Guest guest Posted March 5, 2010 Report Share Posted March 5, 2010 We switched my son to Abilify after the weight gain problems with the Risperdal. He was on Abilify for over 2 yrs, and it worked very well for much of that time, till compounding factors made his aggression start up again. I reached the " point of no return " with my son at 14, and that's when we decided radical changes were needed. We stopped the meds, sent him to home-base with his father in the next town, and had him start a new school, where he also had a male 1:1. The combination was, miraculously, just what he needed. He had been literally bored out of his mind, it turns out, and needing change. Just over a year later, we started him back on an antidepressant for his OCD and anxiety behaviors, and he's been on one ever since with few issues or flare-ups of aggression. (He's 18 now.) I know every teen is different, and I'm so sorry you're experiencing such a downward spiral with your daughter, Jill. I hope you can find some relief for her (and yourself) soon, with meds and/or other interventions. I agree with the other person who posted that not eating lunch at school could be a big sign of a significant issue with another person or some issue at the school. That alone could be the root cause of much of her behaviors. Don't give up hope. You will figure it out -- with the help of the school staff. -Kate H. > > My daughter's doctor is planning to change her meds to Abilify. I was > wondering if anyone has any experience with this drug. We are dealing with an > 18 year old daughter with autism who is experiencing major obsessive > compulsive behaviors, self-injurious behaviors and aggression. > > We have been on the meds " merry-go-round " trying to find something to help > her. > > Thanks! > Jill > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 5, 2010 Report Share Posted March 5, 2010 We switched my son to Abilify after the weight gain problems with the Risperdal. He was on Abilify for over 2 yrs, and it worked very well for much of that time, till compounding factors made his aggression start up again. I reached the " point of no return " with my son at 14, and that's when we decided radical changes were needed. We stopped the meds, sent him to home-base with his father in the next town, and had him start a new school, where he also had a male 1:1. The combination was, miraculously, just what he needed. He had been literally bored out of his mind, it turns out, and needing change. Just over a year later, we started him back on an antidepressant for his OCD and anxiety behaviors, and he's been on one ever since with few issues or flare-ups of aggression. (He's 18 now.) I know every teen is different, and I'm so sorry you're experiencing such a downward spiral with your daughter, Jill. I hope you can find some relief for her (and yourself) soon, with meds and/or other interventions. I agree with the other person who posted that not eating lunch at school could be a big sign of a significant issue with another person or some issue at the school. That alone could be the root cause of much of her behaviors. Don't give up hope. You will figure it out -- with the help of the school staff. -Kate H. > > My daughter's doctor is planning to change her meds to Abilify. I was > wondering if anyone has any experience with this drug. We are dealing with an > 18 year old daughter with autism who is experiencing major obsessive > compulsive behaviors, self-injurious behaviors and aggression. > > We have been on the meds " merry-go-round " trying to find something to help > her. > > Thanks! > Jill > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 6, 2010 Report Share Posted March 6, 2010 My son has been on abilify for several years now. It has been extremely effective with his obsessive-convulsive behaviors and aggression. He has developed a weight problem as well, but this is a cumulative effect of all of the different medications he takes, which also include lithium, trileptal, and thorazine. Muyskens Abilify My daughter's doctor is planning to change her meds to Abilify. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this drug. We are dealing with an 18 year old daughter with autism who is experiencing major obsessive compulsive behaviors, self-injurious behaviors and aggression. We have been on the meds " merry-go-round " trying to find something to help her. Thanks! Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 6, 2010 Report Share Posted March 6, 2010 My son has been on abilify for several years now. It has been extremely effective with his obsessive-convulsive behaviors and aggression. He has developed a weight problem as well, but this is a cumulative effect of all of the different medications he takes, which also include lithium, trileptal, and thorazine. Muyskens Abilify My daughter's doctor is planning to change her meds to Abilify. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this drug. We are dealing with an 18 year old daughter with autism who is experiencing major obsessive compulsive behaviors, self-injurious behaviors and aggression. We have been on the meds " merry-go-round " trying to find something to help her. Thanks! Jill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2010 Report Share Posted July 21, 2010  Hi Lesley, I'm an adult with autism and I have been taking Abilify for 5 months now. At first, at 5mg, it worked very well in preventing my meltdowns and mood swings, but I recently had to up my dosage to 10mg because I was having more meltdowns again, and now it doesn't work anymore. Maybe it will start working again, as I've been taking 10mg for only two weeks, but for now, I take it along with 1mg Ativan three tiems a day and I'm still very irritable. Astridastrid@...http://www.astridvanwoerkom.com/http://astridvanwoerkom.wordpress.com/ Abilify Have any of you tryed Abilify for your Kids... I am looking in to it for Devin... His mood is up and down... Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2010 Report Share Posted July 21, 2010 I have a five year old who started it about two weeks ago. We are only doing a half dose but noticed the difference immediately with his irritability. He says he is happier. Mood is much more consistent. He has most difficulties at bed time when tired. They say won't see full results for 6-10 weeks so we are waiting. Not sure how much better it could get. > > Have any of you tryed Abilify for your Kids... I am looking in to it for > Devin... His mood is up and down... > Lesley > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 21, 2010 Report Share Posted July 21, 2010 Lesley - I was on it along with many drugs, it really drugged me out - please try not to give it to Devin - he will calm down soon I am sure once he gets back to school.I did not chose to have Autism in my life, God did From: Lesley Hicks <lesley_hcks@...>Subject: Abilifyautism Date: Wednesday, July 21, 2010, 2:05 PM Have any of you tryed Abilify for your Kids... I am looking in to it for Devin... His mood is up and down... Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2010 Report Share Posted July 22, 2010 Abilify worked well to regulate my son's moods. However, when he first started taking it we were warned that people on it sometimes have trouble regulating body heat and will get dangerously overheated. This did not happen to our son but he had the opposite problem. He had super Raynaud's Syndrome on Abilify. When we took him off the abilify and started him on invega I noticed that this cold problem had been added to the warning on abilify. Raynaud's is where the body over reacts to cold and shuts the blood circulation off to your hands and/or feet because it thinks you are freezing to death and it tries to preserve your core. It runs in our family and it's mostly a nuisance and means I wear warm socks in the winter. If your hands get white or red and cold in the winter even indoors you probably have it. Sometimes it is painful. My feet hurt very badly if they get cold, but my hands usually don't. Our son had never had problems with Raynauds until he was on the abilify. One time I picked him up from school and when he got in the car his forearms and hands were whitish/purple with large dark purple splotches like a corpse. I was going to drive right to the ER but they pinked up before we even got out of the parking lot. Mostly, he would get red or purple forearms and they would be cold to the touch. He alarmed the school nurse several times. She told me that several kids and teachers had come in with Raynauds, but that our son was by far the worst. Even when he wasn't in a cold or chilly room his forearms felt cool when compared to his upper arms. This went away as soon as we took him off the abilify. In fact, his doctor switched him to invega because of this. Also, the abilify was exceeding expensive. Luckily we have good insurance. The price depended on the number of pills, not the size of the dose so if you don't have good insurance you might get a better deal by having the doctor write a prescription for a pill you can break in half. For a while our son was taking 1 and 1/2 pills and the bill went way down when the doctor upped the amount he was to take so he just took one pill that was a larger dose. Toddhttp://www.nostoneunstrung.com From: Lesley Hicks Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 2:05 PM autism Subject: Abilify Have any of you tryed Abilify for your Kids... I am looking in to it for Devin... His mood is up and down... Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2010 Report Share Posted July 22, 2010 Our son, , has been on Abilify for a few months (currently 4.5mg) and it has really really helped. He was on Riserpdal for years but had to discontinue it when the aggression started to increase. The only major issue he experienced was lack of sleep; especially the first few weeks. That has improved and we are back to our normal but still not normal sleep pattern. Have not seen any weight gain as with Risperdal. We did start with a very small dose of 2mg and did .5 mg increases over many weeks. He is 20 and about 140lbs. Good luck. From: Lesley Hicks <lesley_hcks@...>autism Sent: Wed, July 21, 2010 12:05:27 PMSubject: Abilify Have any of you tryed Abilify for your Kids... I am looking in to it for Devin... His mood is up and down... Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2010 Report Share Posted July 22, 2010  Lesley, J has had it before but it didn't help him. the only one that has is Zpraxa. Lois Abilify Have any of you tryed Abilify for your Kids... I am looking in to it for Devin... His mood is up and down... Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2010 Report Share Posted July 22, 2010 In a message dated 7/21/2010 10:26:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, jlois@... writes: J has had it before but it didn't help him. the only one that has is Zpraxa. Lois Abilify Have any of you tryed Abilify for your Kids... I am looking in to it for Devin... His mood is up and down... Lesley Lesley, My son just started ability 3 weeks ago and I have noticed positive changes in his behavior. He is calmer, happier and more focused. He was agitated and restless before and the abilify has also helped with his stims. Remember, every child is different. It is worth a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2010 Report Share Posted July 22, 2010 Abilify was the worst med that we tried with Karac; he ended up with so much aggression we had to hospitalize him. Pat K Re: Abilify In a message dated 7/21/2010 10:26:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, jlois@... writes: J has had it before but it didn't help him. the only one that has is Zpraxa. Lois Abilify Have any of you tryed Abilify for your Kids... I am looking in to it for Devin... His mood is up and down... Lesley Lesley, My son just started ability 3 weeks ago and I have noticed positive changes in his behavior. He is calmer, happier and more focused. He was agitated and restless before and the abilify has also helped with his stims. Remember, every child is different. It is worth a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2010 Report Share Posted July 22, 2010 the b12 shot has helped my daughters massive mood swings. they are still there but she can try to calm herself better.CAthyFrom: pkuenstler@... <pkuenstler@...>Subject: Re: Abilifyautism Date: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 9:46 AM Abilify was the worst med that we tried with Karac; he ended up with so much aggression we had to hospitalize him. Pat K Re: Abilify In a message dated 7/21/2010 10:26:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, jlois@... writes: J has had it before but it didn't help him. the only one that has is Zpraxa. Lois Abilify Have any of you tryed Abilify for your Kids... I am looking in to it for Devin... His mood is up and down... Lesley Lesley, My son just started ability 3 weeks ago and I have noticed positive changes in his behavior. He is calmer, happier and more focused. He was agitated and restless before and the abilify has also helped with his stims. Remember, every child is different. It is worth a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 22, 2010 Report Share Posted July 22, 2010 We have used Abilify for Luke in the past when we were trying to get him off of the Risperdal. He did great at first, but when we tried to take away the Risperdal, the Abilify did not work. That was 7 years ago. A year ago, Luke was at the max dose of Risperdal 4mgs a day and was showing increased aggression(he is now 15) and we talked about revisiting the Abilify with a low dose of Risperdal together. It has worked wonders. Luke is a big boy (200 pounds) and he gets .5 mgs of Risperdal in the AM, and .5mgs at 4p.m. and 2 mgs of Abilify at 12 noon and 2 mgs of Abilify at 4p.m. This combination has been the best mix. He is also on Naltrexone for self injury, Luvox for his OCD and just added Lexapro 10 mgs a day for high anxiety since Summer break and the anxiety of leaving middle school and getting ready to go to a new high school). We hope to have him off the Lexapro after the high school transition is over. Best of luck to you. > > From: pkuenstler@... pkuenstler@... > Subject: Re: Abilify > autism > Date: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 9:46 AM > > > > > > > >  > > > > > > > > > > Abilify was the worst med that we tried with Karac; he ended up with so much aggression we had to hospitalize him. Pat K > > > > > > > > > > > > > Re: Abilify > > > > > >  > > > > > > > > > > > > In a message dated 7/21/2010 10:26:43 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, jlois@... writes: > > > > > >  J has had it before but it didn't help him. the only one that has is Zpraxa. Lois > > > > Abilify > > > > > >  > > > > > > > > Have any of you tryed Abilify for your Kids... I am looking in to it for Devin... His mood is up and down... > > > Lesley > > > >  > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Lesley, > > > My son just started ability 3 weeks ago and I have noticed positive changes in his behavior. He is calmer, happier and more focused. He was agitated and restless before and the abilify has also helped with his stims. Remember, every child is different. It is worth a try. > > >  > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2010 Report Share Posted July 23, 2010  , Does she take anything else with the shots? JJ use to take the shots and they helped for awhile but then he got to much in his system so we stopped. Lois Abilify Have any of you tryed Abilify for your Kids... I am looking in to it for Devin... His mood is up and down... Lesley Lesley, My son just started ability 3 weeks ago and I have noticed positive changes in his behavior. He is calmer, happier and more focused. He was agitated and restless before and the abilify has also helped with his stims. Remember, every child is different. It is worth a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 23, 2010 Report Share Posted July 23, 2010 In a message dated 7/22/2010 11:50:20 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, pkuenstler@... writes: Abilify was the worst med that we tried with Karac; he ended up with so much aggression we had to hospitalize him. Pat K Sorry to hear this. My son is holding his own so far on the Abilify. We've definitely seen some improvements in stims and behavior. He is calmer too. Definitely goes to show how each child reacts differently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 Good luck with the abilify Lesley. Keep us posted on how things go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 I wish you the best of luck Lesley - please God let this medicine help my Buddy. I know you need to get control - I understand totally and I will never ever condemn or speak negatively about you putting him on it. I know it was an agnoizing situation for you. I am still here for you my friend ShaornI did not chose to have Autism in my life, God did From: Lesley Hicks <lesley_hcks@...>Subject: Abilifyautism Date: Thursday, July 29, 2010, 7:58 AM We have decided to put Devin On Abilify.. He had his first dose last night .. He will go back to the doctor is 3 weeks and we will see if there is a change for the better... he is just getting bigger and stronger and I need to try and control it now.. Thanks for all your support.. lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 I hope it works for Devin. Pat K Abilify We have decided to put Devin On Abilify.. He had his first dose last night .. He will go back to the doctor is 3 weeks and we will see if there is a change for the better... he is just getting bigger and stronger and I need to try and control it now.. Thanks for all your support.. lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010  Hi Lesley, You made a wise decision I'm sure. I hope it will work out. How many mg will he be taking? Astridastrid@...http://www.astridvanwoerkom.com/http://astridvanwoerkom.wordpress.com/ Abilify We have decided to put Devin On Abilify.. He had his first dose last night .. He will go back to the doctor is 3 weeks and we will see if there is a change for the better... he is just getting bigger and stronger and I need to try and control it now.. Thanks for all your support.. lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 Astrid, Devin is taken 2 mil's for Abilify From: Astrid <astrid@...>autism Sent: Thu, 29 July, 2010 1:38:41 PMSubject: Re: Abilify  Hi Lesley, You made a wise decision I'm sure. I hope it will work out. How many mg will he be taking? Astridastrid@astridvanwoe rkom.comhttp://www.astridva nwoerkom. com/http://astridvanwoe rkom.wordpress. com/ Abilify We have decided to put Devin On Abilify.. He had his first dose last night .. He will go back to the doctor is 3 weeks and we will see if there is a change for the better... he is just getting bigger and stronger and I need to try and control it now.. Thanks for all your support.. lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 Thank You Sharon! I love you guys too...It's never easy to have to our kids on Meds your support means alot... Lesley From: Sharon <kmusikmom2@...>autism Sent: Thu, 29 July, 2010 9:21:55 AMSubject: Re: Abilify I wish you the best of luck Lesley - please God let this medicine help my Buddy. I know you need to get control - I understand totally and I will never ever condemn or speak negatively about you putting him on it. I know it was an agnoizing situation for you. I am still here for you my friend ShaornI did not chose to have Autism in my life, God did From: Lesley Hicks <lesley_hcks. au>Subject: AbilifyAutismBehaviorProbl emsgroups (DOT) comDate: Thursday, July 29, 2010, 7:58 AM We have decided to put Devin On Abilify.. He had his first dose last night .. He will go back to the doctor is 3 weeks and we will see if there is a change for the better... he is just getting bigger and stronger and I need to try and control it now.. Thanks for all your support.. lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 29, 2010 Report Share Posted July 29, 2010 Thank you everyone for your support.. Huggs to all Lesley From: "SiegelKL@..." <SiegelKL@...>autism Sent: Thu, 29 July, 2010 12:10:35 PMSubject: Re: Abilify Good luck with the abilify Lesley. Keep us posted on how things go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 2, 2010 Report Share Posted August 2, 2010 That's good news Lesley. Hope all goes well and that things continue to get better. Thanks for the update! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 2, 2010 Report Share Posted August 2, 2010  I hope everything continues to go as well as it does now, Lesley. Astridastrid@...http://www.astridvanwoerkom.com/http://astridvanwoerkom.wordpress.com/ Abilify Just wanted to give an update about Devin... So far the Abilify has been a big help and he goes to sleep with out needing melatonin to fall asleep... His behavior has been steady no aggression. He has also been pooping on the potty and has had no accidents.. So far im very pleased with the meds... I know things can change but I hope they don't and it continues to help him. Lesley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.