It depends on the kid.
We had both boys on risperdal. difficult child 1 was the oldest and the biggest. He was first prescribed quarter of a tablet morning and evening. He was home-schooled at the time. He took the morning tablet and fifteen minutes later was back in bed fast asleep. I tried to get him up and he was willing to get up and do his work, he just couldn't keep awake. When he took it in the evenings we had to move the time back to bedtime, because otherwise he wouldn't finish his bedtime routine before he fell asleep for the night.
And it didn't stop, it didn't taper off. After a couple of weeks we took difficult child 1 off the morning dose, which meant he was getting quarter of a tablet only, each night. He slept like a log, was even difficult to rouse next morning. He had been about 35 Kg at 16 and within six months he weighed 70 Kg. We kept him on it another six months and finally took him off it - it was costing us big bucks and we saw not enough improvement anyway. When we took difficult child 1 off the risperdal he lost about 25 Kg over the next 6-12 months, but he'd done some growing and is now fuller in the chest, taller and more muscular (teen hormones finally doing their job). I think he's about 60 Kg now, very lean and wiry but not skinny like his brother. No spare fat, built like a fencer.
difficult child 3, on the other hand, was not sedated at all on risperdal. He was taking three quarters of a tablet from about six years of age in two doses, morning and evening. He weighed about 20 Kg and seemed to gain at about the normal rate - maybe he gained a little more, but only to the point where people stopped commenting on how skinny he was. It did seem to 'smooth out' his anxiety a little, but when he transferred to home schooling it was much less a problem. But it WAS costing; there seemed to be not a great deal of benefit and I figured, who give him medication if it's not really justified? We took him off it to see if he could cope; and he could. He didn't seem to be more wakeful (which difficult child 1 was, off the risperdal) but he DID lose weight when he came off it, which worried his doctor. difficult child 3 is now 35 Kg at 13 years old - skinny rabbit with bones sticking out - but otherwise doing OK.
So even in the same family, we've had considerable variation.
Marg
