Need some experienced suggestions

[fosterparents]

My difficult children are 11-year-old twin girls. I started out being their fosterparent when they were 2 months (bio mom, drinking and drugging and dad an alcoholic) and they've been with me ever since. Recently the older twin (by six minutes) started acing very angry. Over the top angry. Anger very much out of proportion to the situation. Younger sister provokes her. She is the quiet but sneaky one who lights the fuse and stands watching the fallout. She has ADHD/Learning Disability (LD)'s and the younger girl has ADD/Learning Disability (LD)'s. Older is in Special Education, younger one just getting by but in regular classes. Older girl was recently switched from Adderal XR 25 to Vyvanse 50. The Adderal was not getting her through her homework and family time, dinner, etc. Now the doctor has prescribed Resperidal in addition to the Vyvanse. Has anyone had any experience with Resperidal or the combination of Vyvanse and Resperidal. I'm a parent who is very leary about medication and I research it to death before trying. Any suggestions or past experiences would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Shari]

Hi, FP.

My difficult child is on Risperdal. They said it would make him sleepy and may counter some of his hyper behavior, but the reason for prescribing it was for his aggression.

The first time we gave it to him, we gave him the smallest dose made, and the only thing it did to him was make him seem "drunk". So we had a hyper, aggressive 3 1/2 year old, jumping off furniture and swinging skillets at us, only he was so drunk he could barely walk...

So we reduced the dose by half, gave ourselves a week to build up the guts to try again, and tried again. With the same results.

So we dropped the Risperdal idea.

4 or 5 months later, another doctor suggested it again, and I guess I was feeling pretty defeated that day, because I agreed to it to humor the doctor. This time, it was like a light switch. Our child who had never picked up a pencil was interested in coloring. We sat on the floor and played together WITH toys for hours every evening, it was a miracle drug for him that time. Why that time and not the others? Still no clue. But he is still on it.

He built up tolerance to it rather quickly and had to increase it a few times right off the bat, but he was (and still is) well under the max daily doseage. It does not work as well as it did 2 years ago when we first started it, but its made a huge difference in our lives and his.

The side effects are scarey, and I'm always leery. I still hate medicating my child, especially in the world of unknowns. But he was so agressive, we actually had people outside our family telling us we could not safely keep him at home much longer.

That's our Risperdal story for now.

 

[smallworld]

At what time of day is the over-the-top anger occurring? Is the psychiatrist willing to have you discontinue the Vyvanse to see if the stimulant is causing the anger?

Risperdal is an atypical antipsychotic that is prescribed for hallucinations and mania associated with bipolar disorder. It is also used off-label for anger and aggression. Side effects include sedation, weight gain and metabolic changes (high cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose) that can lead to type 2 diabetes.

I personally wouldn't recommend turning to Risperal until I knew whether removing Vyvanse would get rid of the anger.