hi rbecca i will mention that to the doc about the easier test, ya i dinally baught a pdr so i can really research meds,so i know what i am putting in my kid.
Thank you for these helpful posts and I would only do rispedol or any medication as a last resort after reading. we stopped dairy and wheat foods and see a little improvement so I guess we need to eliminate more to get him really GFCF.
sharealways-
Boy, I don't envy you at all with the GF/CF diet !!!!!!! but congrat's for trying.
I tried it with my son,I did see improvement,but he was such a picky eater that finding things that he would eat was near impossible(that I could afford at least).I wasn't strong enough with it and his school didn't support it at all-if someone had a b-day they would give him cake & ice cream even though they knew about the diet.Now I can see the valid point that if everyone else had cake,and they wouldn't give him any that he would feel like crap,but still it just made it impossible to follow through with it for me. I'm very glad that you are seing positive results,and other than the possibility of a ticked off kid - no side effects!!!!
How old is your child?
OK, so it is weird to reply to my own reply but after reading it I don't like the way the first line sounds......
Let me try that again---
The GF/CF diet is a terrific idea, and it can produce really good results,I think it is wonderfull that you are exploring this and commend you for doing so !!!!!
There, that sounds much more like the COMPLIMENT that I was going for!!
I hope your visit to the doc goes, (or went) well.
Hopefully your son will not have diabetes- however, it's not the end of the world, just another bump in the road......And anyone reading this knows better than most about bumps in the road, don't we ?!?!?!
Fortunatley(sp?) there are oral meds -v- just insulin injections (if indicated). I know... more research, I can say that I take two of them since my dx last fall w/out any problems that aren't more than just a royal pain in the behind - of course all Rx's affect everyone differently, but that's where the PDR comes into play !!!
Let me know how it's going, have a great day, becca
There is a lot of debate regarding Risperdal and these other antipsychotic drugs used to treat children with autism. Some people see good effects and other people liken giving them to your child equivelant to a "mental lobotomy". There are many people and doctors who are very against these type of drugs being used in children with autism. I worked at a mental health nonprofit for a while that was very big on getting people with shizophrenia and other mental issues on these drugs, and I have seen first hand the effects of some of these drugs. Many have serious side effects such as large amounts of weight gain and an increased suseptability to things like diabetes, some involuntary kind of shaking reactions (can't think of the term) which can be permanent. Opponants of the drugs have all kinds of evidence that it can increase behaviors, that positive behaviors are temporary, ect. And there are increasing lawsuits against Risperdal.
I've heard enough people like the original poster who have had positive experiences with it that I figure it must work for some people, and in personal cases I have seen some people with problems such as schizophrenia benefit from the drugs, although I would add that I did see alot of side effects in those cases and the people were verbal and could verbalize exactly how those side effects affected them and it was a big issue for them. Many felt the side effects were barely worth it.
I had thought of using antipsychotics and was even prescribed some before, but upon doing research I got really freaked out and decided I would try anything else before putting my child and his developing brain on these drugs.
I've seen the posts about gfcf diets, I and many of my friends have had amazing results on gfcf diets. The only thing about trying them and seeing if they work is you have to be absolutely diligent about eliminating every trace of gluten and casein to get a good idea if it works. I've seen so many people say "We tried it for a month and it didn't work'. My friend gave me good advice and said "Consider the first month a wash, your kids will be getting gluten and casein in that month while you are learning what is truly gfcf, and it is a trial and error time". Meaning, you go on the diet, and you don't realize that the french fries you are giving him are being cooked oil that fish sticks and mozzeralla sticks are being cooked in and you are exposed to cross contamination. You are giving him a sauce that has wheat as one of it's natural ingredients. It takes a good month of diligently checking all sources of foods before you start to get the hang of it. And it's not the type of thing you can do halfway and then say it didn't work. I would say try diligently for 6 months before quitting, and that means getting on gfcf sites and learning more, calling companies and asking if their products are gfcf and being extremely careful when taking the kids out to eat (we rarely do, or we bring their food, too much cross contamination).
My kids are gfcf and so am I and we have seen amazing results, and if we slip a little we see behaviors go up.
We tried Risperdal for our son when he was in Kindergarten...NEVER AGAIN!! He went off the deep end. I refuse to let ANY doctor give him any drug in the anti-psychotic family again. It made him worse, he was absolutely insane. I am glad some people have luck with it, but my son has been legally diagnosed with Autism since 2000, and I know I would never do it again. I am very careful about any drug prescribed to him, I research them on the internet before I give him anything. Autism is bad enough to deal with....I don't need any more of those types of drugs to make it worse. It is definately not the "magic" drug for all.
Kris
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Autism is the silent epidemic. Don't stare, be aware.
Hi. I am familiar with risperdal and infact my son who is autistic was on it for about eight months. We had mixed reviews on it but it was helpful with his motor tic issues. He did gain a lot of weight on it though and had trouble with elevated liver enzymes as well. But, since then we have discovered Abilify and I cannot say enough good things about it. One real plus is it does not promote the weight gain that the risperdal does. It also has calmed my son down enough so he can sleep at night when combined with one clonodine. The two are a good combination to promote sleep, Sleep , or lacktherof was a big issue for years with your son. He is now eleven and goes to his own bed and actually stays there. That was one of his biggest accomplishments. I think the Abilify played a major role in that. We did have to add a small amount of congentin to the regimin just last month for my son as his anxiety starting a new middle school was huge and his tics were increasing again. But, the doctor did not want to increase Abilify yet at his age. So far, the congentin has helped dramatically. I was a bit nervous to introduce another drug...we went years doing the natural route as I did not want to get involved with the antipsychotics. But, I realize that it is a crucial thing for Neil to have them and be able to cope better and have a better quality of life. It is so good to hear that your kids have benefited so greatly from the medication. Take care. Jaynebyrd
Any drug that would cause me to gain more weight is one I definitely don't need! People say I look fine, but I'm about ten pounds overweight for my height and build.
I have kept my eye on this post for a while now, and just wanted to make one comment as for one of the most recent posts.
I'm not disputing anything, or intending to be a know it all, just a FYI !!!
Abilify IS a "A-typical antipsychotic", just like Risperdal, Zyprexa, Seroquel, and Geodon. They all carry the same warnings and possible complications.
Everyone responds to medications differently, even those in the same "family" of meds. One may have great success with an a-typical,max out on the dose allowed for them and have to change to another,or have another one added to compensate,and react totally different to the new one.
All of the meds in this "family" come with the risk of serious complications, even death.
I am always very happy to hear that someone has finally found something that helps their child, or themselves, BUT I hate to see people get false hopes off of someone elses good results and request a script based on that.
my 15 yr old is going through such an aggressive phase (hopefully a phase) he has been on 1.75mgs rispirdal since he was 10 started on a smaller dose, he did gain weight but I started special diet with him two years ago, sugar and dairy free (gluten will happen at some stage in the future) so his weight stabalised.
I have been wanting him off the meds, and we did start to take down his intake, but his behaviour got a tad irritable (don't think it was to do totally with taking his meds down because we only got to 1.25 mgs a day)anyway in the last two months the aggression has set in... lots of different reasons, it has become so bad they suggested chlorpromizine (same family of rispirdal but with a little sedative affect) this was helping for a week then he kicked in my bathroom door! now it's been suggested he needs to go up to 4mgs rispirdal and less chlorpromizine!! I'm at my wits end..
Terrified about side effects long term, terrified of side effects full stop! they have spoken of a antidote to be given to prevent some of the side effects! oh **** I don't know what to do, I am relying on a team of people in his school including a psychiatrist.. we are living in terror at home, never sure when he'll have an outburst, they seem to come out of no where, he hurts himself and has come after me several times:confused, and hurt me.. living the nightmare at the moment but am told he will come out of this! I think at the moment my biggest fear is side effects from the drugs.. help!
Hi there, you are in a position that I was in a few years ago with my son... FEAR I can totally understand where you are comming from.
My son just turned 15 in September, and is doing better than anyone ever thought possible.
The entire year of 2003 he was so aggressive that he was in and out of the adolesent psych ward @ childrens hospital.Much more in than out. We tried everything med wise,(after I researched the heck of them 1st for side effects,ect...). The med "guinnee pig" routine on your child is heartbreaking to watch, and scary on top of that
We also went through Risperdal,but they had him up to 4mgs per day...zombie, was the result,but the aggression was still present,just rather sluggish and he ended up hurting himself. Zyprexa was before that, great at first, but he eventually maxed out on the dose.The weight gain & diabetes.... not so great.
To make my long story shorter, after trying many other meds, with near fatal consequenses, on one.... We finally landed on something so simple it's pathetic that he had to go through so much before it was given as an option. Clonidine @ 0.2mgs in the morning,noon and night, with 0.1mgs available as a "PRN". So a total of 0.6mgs per day plus the optional 0.1mg if needed.
Clonidine changed my sons life, and mine. Granted his dose was a bit on the high side for his age, but we had to go by his weight also...
Clonidine is classified as an emergengy anti-hypertensive, it has a "calming effect" because it lowers blood pressure. It wasn't abnormal for him to go from a complete state of rage to alseep in 30 minutes.It also helped him sleep at night - through the night!!!! - Now he doesn't even take anything anymore, he has the Clonidine Rx just in case, but hasn't had to take it since April
I always make the point to state that all meds effect every person differently, and to research them and talk to your doc before just trying something that worked for someone else. But I thought I would share our experiences and what finally worked for my son.
Hi Rbecca, It was good to hear about what you've been through, I am waiting for a call from Sams dr in school, and I will discuss what you mentioned...
You are so right about the fear factor!! omg I am terrified, more about side effects then his aggression, having said that his aggression is pretty terrifying too...
will keep you posted and again thank you so much for sharing your info x
