Abilify and other medications

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I am curious to know if you have your Autism Spectrum child on psychiatric medication, and what the medication is treating (comorbid conditions or symptoms associated with ASD?).

More specifically - Does anyone have their child on Abilify? If so, did you notice a reduction in sensory issues, or how your child handles the sensory issues? Is your child on the clinical dose for treating symptoms associated with Autism or a Mood Disorder?

Thanks.

I've heard this one mentioned so I think there is at least one family here that has used it. All medications will be for co-morbids; they cannot treat the AS or even the sensory issues, as I understand it.

My son is not on any medication, although there were periods of time when it came up for discussion. Each time we gathered a list of "let's try this firsts" and each time the immediate concern subsided after going through that list. You only want to medicate for things that are severely inhibiting your child's life; if it can be dealt with some other way, that is the better long term solution. Sensory issues, fortunately, often abate over time, or redirect adequately so as not to be a major hindrance. Stress and anger issues can often be dealt with through counseling (my son got placed in a group at a very key time in his life, and it helped a ton). Some things will change by simply letting your child follow his own instincts; for my son, one of the largest behavior changes came by experimenting to see what would happen if we let him pace, instead of discouraging it (his pacing isn't exactly harmless; it includes climbing on furniture and bumping into walls - really annoying to us, and destructive to the furniture - but essential to his self-calming, it turns out).

One the "lets try this firsts" that we never got to was eliminating gluten. He's evened out and made progress in the most key areas without it. But I'd go there before medication. As well as to a few of the other alternative medicine ideas that have been discussed on this boards. Fish oil, inositol, vitamins ... all that stuff, to me, comes before medication.

But ... I know you're already trying some of those alternatives, so I'm not sure how far down the road you are with the "lets try this firsts." If your child is dealing with debilitating anxiety or depression, then medication is probably indicated. If it is other things ... I suspect you'll get there being patient with the alternative list.

Abilify is FDA approved to treat aggitation associated with Autism. The clinical dose is 2.5mg for this purpose. My son also has Mood Disorder-NOS. The clinical dose for this is 10mg. My son is on 3.5mg and it is working great. I believe (but I could be wrong) it is the only FDA approved drug for Autism, and again, it is not to treat Autism per se, but the aggitation associated with the disorder.

Medication for us was a last resort (self-harm, suicidal threats). My son said he cannot live like this anymore, meaning his sensory issues (pre-ASD diagnosis) were so irritating and painful, he just couldn't handle life as it was. It was medication or hospitalization. I do not promote psychiatric medication for children, generally speaking.

The reason this question came up and I posted it is that my son, and my friend's son (he is bipolar with suspected ASD) are both on Abilify. He is obviously on a much higher dose (20mg) and we have both noticed a major decrease in sensory issues. An anti-psychotic medication should not reduce sensory issues - but it does. We wonder if this is a reduction in the reaction to the sensory issue or a reduction in the issues themselves - very hard to tell. I was wondering if any other parents used medications to help their children.

The docs suggested I might consider an ADHD med. I said no thanks, we will figure it out.

DS is on 3mg Abilify. As you know, we are in the midst of trying to figure out if we are treating AS symptoms or a mood disorder. I am so confused! What I do know is that violent meltdown & rages impact DS terribly!

Here's our reality though.... whenever we go up on meds to treat mood disorder, the symptoms get worse. I think it gets in the way of his cognitive processing, which he already has to work so hard at, so subsequently his frustration increases......

I believe that when my DS's stressors are reduced, his reaction to his sensory issues reduces too. Therefore, the Abilify helps, but I think in a roundabout way - not directly. Did that make any sense?

Risperidone is approved to treat extreme rage in autistic individuals.

Sorry, I guess I got confused by your question, and forgot you were already on this one.

I think the post above where the parent noted a correlation between sensory issues and the levels of other stress items has a point. When other stress items go away, the child seems to manage the sensory issues better. It is all very circular, with each problem feeding the other. So, if you are able to successfully control one piece in the cycle, you are increasing the likelihood of success with the other pieces.

And the sensory issues do change over time; it is hard to know what caused the change. There are some my son just grew out of, and fairly suddenly; I don't have any other way to describe it. His sensory seeking behaviors are more static, but his sensory avoidance has definitely mitigated.

I will have to look that up - that is what my son had 'extreme rage'. I have not found many parents of ASD children that have experienced this extreme rage with their children. That is the exact symptom the Abilify is treating. I wonder why a doctor would choose Abilify over Risperidone for rage? I am very interested in reseraching this...thanks. I figured I was wrong about Ab being the only one to treat autism symptoms, but only one I ever heard of.

Often docs start with Abilify as it supposedly has fewer side effects. Risperidone is more likely to cause weight gain and some hormonal issues for boys.

We use Risperidone PRN only, and it is pretty helpful. That said, DS has gained a tremendous amount of weight on the Abilify, I would hate to increase that with Risperidone.

I have to disagree. Abilify has more side effects (like vomiting) and has a much greater risk of extrapyramidal side effects (twitching, tardive dyskinesia and the like) compared to Risperidone.

I think for pre-pubescent boys, the feeling is that risperidone messes with their hormones, therefore the type of side effects are more concerning. The reality is, that all of these meds effect each person's chemistry differently. You can't know what will happen. When talking about the impact on children all of these statements are purely anecdotal, since there are such limited studies on kids. I believe that in this regard it is super important to be treated by a pdoc who specializes in kids, so their anecdotal data is likely to be better than someone who treats adults. For my son, the concern was mostly with respect to weight gain, as he had already gained 50# on Abilify.

My son is on Tenex, a high-blood pressure medication, for ADHD and anxiety. Before the meds he kept going into these hyper, out of control states, like something out of one of those crazy old movies where people take a puff of marijuana and then jump off a roof. It made it impossible for him to learn or to interact with people. The medication has made life so much better for him and our family.

bjtao, you seem to be a reasonable person genuinely searching for help for your son. I am only sharing my experience, that the multiple occasions which we were enticed to use meds with my daughter they only made matters worse. I know this is not the case for everyone, but it was very problematic in our situation because it involved stepping up and down trying to find the "right dose" all the while worsening my daughter's issues. The only occasions she has been extremely violent (uncontrollable rage and intent and willingness to inflict harm) were on meds.

My daughter has also had extreme suicidal and self harming thoughts, words, and actions. I know this is not something to be taken lightly. Luckily, for us, I sought out a counselor for her and for me. Hers helped her with some creative therapy exercises and mine coached me on what to do in these specific situations. I also started intensive therapy for myself to deal with the extreme sorrow and feelings of futility I felt with regard to my daughter getting worse. At this time they were considering adding a dx of Bipolar.

All of these measures helped greatly. I finally found a therapist that "got it" and did not give me the standby NT parental advice-on the contrary we started experimenting with some pretty non-typical parenting strategies. And guess what? They worked. Only because of this therapist's willingness to think outside of the box and her listening to me when I explained what has been tried before and how it failed, did we come up with what helped my daughter BEST.

She hasn't mentioned wanting to die or killing herself in a while. She also hasn't mentioned wanting others to die. And this is after we went through a very severe period of these thoughts and self infliction of harm.

It doesn't get better overnight (not even with meds) but my experience has been that meds only worsened the problem or made my daughter subdued and drugged-to the point that it worsened her depression.

I know meds are helpful for others but this is our experience, for what it's worth.

Thank you for the post. When I started searching for help for my son, this was the outcome I was hoping for. Lots of therapy for him and I and a lot of hard work, then improvement. I know we probably did not have the right doctors and therapists. After a year of therapy and 20+ hours of rage a week (I am sure you have heard me mention that several times...lol) it was my last resort. During his last rage he pulled a knife on me at 2:30 am - he had woken up worried that his glasses were dirty. I can't believe we made it through that year...it was so horrible. Each rage was 3 - 5 hrs.... For a year, my son went to the therapists and refused to talk. Not a word other than "I hate you". That's it. He did not participate in one single session, not even in fun play therapy. He did the same with the psychiatrist when we eventually got to one. It was really hard because he had this horrible, bizarre rage and behavior, and because he would not communicate or participate, the doctors could only treat and diagnose him based on what I told them, what I suspect he feels based on his actions. Even at the neuropsych (on medication) he did not make eye contact once and answered all questions (yes, no, I don't know, kind of), did not engage at all.

My hope with medication was not only to make things at home manageable, but also to get him to a state mentally where he can participate and be responsive to therapy. I believe the medication has met my purpose.

Regarding my son's threats of suicide...I think these threats have a different meaning for me and my family than they do others. We have multiple suicides in my family - my great uncle, my grandfather, my cousin and my brother all committed suicide before they turned 30. My brother first became suicidal at age 7 ( my son started talking about it at 8 ). The first time my son said it, he was in therapy the very next week. I saw my brother flash in front of my eyes - no, this cannot be happening to my child! That being said...I am willing to work my ass off for my child, but I didn't think he'd make it to 12 years old the way he was going.

I love your story and that is what I'd hoped for us! You are an excellent parent.

Thanks bjtao. I don't want it to seem as though I am against the use of meds I just wanted to share our story. We have tried various meds so I truly understand when you are at the pooint where you absolutely HAVE to do whatever you can to help your child.

Good luck, I hope it gets better for you and your son soon.

I haven't read the whole thread, but wanted to post. I am extremely familiar with Abilify. I remember when it first came out, and have known a number of adults treated with it.

Abilify has NOT been tested for use with children. It is not approved for use with children. Adults commonly have extreme side effects with this drug.

I don't want to appear to be anti-medication because I do believe it is sometimes appropriate. I do, however, caution against giving children a drug that is untested, unapproved, and controversial for adult use.

Abilify has been tested on children and is FDA approved for use in children. It was approved in 2008.