Risperdal ...is it working? My son has been on 5mg for years and it really helped his sleeping patterns and his anxiety.   My son was just taken off of it bc it didn't seem to be working as effectively any longer.  He was up to 4 mg a day.  My MIL takes it as well (she's Bipolar) and was only taking .5 mg AS NEEDED, not on a daily basis!!  My son is 8 - has been on this for years...He takes the tablets...we saw some positives soon, but had to increase to see actual results...hope that makes sense.  The first difference we saw with Samuel on the first smallest dose of Risperdal was an improvement in his aggressive outbursts with his brother and a slight improvement with his sleeping habits.  It took about a week to see the biggest results.   We reported it to the psychologist at the checkup one month later and since it seemed to be helping he stepped it up.  Things improved a little more and at the next checkup two months after the first one he upped it again.  (Not by much... he was on half of a .25mg tablet at first and now he takes 1 1/2 tablets.)  His sleeping habits are actually normal and he sleeps through the night for at least 10 hours and that in itself has made a huge difference for him. Though I can't really say about the social anxiety thing, because Samuel doesn't have that problem... but he does come out of meltdowns easier and is dealing with transitions much better... and actually playing with his brother more!!  :) Hope this helps some and hope the Risperdal helps as well.  Good luck!! Risperdal reaches its optimal effect at about 2 weeks. Typically, a tiny dose is tried first to make certain there are no negative reactions. If that dose helps, fine. Otherwise, the dose is raised (probably to 1 mg. in your daughter's case).  After a couple of weeks, if that does not help or helps but not enough, the dose is raised again. This goes on until the optimal dose is found or there is some undesirable side effect. With Risperdal, this is usually weight gain. However, if the Risperdal helps the individual enough, weight gain (in and of itself) is often considered a small price to pay for the positive effects of the drug. Of course, many people use Risperdal to combat serious aggression, so getting chubby definitely seems a small price to pay for the disappearance of aggression.  Good luck with this.Since it is liquid I don't know the concentration of the med in MG,  I can't comment on the dose, however if your dd is less irritable, yes it is working.  The dosing range is very wide with this med, and usually kiddos need fine tuning with their meds.  I would not say that this medication would help your daughter initiate social interaction, though she may feel calmer about it in general.  So maybe to help her along some social stories, and a bit of non-threatening practice might work. My dd is nearly 8 and dx with PDD-NOS.  She suffers from generalized anxiety.  So after several recommendations, we took her to a pysch to get a rx for something.  He advised that there were three routes for treating anxiety with medication.  We choses to start with Risperdal, which he said would help her with filterting her sensory input, which might ease anxiety if her SID is the cause of her anxiety.  He said we would know within 48 hours if it is working.  Well tonight is the third time I've given it to her.  It is such a minute dose I don't see how it could possibly be doing anything.  He has me giving her .5ml at bedtime.  This is less than he would prescribe for a 3-year-old.  Granted she only weights 55 pounds, but it seems to be such a small amount.  He said it might make her too tired, which it doesn't.  I can't really tell if it's doing anything.  We ran into a friend at the store today, and daugther still wouldn't say hi to her friend.  The only possible difference I see is she seems to be fighting less with her sister, her aggression and angry outbursts seem to be less, which is good, but I don't see any social anxiety subsiding.  Should I ask doctor about increasing dose?  Can anyone share their experience with this drug and how long before they saw any improvement?
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