Medications
Medications
My daughter has autism, adhd, aggressive (impulsive) behavior. We just started the medication journey two weeks ago. We tried Metadate (ritalin) for a week and it was horrible. Her aggression and self-injury were completely out of control. She started Intuniv a week ago. We started at 1mg and doubled it yesterday and today. She is still aggressing and hurting herself and she fell asleep on the kitchen table at 4:30 today and again in the bathtub tonight. We're going back to 1mg tomorrow… read more
Our doctor told us that some of the stimulants to treat add and adhd can make the aggression worse. so she gave my son Tenex which is a blood pressure medicine they have seen some great results with for children on the spectrum. It has done wonders for his aggressive behaviors and also has helped with night terrors. We have only been on it for 2 weeks, but it's really made a big difference. Our son was close to being removed from the local public school because of his outbursts, aggression, and in ability to focus. The teachers say he's a new kid....
Good Luck! I hear it's a "process" to find the right meds. We are lucky we found something so fast.
We went through the same thing with my son. In the end it turned out that he needed more than one medication. They tried different things and now he is on sertraline - 25 mg one time in the morning, methylphenidate - 10 mg bid, intuniv - 2 mg at bedtime, and abilify - 5 mg at bedtime. We haven't reached Nathan's goal behaviors yet but there has been some improvement. And another thing to keep in mind is that it often takes time for the medication(s) to work to its full potential, for the child to adjust to the medication(s), and often requires adjustments to the dosage of the medication(s). If you believe that the meds really aren't working, talk to the childs provider and see what your other options are. Be patient eventually you will find the right way to go with your child's meds. I know that it can be painful to watch your child struggling and it can be frustrating not seeing the improvements that you want quickly. Hang in there.
Abilify made my adult son much more anxious, causing him to pick himself, a new behavior :(
Logan uses risperdal. Without it, he's completley out of control.
