Guest guest Posted February 4, 2001 Report Share Posted February 4, 2001 Hi, Some of you have mentioned risperdal as working well for your child; would you elaborate , please - if you could describe your daughters' behavior before and after, I'd greatly appreciate it. Risperdal has been suggested twice for my eight year old, but I've heard it lessens cognitive ability and emotional connectedness, and we're making so much progress in that area, I'd hate to backslide. The risperdal was suggested to curb aggressive behavior. Thanks, Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2001 Report Share Posted February 5, 2001 > Hi, > > Some of you have mentioned risperdal as working well for your > child; would you elaborate , please - if you could describe your > daughters' behavior before and after, I'd greatly appreciate it. > Risperdal has been suggested twice for my eight year old, but > I've heard it lessens cognitive ability and emotional > connectedness, and we're making so much progress in that > area, I'd hate to backslide. The risperdal was suggested to curb > aggressive behavior. > > Thanks, > > Kathy Kathy, Risperdal turned my dtr from mean, ranting shrew into the sweet child that I remembered. She was about 8yo when we started it but we only kept her on for about 4 months because of the weight gain. The oppositional behavior disappeared quickly and she was able to reconnect with us and maintain some friendships that were slipping away. There was no dulling of emotions or abilities that I could see until the weight gain made her a semi-couch potatoe. diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2001 Report Share Posted February 5, 2001 My girl was put on risperdal about 4 years ago now. The very day she started it ( 1 mg dose) after about 1 hour she had calmed down alot. We started her on low dosage and after several weeks worked her up to a theraputic dosage. I may I eleborate to have your doctor discuss with you what THERAPUTIC DOSAGE LEVELS mean. In otherwords, if you give the child medication but never reach a theraputic dosage level then you will never know the true benefits of the medication. So now our girl is taking the following dosage: Risperdal 2 mg tablets - takes 2 1/2 tabs in am and takes 1 tab at 12noon and takes 1 tab in pm. Along with Buspar-Klonopin & Depakote. Now she is becoming much more verbal and at times has eye contact with us and we are now able to manage her self-injurious behaviors at home sucessfully. I feel without these medications that she may have to go to a professional institutiion for help. So I believe Risperdal is a good choice. My behaviorist recommended it to us intially- he works at the autistic institutions and is very well known in our area. ~heidi~ melbourn, FL Re:Risperdal > Hi,>> Some of you have mentioned risperdal as working well for your> child; would you elaborate , please - if you could describe your> daughters' behavior before and after, I'd greatly appreciate it.> Risperdal has been suggested twice for my eight year old, but> I've heard it lessens cognitive ability and emotional> connectedness, and we're making so much progress in that> area, I'd hate to backslide. The risperdal was suggested to curb> aggressive behavior.>> Thanks,>> KathyKathy,Risperdal turned my dtr from mean, ranting shrew into the sweet childthat I remembered. She was about 8yo when we started it but we onlykept her on for about 4 months because of the weight gain. Theoppositional behavior disappeared quickly and she was able toreconnect with us and maintain some friendships that were slippingaway. There was no dulling of emotions or abilities that I could seeuntil the weight gain made her a semi-couch potatoe.diane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 20, 2004 Report Share Posted February 20, 2004 My son has PDD/Aspergers. They originally diagnosed him with ADHD and he has been on Adderall since that Diagnosis. He takes Adderall XR in 15mg doses. He was still hyper in the afternoon so they started to give him an extra 5mg of regular Adderall in the afternoon so he would be calmer for the after school program. Well, it has been keeping him up all night and because he is so tired all day, he has been throwing some really bad tantrums. Now Wordsworth wants me to meet with the psychiatrist to discuss Risperdal. He was on it in the summer (1/2 of a .5mg tablet) and that made him zone out from 7:30am - 9:00pm. I didn't like it at all, but it could have been because he was still on the Adderall. Now I know that Adderall isn't a treatment for PDD, and I know that he was misdiagnosed with the ADHD, but the adderall has been helping him focus, which means he gets less frustrated and throws less tantrums. I think just stopping the second dose will work, but they want to discuss the risperdal. Can I have some of your opinions on this drug? Has anyone here had a child on it? What was your opinion of it? Thank you for any help you can give. I just don't feel right about putting my 6yr old on anti-psychotics. Sharon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 21, 2004 Report Share Posted February 21, 2004 Sharon, Sorry this is so long….. My son also takes Risperdal, but only in the morning. He used to take it in the morning and at bedtime but the problem with the weight gain made us discontinue the night dose and replace that with Geodon (another anti-psychotic med that doesn't cause the weight gain). The Risperdal will help with sleep problems if taken at night. I love Risperdal for its effect on my son's frustration and aggression. He can handle problems now that before would cause him to get frustrated and go off the deep end. Even though it is used for schizophrenics it also has other applications. My son had the sleepiness problem for awhile during the day too, but eventually that went away, maybe starting your son on an even lower dose might help. We've been cutting pills at our house for years. My son was taking Adderall too, (he is definitely hyperactive) but has since been switched to Concerta. That is a timed released med too and it lasts longer than the Adderall for him, so he only has to take one dose in the morning (which is a great relief that he no longer has to take meds at school, they were AWFUL at being consistent). The Concerta is very nice since its very steady, no ups and downs during the day. He takes Concerta at 7:30AM and its still working till 5:00PM. The only problem with Concerta is that the shell of the pill does not digest so if you happen to see it in the toilet don't freak out like I did. Nobody bothered to tell me and I thought he was not getting one of his meds, that it was just going thru him! My husband called our pharmacist and he wasn't aware of the problem either and did some research and found the answer. Very weird. My son has been taking one kind of med or another since he was six. I used to feel guilty about the meds and about trying so many different ones but I keep reminding myself that it's his happiness that really matters. The meds he takes now are the best that we can provide to give him some kind of control over his hyperactivity and his emotions. He is much happier now than ever before, the meds do help. He used to hate it when he lost control of himself and used to berate himself terribly when he calmed down. Everyone is different though, so what works for my son may not help your son. There are a couple of other anti-psychotics similar to Risperdal that my son tried. None worked quite as well as Risperdal though. The other two he tried were Abilify and Geodon (which he still takes at night). Sleeping used to be impossible at our house; he was up and down all night long. Now he takes Melatonin to get to sleep and the Geodon keeps him asleep. Maybe a switch to the longer lasting Concerta is all he needs. If the tantrums are just from lack of sleep then the Risperdal may not be needed. Good luck with your Doctor appt! s Mom > My son has PDD/Aspergers. They originally diagnosed him with ADHD and > he has been on Adderall since that Diagnosis. He takes Adderall XR in > 15mg doses. He was still hyper in the afternoon so they started to > give him an extra 5mg of regular Adderall in the afternoon so he would > be calmer for the after school program. Well, it has been keeping him > up all night and because he is so tired all day, he has been throwing > some really bad tantrums. Now Wordsworth wants me to meet with the > psychiatrist to discuss Risperdal. He was on it in the summer (1/2 of > a .5mg tablet) and that made him zone out from 7:30am - 9:00pm. I > didn't like it at all, but it could have been because he was still on > the Adderall. Now I know that Adderall isn't a treatment for PDD, and > I know that he was misdiagnosed with the ADHD, but the adderall has > been helping him focus, which means he gets less frustrated and throws > less tantrums. I think just stopping the second dose will work, but > they want to discuss the risperdal. Can I have some of your opinions > on this drug? Has anyone here had a child on it? What was your > opinion of it? Thank you for any help you can give. I just don't > feel right about putting my 6yr old on anti-psychotics. > Sharon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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