Our son (adhd, odd??) has tried several stimulant meds with nothing but ill effects. There have been a few good days, but they all seem to mess him up emotionally and physically after a few doses.
Anyhow, risperdal has worked WONDERS for us in the last 2 1/2 weeks. My question is-could this mean he has something other than doctor's diagnosis? If the biploar med is working so well, should we question his condition? I have heard that ADHD medications can make bipolar worse, and this seems to be his situation.
Any help much appreciated...
Has he been evaluatedfor bipolar? Does he suffer from anxiety? Risperidone is also used for anxiety.
Just because an adhder cannot tolerate stims, doesn't necessarily mean that he is bipolar. He just can't tolerate stims. There are other options out there. Many with milder adhd seem to do well with risperidone.
I agree with Granny Fran. Just because Risperdal has worked, doesn't mean that your child is bi-polar. My child is ADHD, OCD with ODD and he is also on Risperdal. It is used also to treat anxiety and irritability. It it works for you thats great.
"Our Children are Precious in His Sight"
What would make you think that something else may be going on. Is it just because risperdal works or is it for another reason. If it is because risperdal works just be glad that you have found something that works lol. If it is for another reason then maybe you should have your child evaluated. Good Luck.Other than increased apetite, we didn't have any side effects. Our childs MD dc/d Risperdal, but I am hoping that we start it back.
Good luck. It's always scary starting something new. Believe me I am living it.
My daughter is on Focalin XR 25 mg a day and limitcial for ad-hd and they are taking her off that and putting her on this medicine..You have been given good information from others on this board and will get more medical evaluation so I just wanted to pass on a little experience from my youngest.
When my youngest was having too much stress with uncaring teachers, her anxiety increased and came out at aggression. She was put on risperdal in addition to her other meds. It worked very well. During this school year with great teachers, we tried a break from the risperdal and she is doing very well with the stim and guanfacine only. I will watch for future stress and know that we can go back to the risperdal to get her through it. SO in this case, the risperdal is not for bi-polar but for aggression (ODD). There is a lot of overlap with these meds and the symptoms of these disorders.
We are going in for a full evaluation tomorrow. His age makes it difficult. Some of his symptoms just don't jive with an ADHD diagnosis. It just makes me question whether or not the first developmental ped just slapped ADHD on him without looking further...going for 2nd opinion. Preschool also brought someone else in independently of us yesterday for evaluation. As many eyes as we can get on the situation, the better, right?I am new and going through "older" threads to see if I can find info about rage and stim meds with my son that may have bipolar. I have had the same question but with a twist. I am trying to figure out if stim med have caused rages in my son that might be bipolar. So what I am trying to do is take away the stimulants and see if he has bipolar. I think Stimulants make bipolar worse if they are bipolar
I also think that it is possible that stimulants can be difficult for some to take that do not have bipolar. I am going to find out when I take him off the stimulant.
What I keep reading is that it is hard to tell with all the overlapping symptoms and not enough research time on certain disorders and meds.