Comments on: Antipsychotics in Kids, Weight Gain, and Parental Worries

By: jalayne

jalayne — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 18:31:29 +0000

I have four year old twins that are autistic and mrdd. The specialists, teachers, and others have mentioned meds. Originally I was totally against it but, lately due to their behavior getting worse i wonder if it may help them be able to go out in public better such as swimming, bowling….I would love to hear feedback.
thank you,
Jalayne

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Tue, 13 May 2008 04:22:39 +0000

@Shannon, Great to hear from you—loved meeting Liz last December! I’ve been checking in with Leelo for a while…..

@Lisa/Jedi,
Your last point about children needing a lower dose intrigues me. We upped Charlie’s dose just slightly and, to my surprise, there was increase in Charlie’s appetite, as there has been when we increased dosages in the past. Deep pressure helps Charlie a lot too—he still wraps himself in his fleece blankets soon after coming home.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Sat, 10 May 2008 04:42:19 +0000

Liz Ditz has been telling me to check out your blog for aeons, as she says your son is a lot like mine. It is good to read about your successes with Charlie’s weight management, and reassuring to see your methodical and cautious approach to medications. As for the jacket: very much understood. We are in a black shirt only phase right now. My son even tracks his classmates’ spare clothes stashes and will steal one of theirs if he has to.

By: Lisa/Jedi

Lisa/Jedi — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:52:41 +0000

Brendan definitely gained weight when we started him on seroquel 4 years ago to help him cope with OCD anxiety. There is no way he could function without it, although it has taken me a very long time to get over the idea that we’ll just “wean him off it” any day now… without it (& zoloft, & clonapin) he would not be able to function at all. Even with these meds he has “screaming fleas” (his name for anxiety attacks) nearly every day. The great thing is that he’s to the point developmentally where he is learning to deal with his anxiety by using strategies like distraction, deep pressure (from someone else or by pushing on a table), stress relievers like his “endless bubblewrap” gadget from Japan, worry beads, etc… I see the meds as having given him enough relief from the anxiety that he could learn these methods, & these are his best hope for managing life without meds… so it’s reciprocal.

We’ve made sure he gets regular exercise, eats a healthy diet & only gets potato chips (which he adores) as a special treat (but he does get to have them sometimes). We know that his triglycerides are elevated, as is his BMI, but his pediatrician has told us that she doesn’t worry nearly as much about kids with medicine-induced issues like these (compared to kids with the genetic tendencies) because they’ll go away when the medicine is discontinued. He is remarkably un-self-conscious about his weight & has no trouble wearing a swimsuit- which is great because his main physical activities are swimming & fencing.

An interesting thing Brendan’s psychiatrist told me recently is that, as he gets older, it’s likely that Brendan will need less seroquel (rather than gradually increasing the doses as we have over the past few years, to keep up with his growth). The reason is that the liver of a child processes the seroquel more efficiently than that of a teen & adult, so it doesn’t hang around in a child’s system as long as it does in an adult’s. He’s been on the same dosage for at least 6 months now, so we may be seeing the beginning of this phenomenon. It’s a big relief! But the biggest relief is watching Brendan slowly, but surely, get a handle on the anxiety…

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:46:10 +0000

Charlie’s dose just increased slightly and he has not been eating more—he’s tall and lanky these days.

By: Kassiane

Kassiane — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:16:02 +0000

I think I’ve got to be the only person on the planet who lost weight on Risperdal. But I wasn’t on it very long and am ridiculously active anyway…and my median blood sugar has never been higher than 90, ever.

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:26:25 +0000

Unfortunately, one does not have a lot of “choices” when seeking ways to help a child not have frequent and regular self-injurious behaviors. We have been fortunate in being able to watch Charlie’s diet and keep him very physically active.

By: passionlessDrone

passionlessDrone — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:07:58 +0000

Hi everyone!

I found this article, which says that they are narrowing in on a relationship between antipsychotics and weight gain.

It seems some classes of drugs are also capable of blocking receptor sites for histamine; and doing so results in an increase in another neurotransmitter that has been implicated in appetite.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/62905.php

This article didn’t go into depth as to how blocking histamine resulted in an increase in the other chemical; I’m not sure if they know and didn’t include in a press style story, or just plain don’t know yet. Either way, interesting observations. I’d bet there are other sites that could be blocked, or attached to that could cause similar reactions.

OK!

- pD

By: Chuck

Chuck — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:05:00 +0000

There is a girl in the Special Olympics that is on anitpsychotics. She has a general good mood every time I see her. She did gain weight due to her medications, which also make her “jittery” (her words). Because of the weight gain, she now has Type II diabetes. Most diabetics will tell you “jittery” is one of their primary warning signs of hypoglycemia. So the antipsychotics have caused her to have medical conditions that may shorten her life and have created physiological effects making controlling her medical condition worse. Her mother told me that in the long run she doesn’t know if it is better or worse for her daughter in the long run to be on the medication.

By: FXSmom

FXSmom — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:53:44 +0000

We have been trying to transition Matty to summer items too. We have been successful with the jacket. Shorts have been another story. He happily puts them on for me. Five minutes later he is in his room throwing sweats over them. Our temps are now in the 80’s so he needs to adjust soon or we will be dealing with heat rash!