I always feel like I need to qualify it when we get into prescription stuff even though I know you already know....people all respond very differently, kids especially, ASD kids ESPECIALLY to meds, etc.
Paul is 10 and has been on Abilify for about 2-3 months. He is about 80 lbs. He did 2.5 for a week, 5. for a week and then I wanted to push it up to see if he did even better (he was doing very, very well). We went to 10 and he was disorganized, angry, etc. Not good. We dropped back to 5. and he's doing great.
He takes it at night as it makes him sleepy. We like sleepy.
pat
keith takes strattera and metadate.
kate
When Tyler tried abilify he was 66 pounds and 4' 4" . Keep in mind he had already been on risperdal, he started with 5 mg a day the first week and increased to 10 mg a day after that. For us it caused anger outbursts every 3 - 5 minutes for hours straight throughout the day. Of course keep in mind each child responds differently to meds and the dosage so check with the doc and adjust dosage through him/her for what works best. The key is to find the dosage level that works best for your child. Hey Lisa, My Carlo's been on Abilify for about 4mths and he takes 1 5mg pill in the morning. he's almost 5 and half and weighs 41lbs. hope this helps.mom2carlo
DO you think it was the Abilify itself causing your DS's increased problems, or do you think the medication was not working to help him control pre existing problems? Did you restart his respedal right away or did you take him off the abilify and then restart? I hope this is not being too nosy. You know that I am considering the abilify for my child because the resperdal keeps causing weight gain that then means the dose is too small. I KNOW that in 3 days after my childs first dose of zoloft, he was super aggresive and it took him about 4 -5 days after his last tapered dose to return to his baseline (my child is usually only aggresive when put in a fight or flight situation, but on the SSRI he was aggresive for no obvious reason), we then tried the prozac, 3 days after his first dose he was more aggresive (not as much as with the zoloft), it does NOTHING for his anxiety and for the very first time on the SSRI's my child would hurt himself (pinch and scratch himself) when in a highly stressful situation (therapy). As we were weaning him off the prozac ( gave him the medication every other day for 8 days), on the days after he had received the medication- he was notably more aggresive) even though it took aprox 3 weeks after he stopped receiving the med, for it to all be gone from his system, he was not aggresive without cause as soon as he stopped receivng the daily dose. I just dont know how my son will be able to go to school and / or have therapy if he doesnt have something to help him be able to participate.
Jean,... Good, Im Glad you feel better and I hope you find a solution soon! Tyler as I have said has aggressive and Self injurious behaviors amongst other issues LOL,.......... But he also has a diagnosed generalized anxiety disorder and Obsessive Compulsive disorder (as well as ADHD characteristics - is that all? LOL)
Anyhow,.... We recently (over the summer) tried Buspar for the anxiety and OCD which wasn't real helpful (doc said its such a mild med some question its effectiveness but it does work on the right people) About 6 weeks ago he started Luvox and I am impressed! He is actually starting to like going outside to swing!!!!
Maybe it might be worth trying a change in anxiety med? Although Abilify is supposed to also help with anxiety. ( I heard the same for risperdal but it isn't enough for Tyler) Oh So confusing isn't it? I can only imagine how confused the doctors feel too seeing 20 patients a day all with similar issues NONE responding the same to similar methods! LOL Guess thats why they get the big bucks $$$$$$ PS...... next time if I dont respond to someone, just PM me and ask me again. LOL I swear I am just so forgetful these days! Hi Jean! I saw this days ago but didn't have time then to respond.... Then of course if it isn't infront of me I forget. Well it hit me today so I went back looking for this so I could answer your questions... It isnt nosey in my opinion, its all about HELPING each other
[QUOTE=Jean] DO you think it was the Abilify itself causing your DS's increased problems, or do you think the medication was not working to help him control pre existing problems? [/QUOTE] I don't think abilify necessairly caused his aggression and anger outbursts. Tyler has been aggressive and self injurious, low frustration tolerance, etc. since way back (We started risperdal at age 4) WIth the abilify we weened him off risperdal and onto abilify. Once he was completely off risperdal and on abilify his dosage increased. He was already having issues when we changed meds thats WHY we changed meds - he couldn't handle the increased dosage of risperdal because he ate literally every 1/2 hour and then lay moaning on his bed feeling ill, and the lower dosage wasn't enough. In my opinion, the abilify just wasnt the right med for him. It seemed to me like he was just taking a placebo... may as well have been a sugar pill because I saw absolutely NO help. Now behavior did get worse but again is that because it was like NOTHING to him or could it have been the med? I myself think it just wasnt the right med and being it was like nothing to him maybe the changed slammed him that his behaviors were so much worse. (?) I just remember the anger outbursts every 3 minutes for hours at a time and the SIB's... Glad thats not like it was. [QUOTE=Jean] Did you restart his respedal right away or did you take him off the abilify and then restart? [/QUOTE] I didn't start him back on risperdal right away. I called the neuro and he said to ween him off the med (so I did) and to wait a week in a half until we saw him to decide what to do next. (something about clearing his system) THIS is another reason I dont feel it was the abilify that caused the aggressive behaviors;......... During the time we rid his body os all meds his behavior stayed the same neither improving or worsening. When I did restart the risperdal I noticed an improvement in the first 24 hour dosage. He still can't handle the dosage he needs, but its enough to take the edge off. On a side note here about abilify and risperdal,....... I spoke with the advocated who has a teenage autsitic son. He is on abilify. He is larger than my son but took 1/2 the dosage the docs had put Tyler on and the advocate says it is FANTASTIC for him! So I guess it just goes to show what med works for one child wont work the same for every child and even a med that works for another child with the same issues, the dosage needs can and often are different! Hope this helps! Michelle, thank yo so much! I feel better about the possibiility of perhaps trying the abilify, still am not sure resperdal isnt best. Thanks for taking the time to answer. By the way, I tols th ePsych that I thought the zoloft should be outlawed and she told me that for some children it is a true life changing medication, though some kids do respond like mine did. I suppose they dont call it a spectrum disorder for nothing. Thanks again After reading all your posts about Abilify, I am more freaked out than usual. We have done all sorts of trials with different medications for my son. Risperdal helped a little, none of the others did. Until Abilify came along. This med without a doubt made a big and dramatic difference in my son's aggression and self-injurious behaviors. At age 8, we started him at 5 mg and quickly increased to 10 mg. His behaviors almost disapeared overnight. Then 6 months later, the behaviors started creeping up again. About 3 months ago, we decided Abilify wasn't working anymore because he had become so aggressive. We took him off it and tried a couple of other things. Well I thought, maybe we should try Abilify again, and we did. We were taking very good behavior data on his aggression so I knew I could track it objectively. The behaviors decreased by 50% almost immediately. So why am I freaked out? Because we are medicating a 10 year old, 72 lb. child at 15 mg per day! Why does my son need so much? Is it dangerous to medicating him at this level? Regards to all. Jill
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