Hang on, let me grab a megaphone....

I LOVE RISPERDAL!!!!!

Honestly, Angela is like a different child! She's still only on 1/2 dose. 1/2 of a .25 mg twice a day. Weds I bump her up to .25 in the morning, then another week and we'll bump up the afternoon dose.

She does occassionally say she's tired, but I can also tell when she's coming due for her next dose. She is making a new noise, that could either be a tic, or a tardive disconesia symptom.

When we were in Atlanta I asked Dr. Capone about the problem with meds only working for a short time. He said it's EXTREMELY common, and gave an explanation why. But he did say if you find something that works, even if for a short time, to keep tabs of it because you can go back to that combination again another time.

He also said if you child is aggressive AND hyperactive, a good combination is Risperdal with guamphacine (Tenex), along with chlonidine. I will never ever ever mess with Angela's chlonidine. She takes that at night for sleeping, and it is a GOD SEND! She falls asleep within about 1/2 hr or 45 min of giving it to her, and she sleeps sound all night long!

So for now, just the Risperdal is ok, but once we get to the full dose we may consider adding in the guamphacine. I guess we'll see how school starts out. I just hope Risperdal lasts longer than the other drugs have!

So glad you've found something that works for Angela. Here's to getting your happy little girl back.

OH that is great! I know it was working well in Atlanta already!!! She was a sweet heart!!! Glad things are still going well!-Courtney

Glad you've found something that seems to be working and lets hope this one keeps on working for a long time.

Hey Leah, what is risperdol for? And why does she need meds for sleeping? I am sure you have told us before but I forget! Glad it's working though and I agree with C she was a sweetheart in Atlanta!

Angela has NEVER been a sleeper. Once she hit about a year old she would take, at best, an hour nap during the day. Nightime she was up and down all night long. She's had several sleep studies over the years to see what's going on...was there a medical problem or something else? We spent years using Melatonin at various dosages, which stopped working a year or so ago. Last fall she had another sleep study done and we discovered that her sleep cycles are all messed up. Without meds it's not uncommon for her to go 3 DAYS without sleeping. So the chlonidine gets her to sleep and keeps her asleep. She wakes up perky and ready to get on with the day. (I was a little worried about her waking up groggy and drugged feeling.)

The Risperdal is an antipsychotic medication. It works by changing the effects of chemicals in the brain. It's commonly used for the treatment of schizophrenia and mania associated with bipolar disorder. In Angela's case it's used to address extremely agressive behavior and mood swings.

Now if only there was a medication to control swearing! LOL

Ah! That all makes some sense...Yeah I was going to ask you about Melatonin cause I use it almost daily cause I suffer from insomnia. I forgot my bottle when I went to Atlanta and kept poor Renee up all night! ROFL....and I was too scared to walk to a store to get some! Thanks for explaining I was just curious.

Glad it's working. Hope this combo lasts awhile.

I also have to agree with Christina and Courtney, Angela was a sweetheart, I'm glad that those meds are working for her, I wouldn't want to meet Angela's bad side
I wish we lived closer, I would love for Daniel to spend more with her.

Glad your both feeling better!! Hoping things will stay good for school!!! Since there is only one month and 4 days until school

I'm glad to hear this is working. I just read about this on an PDD website.

Just checking up after a busy week. Glad to hear you find something that will work for Angela. Hopefully all the changes will show up in school too. keep us all posted.

Lea, glad to hear that the Risperdal is working. Thought I would share with you Daniel is on .75mg in the morning and .5mg in the evening (he takes in the evening to help with his sleeping as he also sleeps real bad). He has been on the Risperdal for quite a while now and it is very expensive here in South Africa. I pay around R500 a month just for the Risperdal and then he has to have Ritalin as well and that does not even include the day to day meds, vitamins, flue stuff etc. Anyway, after a while (obviously when the meds had kicked in and were working real good), I decided to be clever and thought he did not need it anymore and took him off it!!! Wow, what a mistake!! I could not believe the difference, I lasted about 2 weeks and then phoned the Paed. He actually laughed at me and told me that I had lasted quite a while and he was expecting my call a lot sooner!! Guess I won't be fiddling with that again. Tereza