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Post by Ashlea on Oct 31, 2007 21:31:51 GMT -5
Hi All -
I haven't posted here in a while but I REALLY need your help. My son Chandler (age 9) as been diagnosed with ADHD. He misbehaves everywhere we go all the time. It's to the point that my husband and I have to take turns just to give the other one a break and nobody will keep him anymore, not even his grandparents. The school calls us almost every day saying that he is hitting, spitting, kicking, etc. He has had to be physically restrained several times just since school started in August. We took him to Disney World for an entire week and I cried almost everyday because he acted so horrible not just to me but to everyone.
He has been taking Metadate & Clonidine for approx 3 years. His Dr. added Zoloft along with the other medications but this does not seem to have made much of a difference. Today I called her and she wants to take him off the Zoloft and put him on Risperdal.
Have any of your children taken Risperdal? And if so, what side effects did you notice?
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Post by Deannalee on Nov 1, 2007 0:26:51 GMT -5
My typical son, Jarod has had behavioral problems since he was 10 mos old. He hit, kicked, punched, head banged (to the point of leaving goose eggs), pulls at his face leaving marks, stomps, throws things, drops to the floor screaming.....this would be at home, the store, on trips, anywhere!!!! No one would keep him either. I switched dr's at one point and finally got a diagnosis of ODD and severe ADHD. We started on Metadate and Clonidine (he would be up almost all night long b/c he couldn't fall asleep). We then switched to Daytrana patches last year with Risperdal and Clonidine. Things are better, but when meds wear off....he does these things again. We are going to try and get a psych working with him to see if more is going on or maybe see if added counseling will help. It IS SO HARD!!!!!!! I want to scream and cry and rip my hair out.....now I dye it every four weeks b/c I am going gray!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!! Good luck.
Deanna
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Post by Deannalee on Nov 1, 2007 0:28:40 GMT -5
Duh....with the Risperdal....no side effects at all. We did have to get a baseline EKG to make sure his heart looked good....it can cause QT interval changes. They may require occasional EKG's. He also gets check ups every 6 mos just for the meds. Hope this helps. I know it helps his aggression so much.
Deanna
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Post by lespring on Nov 1, 2007 8:25:18 GMT -5
Angela has been on Risperdal for a year and a half. The number one problem with it is a dramatically increased appetite and the weight gain that goes with it. It's the reason most parents stop using it. Angela was 52 lbs when she started taking it a year and a half ago. Within 3 months she'd gained 15 lbs, and she's now at a total of 30 lb weight gain!!! The day she started it I went shopping for clothes for the Atlanta conference and bough size 6 everything. She's now in 12/14's!!!!!!! She has gained 4 inches in height as well, but the weight gain was significant, enough that her doctors wanted her off it, but I was ejoying the behavioral improvement too much.  Kids with DS have a problem with meds no longer working anywhere from a few weeks to several months. This is the longest she's been on any med. combination. About 2 months ago the Risperdal started wearing off, and we were gonna switch meds again. Back in May we added Ginko, but weren't at the proper dosage. About 4 weeks ago I increased it and I cannot believe the difference!!!! Angela is now spending more and more time in the mainstream classroom, often going without her aid. She's MUCH more predictable, and rarely getting into trouble at school. She used to be very every aggressive and impulsive, and we're just not seeing it anymore. We ARE still seeing problems with her use of foul language, but I'll take that over hair-pulling or pushing little kids over any day! |
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Post by jswanson7977 on Nov 29, 2007 17:17:48 GMT -5
hi there!! mom to Evan 4 1/2--I was wondering if anyone has gone to a geneticist for screenings? In october I had a miscarriage at 9 weeks of pregnancy. Due to our history, my ob/gyn ordered some genetic testing done on the baby. Well, got the results yesterday and it was a male baby with down syndrome. When we had Evan, we were told we had a 1% chance of having another baby with down syndrome---when we got that information we were baffled of course--but wondered if the dr meant 100%--I know this is not the case--but we are in the process of getting in to see a local geneticist--Evan has trisomy 21--so we thought it was a fluke-y type of thing--but to have another baby with dS was just surprising--it wont ever make a difference if we do--but I had to ask around to see if anyone else had ever experience anything of the sort.
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Post by twosomy21 on Nov 29, 2007 18:16:10 GMT -5
it is one in 100 chances along with your age(i hate to write age but the powers that be do still factor in a womens age) so if your 40 with DS child you add age ratio and add your 1% too confusing-but there are different chromasomal defects we have two boys with trisomy21 the first genetic visit was a fluke and second i was labled a carrier -but no testing on me done, im done with babies anyhow. something needed to stop us we have 5 kids, it was eiather the DS or buy the t.v
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Post by stefaniedwn on Dec 6, 2007 19:43:13 GMT -5
Hi, I have a 7 year old son. I have noticed he is starting to having trouble concentrating and he has been ripping his clothes at school, it started with something with a small hole, but now he is making a hole to tear them and he does the pushing while standing in line. How do I find out what dose of Ginkgo would work for him. If any one can help...
Thanks,
Stefanie
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Post by Googsmom aka Jennifer on Dec 7, 2007 0:55:08 GMT -5
My oldest daughter (13) has severe ADHD (no DS) Her other mom and I have been through many doctors and about 3 different med's. Finally we found a med called Concerta. It's somewhat new. OMG, what a big, big difference in her concentration, school work, attitude, etc. Totally a different girl. Everyone has noticed. Her special ed teacher, other teachers and both her families. Her step- brother has ADD and again, big difference. I'm not one who like's to "pill pop" my child, but after about 10 years of dealing w/ bad grades, no attention, hitting, and just plain being a booooger butt, we had to try something. Concerta worked for us. Just a sugestion  |
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Post by lespring on Dec 7, 2007 7:27:28 GMT -5
Concerta has been around for many years, and is actually just sustained release Ritalin. Typically Ritalin isn't a drug of choice for kids who have DS, as hey metabolize it differently than their typical peers. There are some who can take it without any problems, but it is not one of the drugs of choice.
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Post by Googsmom aka Jennifer on Dec 7, 2007 10:42:08 GMT -5
Oh i'm sorry. I didn't know that. Not so new, but newer. I had no idea that kids w/ DS metabolize things differently but now that I think about it, thats probally the case. Duhhh me. I'm so sorry. It was just a thought of what has worked around here. Didn't mean any disrespect. |
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Post by nandring on Jul 25, 2008 16:37:26 GMT -5
My daughter Jessica is 10 and she also has ADHD after the family and herself suffering through many years of unmanageable behavior we went to the doctor- we have been through- Adderall which caused her to be more irritable- and now for about 2 years we have been on Focalin XR and it works real well for her and us. Just another name to throw out there.
Just keep in mind that all meds affect our kids differently so it maybe some trial and error.
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Post by jenswan31 on Jan 28, 2009 18:34:51 GMT -5
Hi Ashlea,
I am Jennifer and I am mom to Evan who is 6 and last March was "diagnosed" with ADHD. Evan was acting out, very impulsive, kicking, screaming, throwing, aggressive, etc....we started him on Focalin xr--which worked fairly well. then after a few months, we started on vyvanse 30 mg and did wonderfully. His teacher could not believe how much the meds made a difference. my husband and I feel the same way--we dont do much socially because of Evan's behavior. well a few weeks ago we increased Evan's dose to 40 because we were starting to see some of the behaviors that were occurring prior to meds--so we called the pediatrician and went up to 40--well that made things so much worse. the teacher has called almost daily with a negative report---well, we called the dr again and decreased it again- so here are starting a new week and a dose--well this decrease exacerbated symptoms and teacher calls continued. well, yesterday i was at a luncheon for work (work in a psych hosp.) and the drug rep was with concerta--well the child psychiatrist was there--we have yet to begin with one of those--anyways he was real interested in what was going on with EVan. He mentioned the term--Pervasive developmental disorder--i researched it and it hit the nail on the head!! described Evan to a T---anyways, we are going to be evaluated on tues per our ped--our ped also recommended risperdal--so we will see--go check out pdd nos and see what u think
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Post by sueb on Jan 30, 2009 14:22:55 GMT -5
Hi Jennifer and Ashlea: I'm Sue, mom to 21 year old Milly and new to this board. Milly was diagnosed with PDD-NOS when she was about 2 1/2 years old, not due to aggressive behaviour (I've been very fortunate in that respect), but because her developmental chart was different than other kids with just DS. Her gross motor development was extremely slow, other areas much higher. I was told that most kids with DS have a development delay which is pretty much consistent across all skill areas. Her sleeping patterns were also all mixed up, and she was into self-stimulatory behaviours (hand-flapping, muscle-stiffening, etc., teeth-grinding)
Anyway, she was assessed by a Autism specialist and diagnosed with PDD-NOS.
When she was about 6 years old, she was put on Risperdal (she didn't sleep through the night and would become very loud and vocal for no reason, plus afraid of loud noises, would scream her head off). I had resisted introducing medication for years, but had no choice, as I was exhausted. There was an immediate improvement in her behaviour. She did gain weight, but not a huge amount, gradually.
When she reached adolescence, we added Paxil, an SSRI anti-depressant, to her meds, as she showed increasing signs of anxiety, lots of trouble with transitions, more screaming. It helped a lot.
Now, we are trying to wean her off the Risperdal, it's going great so far. She's losing weight also.
One thing that I have found invaluable through the years; if you can connect with a behavioural specialist for support in managing any of these behaviours, it will help you so much, both as a source of advice, and an emotional support when it all seems like too much to handle.
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Post by jenswan31 on Mar 26, 2009 11:25:47 GMT -5
Hi!!! it has been a while since I have posted. Evan, my 6 year old with DS, has been diagnosed with ADHD for over a year now. we have been on 2 different types of meds. He is even taking risperdal at night for sleep. well, now the risperdal i dont think it helping him sleep. at school, he was taken out the library, because they said he went "berzerk". when he got back to the classroom, he laid his head down on the table and fell asleep. His teacher reports that at lunch he is throwing his tray, hitting, kicking,etc.... he is also getting his 6 year old molars (as we discovered last night) and he is suffering with allergies as well.....i am not sure that his adhd meds are completely not working, but what i am thinking is that he may not be getting good sleep at night---is anyone on anything that works for their child for sleep? I have a call into the pediatricians office, but not sure what to do.........
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Post by sd112170 on Mar 26, 2009 18:53:02 GMT -5
As for the Ginko, I would suggest finding a repretiable herbalist. That will be the key. Believe it or not, they have to go to school. They will have deploma's and certificates. Don't waste your time at Wal-mart and places like that. It isn't the same. I would perfer to try the herbal route myself. But it is truly something you have to search within on.
Ask around your area. You will be able to reconize the wacko's!!!
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