Medications given for aspergers

Post Reply New Topic

My son now 11yrs.old has been on many types of meds. to help with some of the effects of aspergers. I have felt frustrated many times because it's like my child is an experiment, I mean you really don't know what works until you try it and sometimes it was not good at all!
Now he has been on abilify for awhile, but he is gaining weight fast. He only eats certain food and has not changed the amount of food he eats.
Has anyone dealt with this problem before? I hate to keep changing medication.

how about not giving him medication? I don't think you can really treat the core symptoms. Unless you mean you are treating comorbid depression/anxiety/ocd/agression.

my Aspie 8yr old is on 37mlg of Concerta (it's like a Ritalin; they're both psycho-stimulants); & he takes a spoonful of Celexa to treat anxiety.

I have to say that they have both worked pretty well.

OK I'm not a Doctor, but I've played one many times... to misquote the old commercial.

Abilify is what both my boy's take, both in their teen's... It's an "atypical antipsychotic" that they take to handle the co-morbid mood disorder's, and it has worked very well for us. Between the two of them, before the abilify, they took almost everything in the grab bag trying to get a handle on things. Concerta didn't work for us, but that's used to treat more of the "hyperactivity" behaviors. If the person taking it has a mood disorder, taking a stimulant such as ritalin can cause uncontrolled manic episodes, often displayed as severe aggression by children. My son who is most affected by Asperger's (and with Tourette's, mood disorder, and OCD co-morbid) also takes Lamictal. Another mood stabilizer (originally used to control epilepsy I think) and he's also seen improvement on that.

I understand what you mean by feeling like you've been run through the drug mill.... so to speak. Some of what my son's take are generic and affordable under our HMO, some aren't and cost about $50 per month. It adds up. On the other hand, I did check the "cash" price of their med's at one point and both were well over $1,000.00 per month if we didn't have insurance...

The "core" area's of Asperger's aren't really treatable, in many regards. The hyperconcentration, insistence on the same foods every day (or the same routine) etc may be helped by treatments for OCD, the same with Tourette's. The co-morbid disorders are what we can treat with chemical's. OCD, Tourette's, bi-polar, mood disorder NOS, hyperactivity, etc. can be helped with medication. Since Asperger's is a genetic condition, it would take gene therapy to make any core changes, and most of us who know what we are would fight to the death to avoid that. It's not EASY having Asperger's. But then, it may be "easy" and quite boring and unrewarding to be "normal".

Thanks eveyone for all the info! I really wish we didn't have to use meds. School of course is hard to get through alot of days, so abilify helps with handling some issues that he goes through each day.
I finally got the school to listen to me, and now he is doing alot better because they understand a little bit more about apergers.

If it's possible, no meds would be preferable for everyone. However, a child or teenager with uncontrolled mood disorder's can be a danger to themselves and to others. The manic/aggression only one aspect, depression kills. Our children are our only true treasure. And protecting them is our only true occupation.

In teens, it can actually be the medication that kills rather than the depression. Many suicides have been linked to SSRIs like Prozac because instead of curing depression, the medication just eliminates all feelings. And when you stop feeling, it's easier just to off yourself.

Back from that tangent, there is no cure for Asperger's or Autism, and there is no medication recommended for treatment of it. The best thing I've found by far is therapy, early and often. We are also working with the school district already to get my son an IEP for when he starts school, and he's only 3! Your school should really be working harder to allow your son to function well in his environment there, rather than you drugging your son to adapt to the school. I would start making some complaints if I were you.

AspieDave, You are right, at first i felt so much guilt for having to do medication, but he is happier and can function better in group situations. I know that i as a parent have to do what i feel benifits him best.
My son went through rage fits at times or being really sad and of course he couldn't explain why. As he is getting older though he has learned how to talk about what upsets him and we try to over come it with out getting put of hand!

My sons school is really doing great! They have come along way, and are more educated about aspergers. Of course we have gone through some tough times until we knew what the problem was, once i knew it was aspergers, i helped educate them on the matter.
It took since he was 5 yrs.old to find out exactly what was wrong.

I feel for you on this one. My son does not have aspergers, but he is a type one diabetic. He takes six shots a day to keep his sugar under control. The side effects of keeping sugar under control in type ones is weight gain. And that really helps when their self esteem is taking a beating anyway due to being a pre-teen or teenager.

I was started on Luvox and it took the "edge" off my obsessions/anxiety considerably...then a couple of years later I was put on Lexapro and I feel like I'm even further to "getting there". I was going to commit suicide and thought about it constantly before I got put on Lexapro and now it's a non-issue. I still have my "Aspie-ness" and social inadequacies (at home watching Scrubs on New Years eve, and I'm the only one on my apartment complex home, since my car is the only one parked) plus learning disabilities that make life a struggle, but the chemical imbalances have been taken care of so I can now can start working towards the harder stuff. I've gone off the meds a couple of times (bad, I know) because I wanted to see if I could function normally using only willpower and inner strength (I can't), and I didn't have any problems going off Lexapro but Luvox I get really bad withdrawal. Other than that, I never had any side effects, except maybe drowsiness the first month or so (but I'm not sure if that's because of the Luvox/Lexapro or because I was starting birth control at that time, plus I was a teenager and slept a lot because I was depressed/it was winter).

My son was on welbutrin for a while, cause even though he was about 9yrs.old he would talk alot about death or would get upset easily. I hope we on the right road now but i still wonder if we should do something different.

Teenagers struggling with anxiety, social issues and depression are more apt to begin self-medicating with a variety of drugs. This is all too common with kids that struggle socially and would do just about anything to fit in. Also, it makes the pain go away, temporarily, so it is a good fix. Unfortunately, it can be life altering and have dangerous consequences. Drug abuse is a major problem with adolescents and even preadolescents.

By the time you want to introduce prescribed medications to help with issues, teenager refuses and has already got his/her own methods. It is best to take care of situation before it gets out of hand. This said from an anti-med mom.

equinn

I know exactly where you're coming from. I hate testing medications on my son.

We had a bad year in 2006 where we tested about 4 and also tested varying doses.

At the end of the year, we'd settled on Ritalin.

I told everyone concerned that we were going to stick on the one medicine without variation for 6 months.

It was worth it. For my son, consistency was as good as the medication itself.

As others here have told you, the core parts of aspergers are untreatable but the concentration / attention parts can be helped by medication.

Good luck.

gbollard, I went to your blog, everything you talked about made so much sense to me! The eating habits and empathy.
My son has changed some since he is getting older, so he can tell me what is bothering him more than before. He may get angry with me but he's over it very soon after, his twin sister on the other hand can stay mad for hours..haha maybe a girl thing.
Do you think ritalin and abilify are close to the same type of medicine? I know there is nothing to cure aspergers, but some meds do help him focus and handle his anxity better.

you didn't mention it, but does your son have an IEP with the school? Also I can't tell where you live, but here in the states the schools are legally bound to have Individualized Education plans for those diagnosed with special needs. My son has had one in the past, but now that we have a diagnosis, we need to rewrite his IEP so it's better for him. I'm preparing to put on my boxing gloves for next school year. Just because they are legally bound to do it doesn't mean they necessarily like to do it