for those symptoms and that child.
where they list drugs and parents reports of how they have worked for
their asd kids (they have collected this information for decades). Of
course it all depends on your kid and what might be a disaster for some
is a miracle for others, but it gives an idea of statistics.It's worth looking
all of it up but here is the statistic for risperidal:
Risperidal
Got worse:19% &nb sp;No Effect: 27% Got better:54% Better:worth:2.9:1
Number of cases: 912
Copyright Autism-PDD.net