medication question

[ready2run]

i need to add something to my difficult child's medications to help him at school. he is very combative with the teacher and refuses to do work, he's also very disruptive, loud and gets distracted. he is already on risperidone, 1mg @ bedtime. i was thinking of asking to just try adding 5mg to the morning if the doctor agrees. i am also looking for alternative suggestions to look into that are NOT stimulants(ie.ritalin) because difficult child has a heart problem so i need to be careful. i'd like to go into the psychiatrist appointment prepared with some ideas and see what she thinks from there as she says she 'doesn't know what to do for him.' so please share your experiences with whatever medications your difficult child takes that seem to work for them

 

[JJJ]

Is you difficult child already on heart medications? clonodine, etc?

 

[InsaneCdn]

Really depends on the cause of the combatitiveness. And I don't have direct experience with autism spectrum. But I can tell you that it is not unusual to have a split dose on the Risperidone - with more at night and less in the morning, just like you are proposing. The reason for weighting it toward evening is due to the possible drowsiness side-effect.

 

[ready2run]

he's not on anything for his heart, his problem is not that bad but when we put him on ritalin we didn't know about it and he got very sick so we need to be careful how we handle his medication. i know you guys aren't doctors, i just want a starting point of what medications to research so i can make educated suggestions. i'm not sure what the cause of the combativeness is. he is like that in all aspects of life but worse at school and specifically he refuses to work with both his father and his teacher, he is ok with the teachers aid most of the time.

 

[TeDo]

difficult child is on Strattera for his ADHD. It is a non-stimulant. It works very well for us but others here have not had the same results as we have. We tried Risperdone but it actually made things MUCH worse. difficult child has opposite reactions to many medications. Some have had good results with it but our experience was similar to what you are describing is going on now at school. Just something to be aware of. Every kid is different but wanted to share our experience.

 

[Malika]

Now, just put me down as an old hippy, but I would like to talk to you about magnesium It has been shown that many/most kids with ADHD have a magnesium deficiency and in studies giving a magnesium supplement has been shown to improve radically the behaviour of kids with ADHD by calming them. It has been called "the happy pill"... Your boy is old enough to give him a decent dose - 200 mg daily. It is worth I try, I reckon!

 

[InsaneCdn]

Just have to watch with the heart problem... even supplements can have side effects. I do NOT know where Magnesium sits with this... but, just a heads-up. Anything that can come from a pill-bottle needs to be checked for interactions.

 

[keista]

My son was never combative, but he's had his fair share of frustrations and tantrums. I can only guess that the combativeness may stem from frustration - whether from the autism or the ADHD. When son hit middle school, when faced with frustrations, he bypassed the tantrum phase and went strait to being depressed. He was put on 2mg Abilify and it has worked wonders. Since January, we noticed that his frustrations/tantrums/depressive symptoms started increasing again, and we just recently upped his dose to 5mg. Again he's much better and coping wonderfully.

For son, this medication doesn't just reduce the depression, but reduces the initial frustration level that leads to everything else. IOW when faced with a problem/challenge/annoyance he is better able to process it and think of ways to deal with it.

Don't know if that helps or is even an appropriate option for your difficult child, but that's my story.

 

[BusynMember]

Ritalin does not normally fight combativeness. It's for attention. If your child tends toward violence, in my opinion I wouldn't consider it. Also, if he has a heart problem, why take a chance?

JMO.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Ritalin does not normally fight combativeness. It's for attention

Ditto on that, MWM.

If, by chance, the combativeness is the result of problems due to not being able to focus the attention... (that is, the combativeness is a secondary symptom) then addressing the focus issue with medications would affect the combativeness as well. BUT... combativeness itself does NOT respond to stimulant medications, and may be made worse by them.

 

[flutterby]

I think you meant add .5mg in the morning, because 5mg is *a lot* unless you're psychotic. I'd give it a try. Risperidone helps with anger, mood regulation, and impulse control.

 

[flutterby]

Also, clonidine is a blood pressure medication that is used for ADHD, while Strattera is an AD used for ADHD. Both are non-stimulants.

 

[ready2run]

i did mean .5mg of risperidone. so far i have looked into the strattera and magnesium a little. our appointment is on monday, so i will keep researching until then. good info so far, keep it comin'.

 

[Steely]

Actually, I think maybe what JJJ was getting at is that Clonidine is actually something that slows down the blood pressure as well as proven to be a great thing for calming aggression. Matt was on it for quite awhile and it really helped. It might be something to consider if he already has some rapid heart beats, or heart issues.
Otherwise another dose of .5 of Risperdal in the morning might help. Unfortunately with Matt it made him just crash - and he is normally super hyper - but adding that in the morning just put him back to sleep.
He also tried Strattera which worked well for about a week, but then increased the aggression.
Of course these are just *my* stories - each child has his own metabolism and chemistry.
Good luck