Hi Kate. I've been receiving messages from others, so I should be OK. I'm also heading north on the weekend, Newcastle by Friday night, Port Mac (Lighthouse) for my sister's birthday on Saturday night. If you're anywhere within coo-ee en route I'd love to say g'day and let you meet my success story (difficult child 3).
Risperdal - I think you're making a wise choice waiting for the weekend. Did you have to pay a bomb for it, or did the doctor diagnose whatever psychiatric condition we have to, to prescribe it? Or maybe shrinks can prescribe it on PBS, but not paediatricians. It used to cost us over A$60 a box.
We tried it with two kids - difficult child 1, and difficult child 3. They were also both on dexamphetamine at the same time (for the ADHD). While difficult child 1's ADHD was never a behaviour problem at school (they thought he was lovely, he was so quiet and well-behaved - and totally tuned out) he DID have problems with ups and downs with the medications, as well as a LOT of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) issues.
difficult child 3 - behaviour problems that were partly ADHD, and a big part the autism and related social hassles (especially undirected activity, also unsupervised, at recess and lunch). Extreme anxiety issues also. Ups and downs from the medications, although by then we had put him on long-acting form (privately compounded).
Outcome - difficult child 1 was incredibly sedated by even a tiny dose (quarter of a tablet evening only) and doubled his weight in six months. He went from a skinny kid to a tub of lard. And each evening he'd take his tablet and be sound asleep within half an hour. If he took it in the morning (which he did for a while) he would zonk out and not get any schoolwork done (he was Distance Ed by this stage, working towards Stage 1 of his HSC).
difficult child 3 - took three times the amount of his big brother with no apparent problems. No sedation, no weight gain (well, none above what would be expected).
Benefits - for both boys, benefits were mild. It seemed to smooth out difficult child 1's moods and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). difficult child 3 seemed more settled (but only marginally).
Finally I was fed up with the huge cost with only minimal benefit, so I talked to the doctor abut stopping it for both boys to see what would happen.
difficult child 1 stopped and his weight slowly came off. Not all, because he was now two years older and in his late teens. But his beer keg belly turned to a six pack.
difficult child 3 - no apparent change coming off it, but by then he was Distance Ed and his anxiety was far less an issue for us (since we had reduced a lot of the causes for his anxiety by removing him from mainstream). But he lost weight - went from 40 Kg to 35 which scared the doctor. I think the weight loss was due to going off the risperdal, there must have been a weight gain factor for him after all. His weight has been stable since.
All you can do is try it. People are different, I don't know how your girl will react. difficult child 1 now takes Zoloft and it seems to be calming his Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) down better than anything (still not brilliant). He's tried weaning off it but the Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) comes back too much so he stays on a low level. He'll prowl the house when he's going out (especially if he's the last one leaving it) and walk around checking doors and windows are locked and making sure he's packed everything he needs to - keys, wallet etc. Then he goes around again. And again. Until the clock says it's time to go, then he frets the whole time, "Did I lock all the windows and doors? Do I have my wallet?" etc.
So if you have been advised to dose her in the evenings, begin Friday night. Make sure she has dinner first, in case it sedates her. Take notes, see how she is that evening and next day. And on Monday morning, pack extra lunch for her, for school.
I'm surprised he's not trying stims, it could mean he's still not 100% confident of his diagnosis and is hoping risperdal alone will help enough. If he's wrong and it's not ADHD, stims could make other conditions worse. He's maybe just being careful and wanting to watch and wait. The violent outbursts may be what has him concerned there. Sensible. Although at her age, she is likely to have a very high level of frustration and impulsivity adding to the rest of the problems.
See how she goes, I hope it does help enough for you to overcome some of the other issues.
Nothing is a complete fix though.
Marg
Just curious. Why is she being given it? We had a trouble with Risperdal, however it does help a lot of children. Is your child raging out-of-control?
