0.5 mgs risperidone for a seven year old?

Twice a day! His name is Kaden. My wife is looking after him right now.
And this kid is on a smorgasbord of pills for hyper activity and cerebral
palsy siezures.

How does this sound so far ATS?

I'm asking because of the effects this drug is having on this sweet
heart of a kid. It seems to take the life right out of him.
Help me out here guys.

i know about risperdal. it will give any guy gynecomastia permanently. that is breasts. it raises your prolactin alot. it will also turn anybody into obesity. makes you lethargic and sleepy. .5 mg is very little dose. it is an antipsychotic. i dont know why they would give someone it for cerebral palsy. hyper activity is some bs. no reason to tranquilize a kid for being over active. yes anti psychotics are commonly known as major tranquilzers. also they just dont work. your kid will hate you for giving them but he wont say anything. hes too young to do research so he wont know what you are really giving him so you gotta do the research yourself cause you are older. i dont what medication they give for cerebral palsy but i doubt its anti psychotics.

a reply to: lizardghost

It says risperidone on the bottle are they the same thing?'

a reply to: randyvs

yes

a reply to: lizardghost

Thank you so much ghost.

Do not give a freaking 7 year old this medication!! It will give your little boy boobs for the rest of his life....and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Look up how many lawsuits there are against the makers of this crap for giving boys female breasts.

originally posted by: randyvs

Twice a day! His name is Kaden. My wife is looking after him right now.
And this kid is on a smorgasbord of pills for hyper activity and cerebral
palsy siezures.

How does this sound so far ATS?

I'm asking because of the effects this drug is having on this sweet
heart of a kid. It seems to take the life right out of him.
Help me out here guys.

Risperidone? I've met plenty of people on it, it does its job though it does seem to... flatten... people. That's normally why it gets used, in fact, so it's really not surprising to hear you say that.

I'm guessing they wouldn't put a kid that young on it unless they felt it was very necessary. It does sound like an off-label use though.

It's impossible to make any useful comment unless you've gone through all the medical notes with the doctor and the pharmacologist explaining why that combination was given in that scenario...

Have I managed to post before the "evil doctors making money and giving him drugs he doesn't need, he just needs [prayer/homeopathy/tree hugging and drum circles] (delete as appropriate)" hippies tell you they know better how to treat someone over the internet?

a reply to: PokeyJoe

My wife refuses to give it to him and he's fine with us.
She's about to go balistic.

a reply to: randyvs

I used to deal with a lot of asd etc teens who had been prescribed it for many years.

Many of them suffered worse behaviour and feeling when not on it, but as an organisation we often tried to reduce use of it and replace it therapeutically but this was not always effective and partly driven by a holistic approach from the organisation i worked for.

Personally i think a "whole life" approach to supporting a person is better, but medication can also be an important part of such an approach. I dont think it is unusual for people of his age to be prescribed this med.

Tough situation and i feel your quandry. Have you witnessed how he is without medication?

Eta. I've known men develop boobs from it too, not a particularly uncommon side effect

a reply to: EvillerBob

Risperidone? I've met plenty of people on it, it does it's job though it does seem to... flatten... people. That's normally why it gets used, in fact, so it's really not surprising to hear you say that. I'm guessing they wouldn't put a kid that young on it unless they felt it was very necessary. It does sound like an off-label use though. It's impossible to make any useful comment unless you've gone through all the medical notes with the doctor and the pharmacologist explaining why that combination was given in that scenario... Have I managed to post before the "evil doctors making money and giving him drugs he doesn't need, he just needs [prayer/homeopathy/tree hugging and drum circles] (delete as appropriate)" hippies tell you they know better how to treat someone over the internet?

Yeah I spose I don't know enough about the situation either.
But it sure seems wrong to have this kid pop'n all this crap.

originally posted by: randyvs
a reply to: PokeyJoe

My wife refuses to give it to him and he's fine with us.
She's about to go balistic.

Has she asked why? There's usually a reason.

What medical/pharmacology degree does your wife have?

From the phrasing, it also sounds like you are caring for a child but you are not the parents, is that right? If so, have you considered any legal implications from not giving him a medicine that was directed by a doctor?

Has he been taking it previously? If so, you can't just stop the dose. There are studies suggesting that rapid withdrawal can actually trigger schizophrenic symptoms. I don't know if that is a high or low dose because I normally deal with adults so I don't know the expected range for a child that young.

a reply to: skalla

Tough situation and i feel your quandry. Have you witnessed how he is without medication?

Damn right and he's fine without it. He acts out once in awhie
but since when is that not okay? Thanks again you guys.
To us it just seems like his guardian just wants him doped up
and out of the way and collect.

They gave this to my great aunt who had Alzheimer's. Even though the contraindications said not to prescribe to elderly patients with dementia. One of the side effects is sudden death in those patients. Within 3 months, she was dead. No one should take risperidone.

originally posted by: skalla
a reply to: randyvs
Personally i think a "whole life" approach to supporting a person is better, but medication can also be an important part of such an approach. I dont think it is unusual for people of his age to be prescribed this med.

CBT is a great tool. The medication itself often doesn't "fix" the problem, it's there to "take the edge off" enough for the person to respond well to psychological treatment and engage with/make use of support networks.

a reply to: EvillerBob

From the phrasing, it also sounds like you are caring for a child but you are not the parents, is that right? If so, have you considered any legal implications from not giving him a medicine that was directed by a doctor? Has he been taking it previously? If so, you can't just stop the dose. There are studies suggesting that rapid withdrawal can actually trigger schizophrenic symptoms. I don't know if that is a high or low dose because I normally deal with adults so I don't know the expected range for a child that young.

I know you're right.

Yeah, dont overstep professional boundaries.

If you and your partner are so bothered by the meds that you are considering intervening by not giving meds, you really should just walk away.

You could do a lot more harm than good

originally posted by: randyvs
a reply to: skalla

Tough situation and i feel your quandry. Have you witnessed how he is without medication?

Damn right and he's fine without it. He acts out once in awhie
but since when is that not okay? Thanks again you guys.
To us it just seems like his guardian just wants him doped up
and out of the way and collect.

It might help if you clarify your position in this. It sounds like you're a caregiver of some kind? Especially as you mention that the child already has a guardian. Just to be clear - big thumbs up to you, anyone who is willing to give their time and patience to support a child and create a good environment for them deserves respect. However, you might be causing some legal problems for yourself by deciding what medicine you will or will not give the child.

a reply to: PorteurDeMort

They gave this to my great aunt who had Alzheimer's. Even though the contraindications said not to prescribe to elderly patients with dementia. One of the side effects is sudden death in those patients. Within 3 months, she was dead. No one should take risperidone.

You just sent chills down my spine.
My wife says his guardian dropped one of the pills on the floor
and said, " Oh sh1t don't let my cat get that, it'll kill her."
But she gives it to her grandson?

WTF is that?

No. No. and No. Risperdal is not recommended for people under the age of 18. In males, it causes stimulation of the breasts, and can cause the breasts to develop. A decent doctor will make a diagnoses which corresponds to the medication. Has he diagnosed schizophrenia? No? Then he shouldn't be administering the medication. Make the diagnosis, or discontinue the medication.

I've seen them prescribe it for children as a "sleep aid". If having trouble sleeping then give him an actual sleep aid and not an antipsychotic.

When they give it to children it is usually as a "chemical restraint". This is more for the people looking after them than the child. (LIKE TEACHERS and foster parents -- hard to place children.) There are other medications available to help with hyperactivity than this drug. It's very effective for what it is made for, but NOT for children.

a reply to: randyvs

Have you checked out every other avenue?

There are a host of learning issues that will cause symptoms close to ADD/ADHD in kids. We're investigating taking out 7-year-old out to a specialist in Colorado this summer to have his hearing checked. It's not that he doesn't hear, but that he had so many ear infections as a growing child that the center in your brain that allows you to filter out background noise and focus on one person talking may not have developed like it should have due to hearing impairment (fluid in the ears). Not being able to hear his teacher caused frustration which causes a kid to act out with ADD/ADHD like symptoms both because they genuinely are missing what's being said and because they're stressed out/frustrated.

Then there's the handwriting/fine motor issue which I have mentioned before which only amplified the problems.

Thing is, so many of the learning disabilities cause symptoms that mirror ADD/ADHD that really that diagnosis should be the one that is last resort or process of having eliminated everything else.

In our case, once he got out of school and started science camp this summer, his behavior has gone back to normal which means all those symptoms that might be an attentional disorder have died down to where they were before - only really an issue when he is tired.

So we aren't sure if he actually has an attention disorder that would need medication or if he just has other issues that need treatment and/or classroom accommodations that caused him to super act out last year.

So I would wonder if maybe there might be something else going on that needs to be addressed, especially if the medication doesn't address the actual problems very well or causes more problems than it's worth.