Any thoughts on risperdol being used for children that have aspergers?

Question

side effects? pros and cons?

Answer 1

My 16 with Asperger's has used risperdol in the past, not for his Asperger's obviously.  He had a time when he was a bit psychotic, when puberty first began, and it helped in conjunction with other meds and therapy for mood issues he had at the time.  He took it for several years with no ill effects.

He does not take anything but adderal now, by his own choice, to address his ADD during the school year.

Answer 2

I know of several people whose kids with AS have taken Risperdal, obviously not for the AS itself, but for associated symptoms such as anxiety or very severe outbursts. The most common side effect I've heard of is weight gain. Some kids get a greater appetite, some kids don't, but it seems to cause substantial weight gain in either case.

Our personal experience: After months of recommendation by a trusted doctor, we gave this a trial some years ago. I was always reluctant to give a young child a medication developed for adult psychotics, but the doctor kept insisting it should help. While there might have been a little improvement in our child's engagement, she still had frequent outbursts, it disrupted her sleep patterns, and she gained a whole lot of weight in her midsection. Eventually we phased it out and saw no decline in her functioning.

She actually improved the year after we took her off the meds, because she started going to a different school with a different support program. It was really instructive to us that a change in her environment made much more of a difference than a change in her chemistry. Every kid is different and some people have done well with the meds in Risperdal's class, but I would try fixing the environment before breaking out these heavy-duty medications.

Answer 3

keep in mind in using any drug for any of the 'symptoms' that are likely helped by that family of drugs.  When you start a med you are likely to see behavior get worse before it gets better.

Too many times medication trials are discontinued because the student felt 'weird' or behavior got worse - when in actuality if they would continue for several weeks - they would find some sympotmatic relief.

Answer 4

Isn't risperdal an anti-psychotic?

My son has Autism and doesn't take any medication for it; but i am curious to see the answers which appear.

Answer 5

I have two autistic sons on Risperdal. One (15 yr. old) has been on it for about 10 years and the other (17 yr. old) I put on 3 years ago when he went through puberty. I recently pulled both boys off their doses to see what would happen. Well, bad news, they both went nutty on me: regressed big time on behaviors, speech and cognitive function. Go to rxlist.com to look up specifics. I have only good things to say about the results and no observation of any side effects until I took them off. I know of several kids that are on the spectrum that take risperdal and have heard no complaints on their usage.

Answer 6

not for aspergers-there are no medications that help aspergers itslef-only coexisting conditions

i just found this:  it has been approved for aggressive behavior associated with autism-but I still have to wonder if teh austism caused a secondary condition that is traditionally treated with medications like risperdol

http://www.risperdalautism.com/risperdal...