Abilify and other medications

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I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. Abilify was tested on 202 teens (ages 13-17) and 197 pre-teen/teens (ages 10-17). There were 2 trials, the one with teens lasted 6 weeks and the other for 4 weeks. The approval is specific to schizophrenia and bipolar 1.

After typing the above, I did a bit of research and I stand corrected. Last year the FDA approved Abilify for children ages 6 to 17 with Autism. It was approved after two 8 week studies involving a total of 316 children between 6 and 17 years.

I'm not trying to convince you not to use it- it sounds like your son needs whatever will help him

I just urge you and other parents to be cautious of new medications that have high incidence of side effects and have not been studied long-term.

http://www.drugs.com/newdrugs/u-s-food- ... -1783.html

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/05/09 ... /2261.html

Well, just so you know...lol, FDA approval does not mean a whole lot to me. I don't have a lot of respect for the agency and agree their trials are a joke.

The whole organization is a joke.

Another issue with respect to testing on children... From what I have learned (and if you think about it...) Tests are almost impossible to conduct on kids. Any parent who is concerned about their child's condition enough to allow for this strong of a medication isn't likely to be willing to risk placebo. Any parent who doesn't want thier child on this strong of a med is not willing to allow the child to use the medication.

This is a really hard population to study, for either the short or long term effects.

Basically, as a parent who has chosen to use this medication - it is a BRUTAL choice given the available information. No medication should be given to children without a great deal of research. Giving the wrong medication, even if safe and tested, can be unsafe for an individual child. The bottom line is none of these drugs are 100% safe, they all have side effects for some children. Are you willing to risk that your child is the one for whom it is not safe. My poor baby seems to be that kid that gets the side effects from every med. However, with the meds, we don't have the degree if violence that we have without them.

I prefer meds managed by me to meds managed in an institution, which is what would happen as the violence was escallating and the decisions would have been taken out pf my hands if I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

I think that this is one of those very touchy subjects that people should be mindful of sharing an opinion on. If you haven't actually been in a severe enough situation to warrant using or administering this class of medication, your opinion is likely to be vastly different than if you were in the situation. I know I had very strong biases before facing the situations. I would never in a million years forseen that one of my children would take this medication.

I think you are right. I need to remember to spend the time to have the specifics on the parent asking the question, before I respond in any of these threads. I have solid advice but it is quite specific to a certain point in time, and a certain type of situation, and anything beyond that really isn't where I have anything useful to contribute other than very general cautions.

I agree w/ the above. But that being said, years ago I was 'that' mom - I spoke out loudly to parents that medicated their children for things such as ADHD, bipolar, etc....I am embarassed now about how I acted having realized I had never before faced such situations in order to have a valid opinion. Having been that person, I don't take it personally when someone criticizes a decision to medicate. I understand where they are coming from.

I had previously (at least I thought) never dealt with mental illness in children. In fact, I will venture to say that I did not believe it existed. I really believed it was all about environment and everything could be fixed through behavior modification and changes in the environment.

My son has an ASD. Since he was little, my entire family told me he does this and that because his father is not involved, not recognizing it as an ASD. So....no father = ASD. I believed them and I believed that I was a bad parent because parenting was so much harder for me than anyone else. I was not aggressive in seeking a cause or treatment because I was tired of hearing 'It's your fault'. I was very strict and consistent, I will honestly say that I never gave in to my son once since he was born, yet his behavior continued.

I am going off on a tangent - but I really get sick of being blamed for my kids' health issues. Example: My younger one has been diagnosed with 'failure to thrive' and his weight is extremely low. Even thought I told the docs how much I was feeding him, how much he was taking in, they did not believe me. I insisted. I kept logs. They said it is not possible that a child of his size could be taking in so much, I must be calculating wrong or lying. Then they counceled me on how to feed him, ignoring everything I told them. So, after wasting 7 months on a diet change, they believe and suspect growth hormone deficiency. At 2200 calories a day, he has gained about 6 oz in 7 months. I went through the same w/ my older ASD child when he was little, but unfortunately I was not aggressive like I am now. The point...I don't know I lost it...LOL. Maybe the point of my rant is that it is not always the parent's fault and we should be more careful to judge so parents can speak openly about issues they have instead of making everyone feel isolated (not necessarily in this forum, but in real life).

The decision about whether to use these serious medications on a child (or which ones) must be an agonizing decision to make. I'm grateful to not be in this position right now, but I can share some experience with them. My mother suffered greatly with bipolar and had been on all sorts of medications throughout her life from lithium to abilify. She saw countless docs and her medications were constantly being adjusted/changed/etc. She went through suicide attempts and alcoholism and would very rarely consider herself to be ok. She also liked to "play games" with her meds by going off them when she felt like it, or overdosing when she felt she needed to. She eventually died from a heart attack that may or may not have been related to her medications. After watching her suffer for almost 30 years, I can truly say that she was at her best when she had been off the meds for about 3-4 weeks. She would be almost happy for a 2 month stretch, until she eventually would fall back into deep depression (without the meds) and the med cycle would start all over again.

I guess the only things I have learned from my experience is that if you choose to use these medications, it is crucial to stay on the prescribed dosages. If it's not working the way it's supposed to, call the doc asap. Over the long run, in my mother's situation, I don't think they actually made anything better. I was so disappointed in the treatment she received by the doctors. When I entered into my 20's, I sort of became her caretaker and would take her to her appointments and watched as the doctors would basically just play guessing games on what might work. I would sometimes call an hour after leaving with a question and they couldn't even remember who she was. It is also extremely important to find the right doctor who takes the time to know your child and with who you can develop a trusting relationship with.

On the FDA, yes they are indeed quite corrupt these days and I urge everyone to do their own thorough research before making any decision. Learn which sources are based on legitimate science and be careful of blogs. Get second (and third) opinions and trust your own instinct.

I hear you. Nothing like hubris biting us on the butt.

BJ, I definitely do not know enough about meds to judge anyone. But, I think in your case, you did not have a choice. Like you said, your son may not have made it to 12 without the meds. I think you are doing the right thing. I am sorry you have been blamed for so long for your children's conditions. It is not fair! I think you are doing a great job.

I'm on clomipramine (generic Anafranil) for my OCD and panic attacks. I'm currently not taking anything for Asperger's symptoms. I was on the mood stabilizer Lamictal for quite a few years for my Asperger's mood swings, but I recently stopped it and found out that it really didn't stop my mood swings much. I took Abilify for six weeks in 2008, while my psychiatrist was experimenting with medications for my then treatment-resistant OCD. (I started Anafranil after I tried the Abilify.) It did nothing for me. Also, I've never had a medication help with my sensory issues, but I sure wish something would work. That's the worst part of AS for me. A great thing to endorse Abilify for is that it (along with Geodon) tends not to cause weight gain, which is a very good thing, considering that most of the atypical anti-psychotics can cause massive weight gain.
-OddDuckNash99-

I just started researching Abilify as I've been prescribed this for autism anger. I'm most likely not going to take it simply because one of the potential side effects is twitches/ticks and something called akathesia. These side effects may become permanent. This seems to amount to permanent alteration of neurochemistry. That sounds like damage to me.

For us meds is our last resort, I didn't want to medicate my son, but last year he is really depressed and threatening to kill himself, we started seeing a psychologist and a psychiatriatrist to monitor his meds. he put
him on Prozac, 20 mg. once a day, and it helped him tremendously, the meds really made a difference, he also takes an extra 25mg. of vistaril prn only. It is very scary when your child talks about killing himself because he can't deal with it anymore,whatever it is he's feeling at that time.