adding risperdal to stimulant | ADHD Information

My kid's doc likes to take breaks and see if meds are still needed. We accept that we may go back, but I like to know that the med is really helping and that they can mature (or develope coping skills )out of the need for the med.

Vickie,

Thanks. I was hoping it could be used and later stopped.

Glad to ehar she's doing better this year.

Val

My youngest was on risperdal, focalin and guanfacine. The risperdal was added due to anxiety/aggression last year. We tried a break from the risperdal this school year and she is doing much better. The good teacher and more friends seems to help with the anxiety. I have a prescription in case the anxiety/aggression comes back.

Hi everyone,

Has anyone experienced adding Risperdal to a stimulant? My son is easily agitated in a stimulating environment and this is what our doctor has suggested.

Thanks,

Val

Risperdal is an anti spychotic used primarily to treat Bi polar and schizophrenia. Does he have BP tendencies?

[QUOTE=edbson]Risperdal is an anti spychotic used primarily to treat Bi polar and schizophrenia. Does he have BP tendencies? [/QUOTE]

What you said is true in the case of adults. And no, he does not have BP tendencies.

But in children who are autistic, including Asperger's, it was approved by the FDA, I believe in the Fall of 2006.

Justin's new doctor believes he has Asperger's, and not ADHD, but possibly ADD.

Additionally, Risperdal has been used off-label for years for kids who are aggressive or easily agitated. It used to be given often to ADHD kids in conjunction with a stimulant.

I'm not here to defend its usage in children or to advocate it not be used for children.

I'm here to find out if there are any other members on the board whose children have had it prescribed in conjunction with a stimulant.

Thank you,

Val

ADHD and ADD are the same thing, it is actually all referred to as ADHD now, with different classifications. What used to be called ADD would now be called adhd/innattentive.

My friends child uses it , he has Aspergers and somewhat violent tendencies, it does calm him somewhat, but she is stopping it due to the constant blood draws to check levels. He does not do well with blood draws.

[QUOTE=edbson]

ADHD and ADD are the same thing, it is actually all referred to as ADHD now, with different classifications. What used to be called ADD would now be called adhd/innattentive.

This is the best written info on ADHD I've found, by Russell A. Barkley. He sees ADD as separate from ADHD:

http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.aspx?r=54

I can imagine.

Thank you,

Val

Vickie,

Just wondering if you had to go back on the Risperdal yet. Will was just rx this and I'm very nervous about taking it.

Is it something that you have to wean off of?

Still no risperdal this year. She has a great teacher and that helps keep the stress down. She is using very few of her accomodations at school and doing well. We are trying to see what may or may not be needed for Jr High next year.

The doc started her low increased her until we saw results. THe first dose was 1/4mg and we increased by 1/4mg each week:

First week=1/4mg at night; 2nd week=1/2mg at night; 3rd week=3/4mg at night; 4th week=1/4mg am and 1/2mg at night; 5th week=1/2 am and 1/2 at night; increasing to 2mg each day (doc said we could go up to 3mg if needed). This was so she could get an even spread of med but if daytime drowsiness happend we could do more at night. During the summer when we did not use the stimulant, we had to give the risperdal at night because it made her drowsy without a stimulant to counter act that side effect. Risperdal can cause weight gain, which we welcomed with the several inches in height we saw last summer.

We weaned her off by decreasing by 1/2mg each week for 4 weeks.

HTH

Well, Will started this last night, 1/4 mg. I had him sleep in my room so I could watch him, and nothing happened. And he was still his normal, out of control self this morning..

Willsmama,

The doctor told us it is a medicine that works cumulatively (better once built up in the system) and that we might notice a difference in 3-5 days, but that it would probably take a couple weeks for there to be any noticeable improvement at school.

By Day 3, his school behavior was on the right track. And for my son, it does seem that the improvements just continue the more weeks he is on it.

He has done so well on it, the doctor lowered his dose of Metadate and this was the first week back to school since he lowered it. He had good behavior every day in every class this week, so in his case, the stimulant was causing some of the poor behaviors.

Also, I don't know if the 1/4 mg. is a subthreshold dose for your son as it was for mine. My son started out at .125 twice/day for a couple of weeks before the doc increased it to the proper dose (that the doc says he recommends for this age - 7) of .25 twice/day and my son just gets better all the time.

Be patient and watch for any side effects. We don't have any side effects at this time. I bet in a couple of weeks you'll know if this is helping your son.

Finding the right medicine for my son has taken the better part of two years, so hang in there.

Val

We've been doing this for about 2 years or more, too so I know how hard it is. This is our first med outside the stimulants that took me so long to feel comfortable giving him, now this.

It didn't appear to even make him sleepy last night either. I assume he's not at the right dose because his dr said we would start very slowly and a very low dose.

The thing that's driving me out of my mind right now, is the constant silly laughing when he's in trouble. Every time I discipline him, he just sits there and giggles, smiles and just act like he's... on something...