Help - Medication for Aspergers

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I am a parent of two daughters with Aspergers. My younger daughter is now 16. She has been on Abilify 5mg for about four years. We can't seem to control the weight gain. She's gained over 80 pounds and most recently 2-3 pounds a week. She's not eating any more than usual and we've adjusted her diet to a fairly healthy diet.

We've tried Risperdal and that had terrible results. Can anyone tell me what other medication Asperger's kids / teens take?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Have you spoken with those who handle your daughter's medical care?

Do they specialize in working with people on the autism spectrum, or are they just generalists?

Just General doctors now. I don't know of a specialist in my area. Need to find one.

All I can tell you is I took Abilify and Risperidal and they both had HORRIBLE side effects on me (especially Risperidal--damn it, I HATE LACTATING!) I ended up going off of them when the side effects got too bad and we realized I Hadn't needed it in the first place. The weight gain from the Risperidal was actually causing MORE sensory issues for me, and having a lower sex drive was having bad emotional effects on me (when I couldn't feel GOOD from masturbating I had more anger problems and frustration). I know you have to live with the kid so you know her better, but maybe you just THINK she needs the medicine when really it's making things harder on her.

What is the medicine supposed to help her with? And has she been on medication for years? Since she HAS been on the Abilify for four years, maybe you could try taking her off of it--it might not be necessary anymore. When I went off the Risperidal I lost that 70lbs I'd gained really easily, so that might solve your problem.

The one medicine I took that wasn't too horrible was Lexapro, but that just barely took the edge off my anxiety. It only had bad side effects when I missed a day. Another thing that helped me (which might also help your daughter) was Seasonique. It's a birth control pill that makes the periods only happen four times a year, and is supposed to lower the cramps and PMS symptoms. Periods and PMS can often be a lot bigger part of the problem than people thing.

I'm not on medicine anymore and I'm doing fine (I'm nineteen) so maybe that at least will give you hope. I also took Wellbutrin for a while but that didn't really help me (mostly because I didn't NEED it) and I'm not sure what the side effects were because I was also on Risperidal at the time.

I really can't be much more help unless you tell us what exactly the medicine is supposed to be helping her with (anxiety, anger, sensory integration problems, etc.). Also, is she on any other medications?

Oh, you NEED a psychiatrist, preferably one that specializes in Autism and isn't a quack. General doctors don't always know enough about the specific needs of Autistic people to help.

First, Asperger's is not a disease, it is a neurological condition.

Second, you need to talk to your child's psychiatrist. A lot of these psychiatric medications have massive weight gain as a side effect, among other side effects. There are quite a few people on the spectrum who have adverse side effects to these medications. You might download the Harm Reduction Guide for getting off Psychiatric Drugs from the Icarus Project, show that to your child's psychiatrist, and ask him or her if this is a reasonable way of getting your daughter off this drug. You might also ask the psychiatrist if there are any alternatives, like mineral supplements (niacin, fish oil, garlic, ginkgo, etc) will work. If the psychiatrist refuses to work with you, find a new psychiatrist.

Third, does your daughter have a psychologist? If so, you might ask him or her about different forms of therapy that would help her cope. If she has a psychologist, and she is not making any progress, find a new psychologist.

I've never had meds prescribed for my autism. I was on some stuff for a while for hyperactivity when I was little.
And then I was on Celexa for a while last year for generalized anxiety disorder. And I am still on Xanax which I only take if i'm having a panic attack. But never any meds for autism itself.

There are NO medications effective for the treatment of any form of autism. None. Zero. Zip.

Psychiatrists love to prescribe meds because they can and they get perks from Big Pharma for doing it.

Sad but so true. I'm fortunate enough to have a pediatrician (who specializes in kids like me) who isn't like that.

I regret that this is true. There is no medication for Aspergers, only for the issues that come with trying to function in the world while having Aspergers. Your doctor has no idea what s/he is doing. Get her off that stuff: my guess is that the weight gain is only the visible part of the side effects. Many of the kids on those drugs also wind up with sky-high cholesterol and insulin resistance; they really mess with metabolism.

You need to find a good specialist who works with kids with Aspergers, which may mean some road-tripping.

I'll also ask this: who diagnosed your kids? (Please tell me it wasn't a school-district person.) Finally - what is your family situation, is this a two-parent deal, or are you trying to do this on your own?

If she has not grown too much 80 pounds is an unacceptable amount and I would fear for her long term health. Second the weight gain may cause more problems then the medication is suppost to solve, it did for me in the form of intense bullying and all of the side effects that comes along with that. My opinion of medication is quite low from my experience with it.

Aspergers cannot be medicated as a whole, but the issues aspergers cause can be treated, not always effectivly but helps in small ways.


people with aspegers can and should be medicated for Anxiety, ADHD, and in some cases sleep.


anti-depressents tend to work but the side effect is weight gain, which unfortunately cant be helped.

i too am hoping to find more recources in medication because my Anti-depressents arent preforming the way i would hope to i would like to have my Anxiety lowered and impulses under control. i also need sleeping pills.

I find that my antidepressant works for my constant stimming (hand wringing). I'm inclined to believe that issue is related to anxiety.

Yes, I do know this is not a disease that can be cured with a pill. Its for the symptoms. The abilify was to help with her cognitive thinking and paranoia, which it does. She's been on it so long, perhaps a trial without it might be a good solution. I've had her blood work done several times to make sure that there weren't any health issues that the weight gain has caused physically.

She's been in a weekly social skills group for five years - so I am not just using a pill to help her. Individual therapy has not worked well for her. She has an excellent social skills group / teacher that has been better than any therapy.

Which symptoms are you trying to treat, exactly?

Bear in mind, at the age of 16 her neurology is far from stabilizing yet. While this doesn't mean that she can "get over" her aspergers, it DOES mean that any psychoactive medication you give to her may have serious and potentially unknown long-term side effects, especially because the FDA isn't too terribly hot on testing things on kids before giving them the green light.

I'd read up on mindfulness as a method of therapy for your daughter - help her achieve active awareness of her self and mental state, which in turn will allow her to better modify or change behaviors that are undesirable to her. As a willing, and most importantly, knowing participant in modifying her own behavior, the therapy has a much better chance of sticking with her and improving her long-term overall mood-state than other therapies such as ABA.

If you're absolutely intent on the idea of medicating your daughter for aspergers, well, the good news is that a potential medication does exist.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/22/f ... ic-adults/

The bad news, of course, is that ecstasy/MDMA is both mostly-untested and illegal. So make of that what you will.



This is ideal. If it's working, keep with this. I guarantee it'll help her more in the long-term than any medication, illegal or otherwise.

I've heard people on here say that alcohol helps to reduce some of the symptoms of Asperger's, like social anxiety and hypersensitivity. I guess that's kind of like medication.