Re: Risperdone Questions/Behavior meds

[Guest guest]

Karac was on Risperdone and it stopped the aggression. The only side effect that we experienced was weight gain. Pat K

[Guest guest]

Hi, Whitney takes Risperdal, and it evens her moods out alot. Though she has gained weight on it( the only drawback). She still has the occasional screaming fit, But instead of lasting hours, it may last 5-15 minutes. She sleeps much better also. I had alot of reservations about using Risperdal, but I have seen such improvement, that I'm glad the Dr. talked me into trying it. Whit is 9 and takes 0.25mg in the morning & evening. For aggression & OCDs we tried Celexa, she stopped bitting herself when mad, she quit bitting finger & toe nails, and the insides of her cheecks. We took her off the Celexa for a month, cause we thought it was causing hyperness at school, and when I put her back on it, it did'nt work anymore. Bummer. As for Ridallin, Adderall, Tenex, Strattera, etc..etc... none of that has ever worked for Whit. Me and her teacher both believe that Whit is one of those kids that just does'nt respond to meds. So now I'm looking into enzymes, getting a DAN Dr., etc. Now I need to find a job so I will be able to try all that, as it is expensive. Every child responds differently to meds, you just have to try it and see if its gonna work.

Hope this helped somewhat.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

Robin

[Guest guest]

Are you sure the problem is all your child's fault or could the program be

wrong and teachers not experienced enough in dealing with autistic (if your

child is autistic, I'm making that assumption) children. Are you seeing the

behaviors across the board?

My 16-year old autistic son was basically thrown out of school iin February

because of aggression and " elopement " issues. He WAS on risperdal at the

time. During his worse time at school we were not having any (or very

little) aggression at home. Since he has been out of school, he has been

working with some truly wonderful people who WANT to work with my son and

realize that he cannot fit into the mold that schools want to put our kids

into. He is currently NOT on meds. Our kids are outside of the circle and

schools try to put our kids into their circle instead of expanding the

circle to include them or giving our kids the skills they need to enter the

already established circle.

" Behavior is communication " . I can usually tell what triggers a negative

behavior in my son--it's usually a sensory issue or a lack of understanding

of the social rules or his inability to be able to fully communicate his

needs, or he is sick. However, our school personnel never once tried to

establish WHY the behaviors were occuring---they just put the blame on my

son.

If you are seeing the behaviors across the board, then maybe meds are

necessary, but if it's just in school, I would go in and observe and see

what's going on. My son has been on numerous meds and, frankly, I haven't

seen a good deal of benefit and there are side effects on some meds that I

haven't liked. Rispedal initially made my son gain 25 pounds. One

neurologist told us he doesn't like risperdal because it may have intital

benefits, but the child plateaus quickly and you need to keep increasing the

dosage, plus the weight gain is common.

Meds may be necessary, but go with your heart. But don't put your child on

meds because of possible incompentency/inexperience on the part of school

personnel. We have been there--I let school personnel put all the blame on

my kid, when in fact they just wanted a compliant little drone so they

wouldn't have to exert any effort in working with him and some of the

personnel were toally clueless in dealing with autistic kids. But also

check out to be sure that your son isn't physically sick. Two days after my

son was thrown out of school, CT scan revealed severe sinus infection in all

four sinuses.

One of our current therapists told us, it you see the behaviors in every

setting, medication is probably warranted. You know your child the best--do

YOU think he needs meds?

Feel free to email me privately if you want to continue this discussion.

We've lived through many tough school years and the worse ones were the

years where we had the worst teachers, but, of course, it was always my

child's fault. And I could cry now when I think that I let them put all the

blame on my son.

Good luck and God bless.

Joanne

>From: Lake260@...

>Reply-autism

>chelatingkids2 , abmd ,

>autism

>Subject: Risperdone Questions/Behavior meds

>Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 10:15:11 EST

>

>Hi, Nicky's still having a lot of behaviors/aggression, they've gotten

>better

>since removing transfer factor last Friday, but still are there. In the

>past

>week these behaviors have caused his CCD teacher to ask that he not come

>back

>and put his transition to a new less restrictive school in jeopardy. I

>never

>thought I would do this, but I'm getting desparate. Does anyone here have

>their kids on risperdone or something else to calm/control behaviors? If

>so

>what have you seen and are there side effects?

>

>Thanks for any inputs

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[Guest guest]

JJ HAS TAKEN RESPERDAL FOR 3 YEARS! IT HAS HELPED HIM ALOT BUT NOW I THINK HE NEEDS A BREAK FROM IT. I WOULD GIVE IT A TRY. IT MIGHT HELP HIM. LOIS

Lois Noland

President

Washington county ASA

721 Georgia Ave Hagerstown Md 21740

240-420-3692

jlois@...

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Risperdone Questions/Behavior meds

Hi, Nicky's still having a lot of behaviors/aggression, they've gotten better since removing transfer factor last Friday, but still are there. In the past week these behaviors have caused his CCD teacher to ask that he not come back and put his transition to a new less restrictive school in jeopardy. I never thought I would do this, but I'm getting desparate. Does anyone here have their kids on risperdone or something else to calm/control behaviors? If so what have you seen and are there side effects?

Thanks for any inputs

[Guest guest]

Joan, your email was very interesting to me; particularly about observing the behaviors in different environments. Karac had terrible behaviors at the school where he was last year. He is now in a school where he has a male teacher who loves him and has taught everyone at the school to be kind to him. It has really made a difference. Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to share. Karac is 11 and I am his grandmother. I have been working with him every day for 8 years. I'm not looking forward to the teen years. Have they been more difficult? Pat K