How soon will I see results from Abilify?

[Chaosuncontained]

My son was diagnosis as ADHD at age 4, he is now 8. We've been on all ADHD medications. Four weeks ago he was on Strattera-20 mg in the AM and Adderall 10 mg in the AM and 5 mg midday. We changed that recently to Strattera 20 mg AM and Ritalin 10 mg in the AM, 5 mid morning and 5 in the afternoon. The Ritalin wasn't giving us better results.

Yesterday we saw a new MD (had been seeing a Psychiatrist for 4 years) who specializes in ADHD/Mood Disorders. He came highly recommended. Carson was put on 2.5 mg Abilify the 1st day, 5 mg for 5 days and 7.5 mg after that. He will saty on the Strattera but has been taken off Ritalin for the time being--I think to see how the Abilify works first?

I love my son VERY much--but I feel very lost and confused. I have already lost my temper with him this AM over him not taking a spelling test AND getting sent home from school (AGAIN). I know I should be the lovng,kind forgiving mother--but this is very hard. His behaviour seems worse.

 

[lmf64]

Does your son have an IEP? If they are sending him home because he refuses to do work, it may be time to push for one if he doesn't.
Abilify was a God send for us, except for horrific weight gain. They say it doesn't cause weight gain, but every child on my sons psychiatrists' roles who took/takes Abilify had huge weight gains. As far as how long I'd like to say it was within 10 days or so.

 

[Chaosuncontained]

lmf64, Thank you for the info. Carson is Section 504 (Texas) here at school...school is actually very cooperative and understanding...They wanted him home today because he started Abilify,he was chewing his shirt, shoes/laces and ripping up library books today. I just happened to go to his schoolto give him his new medication and he was in the office, so after the APrincipaland counselor talked we decided to bring him and his work home today. I am ok with weight gain. He is small for his age (almost 9) at 48lbs and 48" tall. Thanks for your quick response. I sure hope this helps.

 

[confuzzled]

Does your son have an IEP? If they are sending him home because he refuses to do work, it may be time to push for one if he doesn't.
Abilify was a God send for us, except for horrific weight gain. They say it doesn't cause weight gain, but every child on my sons psychiatrists' roles who took/takes Abilify had huge weight gains. As far as how long I'd like to say it was within 10 days or so.

i posted this before, but my psychiatrist finally admitted thats what they were seeing here too....huge weight gains in kids. they couldnt point me to any formal studies on the topic. according to our psychiatrist they dont yet know why and still feel its weight neutral for adults.

mine gained 30+ lbs in under a year.

as for how fast it works...i cant really answer that since we started out slow and titrated up and it took a while--i do remember it helped certain things pretty fast even at low doses, and others, well...i still dont think abilify alone did anything.

good luck with it!