Comments on: No Magic Pill for Autism: On Risperdal and the Importance of Autism Education

By: paula guerra

paula guerra — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:02:57 +0000

my son was just diagnosed with “high functioning autism” and he is 15!!! I know how frustrating it is not having a diagnosis!! keep looking for the right dr. and research as much as you can!! He also takes risperidone for violent outbursts and there are times when he rolls around laughing to himself and I dont know if its the risperidone or his autism

By: Mary

Mary — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:17:47 +0000

Our son who is 18 (though is about the size of a 10 year old) was just put on Risperidone 3 mg. He is diagnosed with ASD. He complains that it makes him feel dizzy. He was on seroquel and continues to ask to be placed back on it. We are trying a new regime of adderall, prozac, risperidone. It makes me cringe to have our son on so much medication. Though, I have to say the improvement is amazing!!!

He daily behavior is almost scary. We have to keep asking him if he is ok..He is just being a kid. We are so accustom to screaming all the time this is new to us. He sleeps with the risperidone, but I worry about the side affects. He has been ill the last few day. (I hopes its just the flu).

He gained 30 lbs on Seroquel.

I am still out (jury) about risperidone. So here I sit doing the cyber research. Thank you all for such great imput.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 09:32:22 +0000

Risperdal was prescribed to help with the combination of his anxiety and lack of focus. The Anixety happens when he is at school or in social activities where he tends to act very silly (beyond normal) to counteract how he is feeling. This combined with the focus issue pointed the doctors to Risperdal. The Ritalin seem to help with focus at times but did not help the anxiety. Not sure what we are going to do at this point. Talking to the doctors tomorrow.

Thanks

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 08:19:14 +0000

@Dave, I didn’t see those behaviors in my son when he started taking Risperdal—-may I ask for what the doctor prescribed this medication for? We tried Ritalin very briefly with my son (a few days) and indeed saw the increase in his being able to focus, but a huge increase in his anxiety.

Sometimes my son has had waves of crying too of late—–he has been on Risperdal for awhile and, in my son’s case, we’ve attributed a lot of it to adolescese; his mood swings can just be extremely sudden. Thank you for writing about him—

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 07:25:42 +0000

My is son is 9 and we have been down the Autism road several times in the past 5 years but he is always denied a diagnosis. He has problems concentrating in school, staying on task, and transitioning between activities, and this has caused difficulty for him at school and the teachers keep pointing us back to the professionals. We tried Ridalin for a year and it seemed to work on his concentration but not his anxiety. We have been trying risperdal for a couple weeks now and all of a sudden he has these waves of crying and he can explain what is wrong. He starts rolling around on the couch and acting bizarre and then it stops. We have been told that for the first few weeks one can experience higher levels of anxiety before the drug takes it’s proper effect. Has anyone else exprienced this in the beginning stages of taking the medication? Thanks.

By: Charmed

Charmed — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:04:57 +0000

I have two ASD children one on meds and one not…And personally what I think is needed is more schools and teachers/paras trained in handling ASD children so they are taught in such a way that the child is compelled to learn by using the unique traits that are inheriant in each of them..ASD is not a cookie cutter disorder..thusly a cookie cutter approach to teaching ASD kids wont work..not even for non ASD kids..
I dream for the day when I can send my son to school in a enviroment that embraces all of him..and helps him be who is was born to be..and I dont feel that to be drugged everyday of his life to fit into “” our”" world..

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:21:45 +0000

ditto to that last paragraph, Tomsmom……..

By: TomsMom

TomsMom — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:56:42 +0000

If I could have done without putting Tom on meds I would have. I was completely exhausted emotionally from trying to help him and seeing whatever I tried fail or at least not “stick” for very long. (Far from “last resort” I saw everything as the “best hope” and when the improvement didn’t come I would be devastated.) Tom started on lamotrigine which is an anti-seizure med about 10 months ago, and risperdal was added for aggression about 6 months ago. He is on minimal doses of both, and both are given to him in milk twice a day. He has gained weight, but was skinny to begin with and has only just started to develop a oticeable “paunch” (Which none of us find amusing as his clothes don’t fit right anymore and that irritates both him and us!)

His real problem is anxiety and dealing with not being in control. He is in a special school now (2:3:1) but still acting up pretty much daily. Our focus now is on his emotional state and how he can learn to identify and deal with what are extreme, one-note (anger) reactions to everyday stresses. He’s verbal but not communicative: talks a lot but doesn’t really say much. He did just begin a new art therapy program on Saturdays where I was afraid they were going to ask him to leave he was getting so bad . . . but just yesterday he made it all the way through the 45 minute session and even finished the project!

What seems to be true is that ANYTHING, any change, any novelty, any slight variation in routine OR expectation–and the latter you don’t even know because he can’t tell you–will trigger some sort of reaction/regression. It’s part of the dx and it’s just the way it is, until he gains (slowly but surely) a better capacity for dealing with what happens than he has now. For a kid with sensory issues, fears and needs it’s a really tough world . . .

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:39:01 +0000

@chrstine,
no, we have not experienced this. One thing, though—-after my son had Risperdal for awhile, he sometimes had different reactions to food. He liked hamburgers a lot and then, about 2 summers ago, he started throwing the plates with the burgers—we couldn’t figure it out. A friend whose son has also been on some meds suggested that the meds (the Risperdal) might be affecting Charlie’s sense of smell and taste and that, what had once seemed something he liked, now seemed nauseating. Not sure if that helps——-I can say, both the effect of the meds and the side effects have varied over time with Charlie.

By: chrstine

chrstine — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 00:46:57 +0000

My son is 4 and has been on risperdal for a month it has really helped with the aggression up until 2 days ago…he is worse then ever all of a sudden…totally out the blue. It seems he wants to play most of the time but he full on attacks me. He has also been vomitting about 1 or 2 times a week. Has anyone else experienced this???