Hi
My son (8) just stopped the Respidol after 6 weeks. It did nothing for him at all. No side effects all all. Alot of people told me about the weight gain and nothing at all changed. Now today we just started Metadate and he seems cranky today. This is so not fun. I have a feeling this wont work either.
E-mail if you would like to chat!
Marie
Mom to Anthony ASD,ADHD, OCD
Well after a visit with the doctor today he tells me that my daughter needs to have her medicine switched and this is the time of year to do it, she is 7 and will be oout of school for summer! AHHH, changing new medicine is so hard, i am not sure she can handle this again...My youngest was on focalin, guanfacine (same class med as clonidine) and risperdal last year. When she stresses, she gets frustrated and aggressive and moves into depression. We added risperdal when teasing started at school and she could not deal with the added stress. We increased it very slowly (increments of .25mg at a time) and it really helped her. Early this year she had a great teacher (first time after 2 years of bad teachers) and we were able to stop the risperdal). The most commom side effect is weight gain and sleepiness. The sleepiness was not a problem because of the way we increased the med and the weight gain was welcome. Rare effects to watch for are diabetes and Tardive Dyskinesia and Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome.
for more info and how to watch for the rare but serious effects:
http://www.risperdal.com/risperdal/
If the doc is a psychiatrist (not a pediatrician) prescribing these meds) and you are comfortable this doc knows the managment of these meds really well, this can be a very helpful med.
Will also took this without any changes. It did nothing for him either...My guy was taking riperdal for several years to ease the heat in his attitude. It was very effective but started to wane. We have recently move to a longer lasting version called Invega with good success.
Paul