Re: clonidine and risperdal

[Guest guest]

Both of my children with autism have taken clonidine for prolonged periods

(several years each). My personal opinion was that it did nothing but make

them tired all the time and thus more irritable and difficult to deal with.

The only difference I saw in either of them when we took them off of the

clonidine was that they were no longer lethargic and sleepy and thus much

less irritable. But, again, it works differently for every child.

Neither of my children could take risperdal...in fact, my daughter had the

worst reaction to it I have ever heard about for the whopping week she took

it. My son instead took Zyprexa (often used for kids who can't tolerate

Risperdal, as this is a " cousin " medication) for a long time (a couple of y

ears) and it helped him tremendously to control his rages/tantrums which

were highly aggressive in nature. However, it suddenly stopped working after

a couple of years, and the aggression got so bad my son ended up

hospitalized and almost on his way to a residential placement as he was

beating me and his sister several times per day. We got things back in

control through ABA, not medication!

nna