Re: What to do about aggression? (Long post)

[Guest guest]

Hi, and wow I'm sorry this is happening. The first thing I would do is talk to your son's dr. about his medication. Was he ever aggressive like this before being put on Ambilify?

My son took Ambilify for about six months and he did great but he gained too much weight so we took him off. He was put on tramedol and it made him a basket case. He didn't get aggressive but he got very emotional all the time and would have meltdowns. After three weeks we had him taken off. He was put back on respiradon and was also already taking zoloft since he was 10 and he does fine now for the most part. Some meds can have the opposite affect.

Definitely talk to your son's dr. And I pray for you that it gets better. <<hugs>> ne

From: texaslonghorns_1 <sheridacon@...>Subject: ( ) What to do about aggression? (Long post) Date: Sunday, January 30, 2011, 6:43 PM

Hi, everyone. I am fairly new here. . . have been reading your posts and I posted a few weeks ago about Abilify. This is my second post. I am always a little scared to put myself "out there" on these kinds of forums, but today has me worried, so here goes.My 6 year old DS with AS was doing okay up until the beginning of this month. . . he was taking Abilify (also Tegretol for seizures) and for the months of November & December was just great. . . no more of a problem than my other kids. Then it was like someone switched the medicine off and he went back to screaming, hitting, refusing to do anything and holing up in his room with his Legos. The dr. increased his Abilify 2 weeks ago. The screaming seems to be better, but the aggression is still a big problem. So today he was supposed to be cleaning his room (1 million legos all over the floor!!) and my 3 year old went in and bothered him I guess. Because next thing I know, the 3

year old DS comes downstairs screaming with a bloody lip and a scratch on his eye and bite marks on his back. I waited a few minutes and then went upstairs to talk to DS. I told him that I would be taking his Legos until he finished his chores that were supposed to be done yesterday, and that his behavior would determine when he got them back. I haven't taken Legos away in a long time, because they are his current special interest, but I was feeling pretty desperate. He started screaming at me, then threatening me, "If you take my Legos, I'll kill you!" I stayed calm as I know I'm supposed to do, but he lunged at me and tried to bite my face. I managed to stay calm and get him off of me, but then when I bent over to pick up the Legos, he jumped on my back and started whacking me repeatedly on both sides of my face. Then he grabbed my hair and yanked it backwards. I had to call my husband to come and get him off of me. I am just at a loss to know

what to do. He is currently on 4 mg of Abilify and while it worked great when we first started it, it seems to be doing nothing now.I can't believe I'm saying it, but I feel scared of my own child. I am scared of what he might do to his siblings, and I am scared of what he could do to me when he gets bigger. He packs a pretty good punch right now. Should we try a different medication? We do social stories, and a points system . . but nothing is working. Oh, and apparently he has none of these problems at school. Certainly not with threatening or being aggressive toward his teachers. Any ideas?

[Guest guest]

My son sounds just like your two sons. he is 12 though and when he hit puberty during the summer, he started to get aggressive. We found a great psychiatrist at Stanford and he put him on risperdone and within 1 day, was smiling, and started to become himself again. Within a week, my boy was back. That's not to say we don't have some outbursts, but the hitting, biting, kicking, has subsided. All was well for 2 months and then ds started to have seizures, and they took him off risperdone to see if that was causing the problem. Well it wasn't and we ended up in the ER the other day after a bad seizure and then he got violent. The paramedics had to restrain him to the gurney and so did the ER for 7 hours until they found a medication to calm him down. We should have transported back to Stanford but our local

small hospital is very close. They were pretty clueless and finally called the Stanford doctors and they recommended a drug and within 5 minutes, he was sound asleep and calm. They had given him enough drugs all afternoon to put down a horse, yet he still fought the straps. It is one of the worst things you could ever witness as a parent. So they put him back on risperidone and my son is back within 2 days. He is also on zoloft and has been for 4 years for panic attacks. Although risperidone has some terrible side effects when on high dosage, my son is on a very low dose and so far has not had any side effects. Even he knows how great the drug is and was very sad when he found out he couldn't take the drug last week. Then very happy again when he found out he was able to go back on the drug. I think it is all a matter of what works with each kid and their metabolism. Don't give up until you find something that works. All I can say is

that one day it will get better. Deborah Sycamore Art StudiosSycamore Art SchoolDeborah GustlinGraphic & Web DesignArt classes for K-12www.sycamoreartstudios.comwww.sycamoreartschool.comHome: 408-710-0892 Business: 408-710-6070From: susanne hansen <s_hansen34@...> Sent: Sun, January 30, 2011 8:06:28 PMSubject: Re: ( ) What to do about aggression? (Long post)

Hi, and wow I'm sorry this is happening. The first thing I would do is talk to your son's dr. about his medication. Was he ever aggressive like this before being put on Ambilify?

My son took Ambilify for about six months and he did great but he gained too much weight so we took him off. He was put on tramedol and it made him a basket case. He didn't get aggressive but he got very emotional all the time and would have meltdowns. After three weeks we had him taken off. He was put back on respiradon and was also already taking zoloft since he was 10 and he does fine now for the most part. Some meds can have the opposite affect.

Definitely talk to your son's dr. And I pray for you that it gets better. <<hugs>> ne

From: texaslonghorns_1 <sheridacon@...>Subject: ( ) What to do about aggression? (Long post) Date: Sunday, January 30, 2011, 6:43 PM

Hi, everyone. I am fairly new here. . . have been reading your posts and I posted a few weeks ago about Abilify. This is my second post. I am always a little scared to put myself "out there" on these kinds of forums, but today has me worried, so here goes.My 6 year old DS with AS was doing okay up until the beginning of this month. . . he was taking Abilify (also Tegretol for seizures) and for the months of November & December was just great. . . no more of a problem than my other kids. Then it was like someone switched the medicine off and he went back to screaming, hitting, refusing to do anything and holing up in his room with his Legos. The dr. increased his Abilify 2 weeks ago. The screaming seems to be better, but the aggression is still a big problem. So today he was supposed to be cleaning his room (1 million legos all over the floor!!) and my 3 year old went in and bothered him I guess. Because next thing I know, the 3

year old DS comes downstairs screaming with a bloody lip and a scratch on his eye and bite marks on his back. I waited a few minutes and then went upstairs to talk to DS. I told him that I would be taking his Legos until he finished his chores that were supposed to be done yesterday, and that his behavior would determine when he got them back. I haven't taken Legos away in a long time, because they are his current special interest, but I was feeling pretty desperate. He started screaming at me, then threatening me, "If you take my Legos, I'll kill you!" I stayed calm as I know I'm supposed to do, but he lunged at me and tried to bite my face. I managed to stay calm and get him off of me, but then when I bent over to pick up the Legos, he jumped on my back and started whacking me repeatedly on both sides of my face. Then he grabbed my hair and yanked it backwards. I had to call my husband to come and get him off of me. I am just at a loss to know

what to do. He is currently on 4 mg of Abilify and while it worked great when we first started it, it seems to be doing nothing now.I can't believe I'm saying it, but I feel scared of my own child. I am scared of what he might do to his siblings, and I am scared of what he could do to me when he gets bigger. He packs a pretty good punch right now. Should we try a different medication? We do social stories, and a points system . . but nothing is working. Oh, and apparently he has none of these problems at school. Certainly not with threatening or being aggressive toward his teachers. Any ideas?

[Guest guest]

Has he ever been on tegretol alone to see how he responds

to this drug alone. It is considered a drug that also can

reduce outbursts and mania in Bipolar.

Tegretol reduces the effectiveness of Abilify.

I have contacted the Children's Hospital in Cincinnati the

department of pharmagenetics. You can have your son's

DNA tested by sending a sample and find out if he

is even a good metaboizer of the anti-seizure medication

and find one that is a good match. You can also find out

if he is a better metabolizer of another anti-pyschotic

drug like rispedal rather than abilify.

I would make sure the anti-seizure medication is not

making him more agressive. If it is not or if it

is find another type. Tegretol is a 1A2 pathway,

there are other anti-epilieptics on other pathways

Also see Dr. Hollander's book " Clinical Treatment

of Autism " (I bought it from amazon) he has very good clinical data on

effectiveness of drugs and treatment plans and doses. He is at an Autism Center

in NYC. Very respected and well known researcher and

pediatric psychiatrist.

I am sure, that the surprise that you took away

something away and it is a change is what set him off.

Some kids are so sensitive to any kind of change. Their

thinking is so ridgid. So trying to reduce the irritability

is a good goal with medication.

My daughter too can hold it together at school. Lately

she too has been so agressive toward me, even punched

me so hard that I brusied. Her SSRI zoloft

seemed to be doing the trick until her stress

level went up, whenever she has a cold she is more

irritable too. So sensitive to any change.

I am hopeful that this DNA testing will help narrow

down the drugs that may work better than others,

but insurance does not cover this test. Mayo

Clinic has been using with kids since 2004. It is

called the p450 drug sensitivity test. It would

cost insurance companies too much money at this

point to screen patients. It may cost around

$1000 for the test.

I hope this helps, even if you don't do the p450

test at Children's in Cincinatti, I think taking

one drug trial at a time is important and that

Abilify effectiveness is reduced by Tegretol is

another concern. Dr. Hollander's book has

doses for kids with AS.

I hope you get this sorted out soon.

Pam

<sheridacon@...> wrote:

>

> Hi, everyone. I am fairly new here. . . have been reading your posts and I

posted a few weeks ago about Abilify. This is my second post. I am always a

little scared to put myself " out there " on these kinds of forums, but today has

me worried, so here goes.

>

> My 6 year old DS with AS was doing okay up until the beginning of this month.

.. . he was taking Abilify (also Tegretol for seizures) and for the months of

November & December was just great. . . no more of a problem than my other kids.

Then it was like someone switched the medicine off and he went back to

screaming, hitting, refusing to do anything and holing up in his room with his

Legos. The dr. increased his Abilify 2 weeks ago. The screaming seems to be

better, but the aggression is still a big problem.

>

> So today he was supposed to be cleaning his room (1 million legos all over the

floor!!) and my 3 year old went in and bothered him I guess. Because next thing

I know, the 3 year old DS comes downstairs screaming with a bloody lip and a

scratch on his eye and bite marks on his back. I waited a few minutes and then

went upstairs to talk to DS. I told him that I would be taking his Legos until

he finished his chores that were supposed to be done yesterday, and that his

behavior would determine when he got them back. I haven't taken Legos away in a

long time, because they are his current special interest, but I was feeling

pretty desperate.

>

> He started screaming at me, then threatening me, " If you take my Legos, I'll

kill you! " I stayed calm as I know I'm supposed to do, but he lunged at me and

tried to bite my face. I managed to stay calm and get him off of me, but then

when I bent over to pick up the Legos, he jumped on my back and started whacking

me repeatedly on both sides of my face. Then he grabbed my hair and yanked it

backwards. I had to call my husband to come and get him off of me. I am just at

a loss to know what to do. He is currently on 4 mg of Abilify and while it

worked great when we first started it, it seems to be doing nothing now.

>

> I can't believe I'm saying it, but I feel scared of my own child. I am scared

of what he might do to his siblings, and I am scared of what he could do to me

when he gets bigger. He packs a pretty good punch right now. Should we try a

different medication? We do social stories, and a points system . . but nothing

is working. Oh, and apparently he has none of these problems at school.

Certainly not with threatening or being aggressive toward his teachers. Any

ideas?

>