AGGRESSION AND MEDICATION

[Guest guest]

I have been reading on the internet about ALL the medications my son

is currently taking. Like some of you advised, the ABILIFY does cause

aggression. So do a lot of other medications. I tried calling his

doctor (psychiatrist) to ask about taking Bronson off the Abilify, but

he couldn't be reached...and the next appointment was months away.

Figures... So I decided to call the pharmacist and ask how long I'd

need to lower the prescription and how to go about it. They told me I

could break the 20 mg. tablet in half for two weeks, then I could quit

giving it to him. For the last two days I have done this, and Bronson

seems a LOT more calm, is sweating MUCH less, and isn't wanting to eat

ALL the time...he even looks less bloated or is losing a bit of

weight. This is the SAME reaction I got when I went to visit him

several years ago at Children's Hospital in Birmingham. He was having

a bad reaction to his medication then, and the doctor referred him to

the Children's Hospital for evaluation. The doctors there took him off

ALL his medicines and monitored him. When I went back a couple of days

later to visit him, he had lost a lot of weight, wasn't bloated

looking, and was much more alert and calm, and even talked to me!! I

guess some medicines just do more harm than good, so I'm going to get

Bronson off whatever medicines I can without it causing too much

adverse reactions. I will take it SLOW and watch him for any problems.

But I think at this point we can deal with him seeing or hearing

things that aren't there (if that should occur) MUCH better than all

the aggression, excessive sweating, high blood pressure, weight gain,

etc, etc... not to mention the really SERIOUS side effects that

Abilify causes. Thank you ALL for the suggestion!!! I REALLY

appreciate it VERY much!! :-)

P.S. I would NOT suggest taking your child off ANY medicine though

without first consulting (or trying to) the child's doctor, and making

SURE that you MONITOR them CLOSELY watching for ANYTHING out of the

norm. Then if you need to, take them to the ER if you suspect anything

seriously wrong, like trouble breathing, rapid pulse, sleeping too

much, etc, etc. I decided to take Bronson off the Abilify MYSELF

because it's SO hard to get in touch with his doctor, and they seem to

want you to GIVE the child medicine not the other way around, which

makes me nervous about those type of doctors anyway... In fact BEFORE

I try any other medication on Bronson or myself, I'm going to tell the

doctor that I'll have to READ ABOUT THE MEDICINE ON THE INTERNET

BEFORE I TRY ANYTHING.... Doctors fail to tell you the bad stuff. DIANE