medications question

[zba189]

My difficult child is taking Risperdal and as far as I can tell it is being used as a mood stabilizer. He has been in a Residential Treatment Center (RTC) program for a month now with no move towards a more traditional mood stabilizer being used. He was placed in the Residential Treatment Center (RTC) program because he was very destructive in my home, he was not though violent towards anyone here. His team is moving towards a Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) Spectrum diagnosis but that seems to change from week to week (this week it's the Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) diagnosis last week it was a mood disorder). I know these things can be co-morbid and I also understand that the neuropsychologist will give us more information about what we are dealing with.

We are gearing up for the fact that difficult child will be home at the end of the week with day treatment Monday through Friday for a few more weeks. Before I ask my question to the psychiatrist (I'm not super impressed with him to begin with) and he decides I'm an idiot, I'll ask here . If my difficult child doesn't rage all the time (very rarely infact) can the Risperdal be used a PRN (or is it PNR, I switch the letters sometimes) and not an on going everyday medication?

 

[smallworld]

Risperdal can be used as a PRN (as needed) medication, and it in fact comes in a melt-tab form for that purpose. However, my experience is that these medications are more effective over the long haul when they are used everyday and have a chance to build up to a steady state in the blood stream. The child doesn't have to go through ups and downs in spikes of medication doses and actually feels better day to day.

by the way, Risperdal is FDA-approved for the treatment of irritability associated with autism (Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD)).

 

[Josie]

My daughter took Seroquel, which is similar to Risperdal, PRN some of the time and every day some of the time, depending on how often she was raging. The trouble with the PRN method is by the time you realize it might be needed, it is sometimes difficult to get them to take it.

 

[zba189]

Thank you so much for your replies. I don't really know why but it just makes more sense when it coming from you. Maybe because there aren't the eye rolls that come from his psychiatrist. So here's my next question, do the fast melts work different (more time to get into his system etc) than the regular pills? The reason I ask is because our insurance will not cover the fast melts at all but cover the regular pills. I gave difficult child the pill yesterday and he had a more difficult home visit than usual. He is getting the fast melts at the Residential Treatment Center (RTC).