Risperdal Our Miracle

[Guest guest]

My 4 1/2 year old daughter Jenna (ASD) has been on Risperdal since 5/31/02.

We gave her this drug as a last resort before sending her to live in what

was basically an institution. Jenna started SIB on Valentines Day of this

year. She woke up screaming like she was on fire at 2:00 a.m., scratching

and clawing her legs hands and face bloody. Her father and I were both

trying to restrain her and barely managed to do so until we could get her

doctor to prescribe a tranquilizer several hours later. Let me add that my

husband is 6'4 " and a competitive distance swimmer. I am 5'9 " and in

reasonably good shape. Jenna weighs 35 lbs. We were both shocked at Jenna's

strength. She bite me so hard it drew blood and left a welt for over a

week.

A couple of days later Jenna bit one of her teachers who then had to go to

the emergency room. Jenna also became physically aggressive to her 2

younger sisters. At the time the baby wasn't walking, making her an easy

target. Jenna also continued her night waking. Every night she would wake

up around 11:00 p.m. and begin screaming the same desperate scream and

SIB's, all the while looking right through anyone who tried to comfort or

consol her. Around 6:00 a.m. she would drift off to sleep. The whole house

was disrupted. My husband (sole income provider) was going to work w/ no

sleep. My 2 younger children were afraid to go to sleep at night and they

were more afraid of Jenna who was physically attacking them by biting,

pushing, hitting and pulling out their hair.

Jenna was recommended twice for Psychiatric Hospital admission because her

behavior was so out of control. Once during a check-up visit for the baby

Jenna had an " episode " in the doctors office. 3 office personnel could not

restrain her and 2 of them were bitten.

We worked with so many behaviorists that I cannot even remember how many.

Jenna attends one of the most highly thought of ABV schools in the country

and the staff was very dedicated to helping her.

Nothing we tried worked until the Risperdal. Jenna takes 1.25 mg a day and

is a totally different child. She sleeps through the night (and has every

night since her first dose), has no more SIB's, is not physically aggressive

to anyone, is happy and compliant and a joy to be around.

Risperdal WAS and IS a miracle for OUR family. No matter what happens

tomorrow or the next day, I got to keep my family together for at least a

little while longer and that means the world to me. Jenna has not had any

side effects. No weight gain, no extra sleep, no spacy-ness. Every child

is different but Risperdal did the job for our family.

Anyone who has questions can email me privately or on list.

Thanks,

Valeri, mom to:

Jenna (4 1/2 ASD)

(3 1/2 NT)

LeeLee (1 1/2 NT)

[ ] Tardive Dyskinesia on Risperdal - case report.

sen sent me the following message privately and gave me

permission to forward it to the list:

Hello, my name is and I have a 5 year old son on this drug who

has developed Tardive Dyskensia. We discovered it when we stopped the

drug. He was on for a year and did have slight signs before the drug

was stopped but I didn't of TD, just thought it was autism traits. I

have had to put my son back on this drug and chances are he will be on

a maintenance dose for life or another drug substituted. I am going to

be weaning him off slowly to see if that helps any with the TD. I do

not want my child to be on this med. This is a very serious side

effect and has now robbed my sons ability with fine motor, like he

didn't have trouble before. It is life long with no cure or treatment

other then more drugs which will do more harm to the system. This is

not the miracle it is said to be!

Speak to a child psch and get a proper schedule for weaning, it is

very important you do this correctly or you can cause the neurological

system damage.

Good luck to you and to your child. I hope you can avoid what my son

is now going through. It has devastated u

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