We went to see Dr. Cartwright again today. He's such an incredible gentleman, and such a wonderful doctor! He pulled out the big guns with Dovi.... the stimulants make him aggressive and overly sensory. The Clonidine family of drugs makes him depressed and sleepy. So he pulled out the big guns... Risperdal.
GAH!!!
Anyone else here have a kid on Risperdal? any side effects to look out for besides weight gain? Funnily, half an hour after I gave it to him tonight, he began to cry miserably and nothing would calm him down. It may have been coincidental; I hope so. I have no energy to the whole 'getting used to meds' phase again. The school isn't happy when he's on meds, and by the time he comes home, it's not effective anymore... so there's almost no point.
In any case, I'd like to hear from anyone who has used Risperdal on a child, especially on a child with autism.
THANKS!
I found your site because we supposed to start tonight, can you share your experience?
ReplyDeleteDovi has been doing really well on risperdal thank G-d. His tantrums are gone, transitions are very smooth. So far, every month or so we had to increase the dose to double the previous amount bc the positive effects wear off once his body gets used to it. At this point he takes .5 mg in the morning and .5 at night and we're pleased with his behavior; he's much calmer.
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