chicomorgans

New Member
My daughter has not been officially diagnosed with anything other than anxiety but has bipolar tendencies and similarities to oppositional defiance disorder. She is currently on Abilify which seemed to work at first and now doesn't. We would like to have her medicine changed but have to wait for our appointment with a new psychiatrist in a couple of weeks. We are frustrated to no end as a family and individually.
 

Methuselah

New Member
Hi Chico. I'm sorry you are struggling. When we have had issues with medications that stopped working (Prozac and Strattera), I would not give the medication at all for a week then start again with the prescribed dose. For some reason, the medications would start working again, usually in a matter of days. It is something you could try until you see the doctor.

Again, I am sorry you are all going through this.
 
T

TeDo

Guest
Welcome to our little corner of the world. Lots of questions to begin with. Sorry.

How old is your daughter? What kinds of behaviors is she displaying? How does she do in school? Is it just you and her or are there other family members in your household? How long has she been on the Abilify? When was the last time she had a dosage adjustment? What are you thinking you want to change to? Are there any mental health issues on either side of her family tree, diagnosed or just suspected?

Many of us here don't consider ODD a very helpful diagnosis. Usually it is simply a symptom of something else and once that is dealt with the ODD diagnosis changes.

Sorry again for all the questions but it helps steer us in the right direction as far as advising goes. It would be great if you could create a signature like I have below.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Welcome, Chicomorgans.
I don't know what to say about the medicine ... I'm glad it worked for a little while, anyway.
You can call and leave a msg with-the psychiatric and ask if you should stop, or increase the dose.
Meanwhile, what sorts of behaviors does she exhibit? Yelling, black and white thinking, inability to transition? Blowing up at minor things?
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Welcome to the board, but so sorry you had to come here.

Can you give us more background on your daughter, such as her infancy and toddlerhood? Is she biological or adopted? Do both bio. parents live with her? Any illnesses while young? Any separations or chaos in her early life? Any delays or strange quirks? I agree...ODD is pretty useless as a diagnosis. I would be looking for something more substantial and if it were me, I would see a neuropsychologist. I think they are the best diagnosticians.
 
B

Bunny

Guest
Welcome to the board!

How old is your daughter? Has she had a mojor growth spurt? My son is on risperdal and was doing great on it until this spring, when it seemed like we were worse off than we were when we started. He was just spinning way out of control. Turns out that he grew so much really quickly and the dose was not enough for him anymore. Once we increased the dose he did much better. Have you spoken to the psychiatrist? Maybe he will allow you to increase the dose at least until your appointment with him so that he can see for himself what is going on.
 
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