He always has to take something for seizures...with these drugs we get some control for awhile but the seizures always eventually return.
right now he is on depakote and we are starting lamictal...lamictal is a very slow process because a lot of ppl apparently have an alergic reaction to it so it takes several months to get to the dose you want.
He also takes zyprexa for his mood...we started with mood drugs around Feb. of this year...so far not much luck in that department either. we have tried quite a few and we just don't see results the way we should and in most cases we see reverse side effects...meaning his mood actually gets worse from most of these drugs. We are seeing some improvement with the zyprexa, but now we are seeing a gradual increase of these behaviors returning.
The mood part of this is soooo hard for us...I never know if seizures are causing behaviors or even the seizure meds, or if in fact he has these problems. His psych talks to us about bipolar but has yet to officially diagnose him.
Meds are such a complicated process...even before you start them you question over and over if you should actually be doing this. And then in our case I question if we are ever going to find something that actually works, whether it's for seizures or behavior!
No one has recommended any meds for T, but the past two days she has had horrible sadness and her teachers remarked it lasted all day, not just at home.
I have considered SSRIs for depression obviously she is too young now, but I anticipate revisiting this thought in the future, unfortunately.
He is doing ok - not great, but I think it is mostly school that sets him off. Payne's Mom39288.3668518519My son is not on any meds and no one has suggested he should be either. I am actually kind of relieved as meds for children make me nervous and I know it takes a while to find the right meds and dosage. We will re-evaulate the issue if his doc sees any concern later. I know some kids do quite well with the meds and others have significant side effects. I did extensive work with ADHD 1st graders during my Master's research project. Most were not medicated for ADHD at that point and we tried to address the cognitive behavioral aspects before referring them on for evaluation with a doctor for meds.
Since I've been on the board I've read numerous threads related to meds. My son has never taken anything, and no one has suggested he should, though it seems like many kids are on medication. I don't have any specific concerns at this time but just want to be better informed in case it should ever come up in the future. I have some very general questions for those of you who wouldn't mind taking a few minutes to share.
What meds is your child on?
Why? (Specifically, are the meds directly related to the autism or a particular symptom of autism, or are the meds to treat a comorbid condition such as ADHD or seizures)
Are you satisfied with the results that you are seeing?
Thanks!
BN is on seroquel 2 x day for aggression issues and it helps with moods. We definitely noticed a difference between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. She has been on various meds. through the years like clonidine ( made her too drowsy and wet the bed), medadate, medadate CD ( got her off due to motor tics) and respirdal (helped slightly with aggression issues). The school definitely notices if BN is not responding to meds or is in between meds. So far, seroquel has helped the best.
May I ask if there are any siblings in your family? This played a huge part in BN's behavior problems because she has a two year old brother and there are still sharing difficulties and aggressive behavior.
Count your lucky stars if you have not experienced any of this aggression. It can make social life at school very difficult and can cause much strain at home.
RA
Metadate CR 40mg, for ADHD, VERY satisfied!
Tiffany
Kristys,
I am monitoring my 5yr son for the time being. I did find couple of posts
from IBGECKO and VALLEY GIRL very helpful. It is in a long tread but here
is what I have saved. The first one is from IBGECKO The second from
Valley Girl
Fred, just wanted to let you know that Connor has ADD, and has been on
a combination of Adderall and Strattera for about four years now with
great success. He wouldn't be able to function in a classroom without it.
Through the years, he has become very in tune with the way the ADD
makes him feel, and how the meds help. Most of the time he prefers to
be medicated! Without the meds, he is very impulsive, with scattered
focus and poor executive planning. The Adderall helps with focus and
impulse control, and the Strattera is wonderful for executive planning.
My personal recommendation would be to have Evie evaluated by a
pediatric psychiatrist who specializes in pharmacology. I wouldn't waste
my time with pediatrician or psychologist recommendations. When it
comes to medicating, I only trust a psychopharmacologist. Just my two
cents, for what it's worth
I don't know if he sees adults, but if he doesn't, I'm sure he can
recommend someone for you. Give him a call at (310) 829-4787.
Kathy K :)
Jordan's pediatrician (also a psycopharrmacologist) prescribed the
combination of strattera and concerta. Conserta is the stimulant, and
Strattera is not considered a stimulant but has similar results. DS is 8.5,
60lbs and takes 35mg of Strattera with 27mg of Concerta every morning.
The only side effect he has is a reduced appetite, but he makes up for it
in the evenings when that effect wears off.
He still needs a LOT of help to organize his thoughts, and his work, and
all his executive funcioning, social issues, speech planning, motor
planning. The meds do not take this away in my son, but he can deal
with these MUCH better when he has them because he is paying more
attention to the help he is getting. He can see a bigger picture of the
cause and effects of daily living.
Dr. John Raiss is very good, and located in Santa Monica, across the street
from St. John's Hospital. He was our first psychiatrist, and he is excellent.
The only reason we stopped seeing him is because the drive was a pain in
the a$$. We now go to Dr. Bruce Steinberg in Encino, which is much,
much closer to us. No more 405 at the height of rush hour for a 15
minute appointment in Santa Monica Such a great question Kristys- I too think about this often. No one has suggested anything for Ryan (hes only 3) but I always wonder if hes going to be diagnosed with ADD at a later date (joint attention is one of his main issues right now) and if hell need some sort of medication.
Cole is 6 1/2, about when the meds are okay to use. The only person to suggest it was a child psychologist we went to last December (just had turned 6) to get a fullbore educational evaluation. We're trying a stimulant similar to Ritalin.
Cole was uncooperative in the educational testing, not rude or boisterous, just ignored the questioner. The doc and I were watching through the glass, and he'd ask "does he know this? how well? since what age? are you sure he STILL knows it?"...that kind of thing. When I explained that he wasn't answering "show me the letter A, Cole" because it was boring, the doc asked VERY precisely:
do you mean boring, as in too easy?
or do you mean boring as in unstimulating?
My answer was B. Basically, the psychologist didn't give me an "official" diagnosis, but said Cole looked like he had a form of ADHD. The hyperactivity is in his disinterest in blase things. He will daydream about things that are more exciting than potty training, or answering mindless questions. Its like having a racing mind instead of a racing body, if that makes any sense to you.
He told us to go see this psychiatrist who specialized in kids like Cole. We've been trying a stimulant called Methylin - its Ritalin's main competitor. The teachers at school said it DID help him focus, but he's done great without it this summer, so we dumped it.
Don't know what to tell you except that if the kids attention is really crummy, you might ask local parents who the best prescribing psychiatrist is. That being said, these people "do" drugs for a living, so IF you go see one, then I"m guessing they're likely to prescribe something.
On the other hand, when he said "racing mind" a giant light bulb went off for us. Cole's daydreaming is his biggest challenge - we had just never considered it as ADHD.
Good luck!
Donny's been on meds since he was about 4, shortly before he was
diagnosed. The first med he was put on was Risperdal, for aggression.
Now, at 10 years old, he's on quite a few medications, to try and mitigate
the symptoms of his various comorbid conditions.
He takes:
Risperdal 0.5 mg twice daily, for aggression, mania, and psychosis
Paxil 5mg twice daily for anxiety and OCD
Seroquel total of 100mg/day for increased neuroleptic effect (to treat
agression, mania, and psychosis)
Epival total of 875mg/day for bipolar disorder (mood stabilizer)
Fish oil 1500mg/day for mood
Vitamin E 400/day to prevent side effects from neuroleptics
The meds help a lot, but don't magically "fix" the problems for Donny.
Bipolar is really hard to treat in kids - he still cycles like crazy. He still
experiences mania, which is accompanied by delusions and sometimes
hallucinations (mostly the former though). Donny gets a few side effects
- huge appetite and associated weight gain from the Paxil/Risperdal
combo (he's only about 7lbs overweight though), high cholesterol (in the
lower ranges of high), and low platelets. He overheats easily, and
produces more saliva than the typical person due to the Risperdal.
there is a hope/goal to eventually take Donny off of the Paxil and
Risperdal. We need to wait until he's stable to do so, and then do it
slowly - we don't know if he'll EVER be stable, really. His regular psych
wanted us to take him off Paxil this summer, and we're still hoping to, but
need to wait until he's doing well consistently enough for us to be able to
attribute change to the Paxil being decreased...Skylar is on Risperdal (for aggression), FocalinXR 20mg (for severe ADHD) and Clonodine (to pull him down from the stimulants and help him sleep).
So far so good. He is doing pretty well on all of these meds. He started off on Ritalin and after trying various doses, we were seeing no results. That is when his doctor recommended the FocalinXR.