abilify vs risperidone?

[jennd23]

My son is currently on Abilify. With some of the insurance changes happening at work, I worry about how I'll be able to afford it going forward. It will be over $500 a month. I was looking on the insurance website and Risperidone would only be about $20 a month.

Obviously I prefer the cost of Risperidone, just wondering what experiences anyone had with both. I read some of the posts about Risperidone increasing agitation, aggression, etc. Just wondered if anyone had switched. My son is doing well on Abilify and I hate to think about changing it but I'll go broke spending that much on medications.

I'm also curious about appitite side effects. My son's appitite has GREATLY increased since starting abilify which from what I"m reading isn't supposed to happen. I worry about how much that might increase on one that's known to cause an increase?

 

[keista]

I just switched ins coverage to make sure Abilify was an option for DD1. Jury is still out for us but her appetite increased as well - nonstop hunger. Fortunately she's always been the the best of my kids at choosing healthier foods so I've got her snacking on rabbit food all the time now. She still gets "junk" options for regularly scheduled snacks.

Sometimes you can get the doctors to grieve the insurance company on medications. Usually they have to prove that the cheaper medication was tried and didn't work, but since he's already on this it may get covered as "pre-existing" good functioning medication. Don't know if this can still happen with the changes, but it's worth a try.

 

[TerryJ2]

Great idea, Keista!

My husband and I were just discussing how people afford it when they don't have insurance. We had to bite the bullet from Jan 1 until now, paying $400 per scrip for difficult child per mo, but finally, our deductible (admittedly, very high, at somewhere around $2500) is satisfied, and we're "home free" for the rest of the yr. Sheesh!

difficult child's psychiatrist told me to call the ins company and ask them if they have an online recommendation so we can order 3-mo's at a time.

 

[mechelle]

my daughter was on risperdole, she got up to that max dosage, then they changed her to zolof, now shes up to 150mg

 

[hearts and roses]

I didn't realize that risperidone was something that could be replaced by abilify.

When my difficult child was on risperdal, after a few years, we had to discontinue it because she began lactating. It raised her progesterone levels and her breasts began producing milk. Scary. It also increased her cravings for starchy carbs and she subsequently gained weight.

 

[ready2run]

my step-son is having heart problems from the risperidone he was on for the last year. it was working well thoug, before that.

 

[KTMom91]

Risperidone worked well for Miss KT; but when she went off our insurance last August, she chose not to continue taking it.

If you're an AAA member, they offer prescription drug discounts at many pharmacies; CVS used to accept it, while Walgreens did not. It's not something they advertise, but it did help us through while we were waiting for Miss KT's Medi-Cal to kick in.

 

[Wiped Out]

difficult child had a bad reaction with Abilify and also couldn't take Risperdone because it made him way too tired. However, easy child/difficult child is on respirdone and it seems to be helping some. She has not gained any weight since she has been on it.

 

[jennd23]

Hearts - Im not sure that it can, but when I put abilify into the insurance cost comparison tool (to see prices of their pharmacy vs my pharmacy) it was listed below as an alternative. His doctor mentioned R at one appointment but said he thought he'd do better with abilify.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[wintak]

my difficult child was on risperdone. We didn't see any help. It never made him sleepy (drat) and it didn't change his appetite. he did happen to develop tics which they are thinking now might be related to risperdone so we're scaling down and off it and on Zyprex (or something like that).

 

[johnjohn]

appetite and weight gain DO happen with abilify, but it is a great drug for me

risperidone did nothing for me

i am sorry about the cost but contact the manufacturer maybe they can help