sweetsouthern Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 dd is still having issues with her anger. shes taking intuniv 4mg, melatonin 2.5mg, and riseradal 1.5mg she was taking adderall xr 20mg, the pschy thought maybe the adderall was making her annoyed (side effect), so he switched it 4 weeks ago to 50mg vyvanse. the vyvanse chnage did nothing for her mood at all (no better, no worse), but 3 weeks into she had a bad side effect with circulation. so we were told to stop it. now she isnt taking any stim at all.... her mood still is no worse or better than beforem, so obviously the mood issues isnt coming from the stimulant. (although school is a nightmare... but another story lol!) i did some research on risperadal increasing and it looks like it starts to get scary at the 2mg dose with side effects. she also tried abilify a few months back, she raged on it, so it was stopped and swicthed to the risperadal. any ideas??? i have got to get this mood under control!!! its constant crazy!!! any ideas??? any other meds used for anger that anyone can have me look into??? or anyones child take a higher dose of risperadal? by the way, shes 85 pounds and 11.5 yrs old. thanks so much! :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funnygirl Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 First, :grouphug: Been there, am there, every day. My dd13 has bipolar and adhd. We have been through abilify and risperdal, but both caused weight gain that became a concern for us. We've also been through most of the stimulants, and the whole "is the stimulant causing the anger" discussion. Last year we made a big switch and this is what she takes now: For adhd: Vyvanse (sorry this isn't an option for you; it has been good for us.) For mood: Lithium and Lamictil (these two work in combination with each other for mood stabilization; required a hospitalization when getting started :sad: but works well now. For depression/sleep: Seroquel (starting to wean back off of this now that she's not in ps.) For anxiety (which was HUGELY contributing to her mood/anger issues)- Ativan (again, we are starting to wean her off this now that she is home.) I realize that this is a lot of medication. DD has been on meds since she was four, and due to the cause of her issues (birthmother used drugs/alcohol during pregnancy) her symptoms are harder to treat than those of classic adhd/mood disorder. One of the BEST parts of homeschooling has been that we are being able to wean her off of some of her meds. Small but important victory!! Please feel free to PM me with any questions if you'd rather. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funnygirl Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Bumping in hopes that someone else has some ideas as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomatHWTK Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 We're doing the Risperidal with the side effects, plus a few other medications. It was a matter of necessity. :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funnygirl Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Have you read The Explosive Child, by Ross Greene? Really helped dh and me deal with the non-med-related side of our dd's anger issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiguirre Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 i did some research on risperadal increasing and it looks like it starts to get scary at the 2mg dose with side effects. she also tried abilify a few months back, she raged on it, so it was stopped and swicthed to the risperadal. any ideas??? i have got to get this mood under control!!! its constant crazy!!! any ideas??? any other meds used for anger that anyone can have me look into??? or anyones child take a higher dose of risperadal? by the way, shes 85 pounds and 11.5 yrs old. thanks so much! :grouphug: GW takes 1.5 mg of risperidone (the generic) twice a day. He raged on Abilify and raged and ate nonstop on Geodon. Oddly, he does really well on risperdal and hasn't had any side effects at all even at the huge dose. No weight gain beyond the expected for a growing kid, no tics, no nothing. He also takes generic depakote as a mood stabilizer. Everyone's body chemistry is different, but ds is not the only patient in his ped neuro's office who reacted badly to Abilify and Geodon but does well on high doses of Risperdal. I hope you can find a good fit for your dd, because the rages are terrifying with a kid that large. :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 For mood: Lithium and Lamictil (these two work in combination with each other for mood stabilization; required a hospitalization when getting started :sad: but works well now. ) Lithium and Lamictal were the DYNAMIC DUO here for mood stuff.....and we didn't have to be in the hospital to do it either. We had to switch off the lithium as my daughter did very well on the Eskalith CR (a special time release form) that they stopped making but she couldn't take the other forms of lithium----she has an otherwise unheard of combo of 3 genetic disorders so her metabolism is quite unique. Seriously though, as scary as Lithium sounds, with proper monitoring of blood levels, it was the best thing we ever did for mood (and we started her on it at 7 and about 50 pounds). She is still on the Lamictal and doing very well with that along with Keppra XR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funnygirl Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Ottakee- SO glad you didn't have to endure a hospitalization. We were given a choice, but she was in a VERY dangerous place mood-wise, and I was concerned for her safety if we kept her home. Not sure what I'd do if given the choice again, though. Traditional hospitalization for mental illness is, in my experience, worthless. :thumbdown: (And that's coming from a pro-medicine pedi nurse who works in a hospital!!) We had to switch off the lithium as my daughter did very well on the Eskalith CR (a special time release form) that they stopped making but she couldn't take the other forms of lithium----she has an otherwise unheard of combo of 3 genetic disorders so her metabolism is quite unique. FYI- I just double-checked my dd's rx, and she takes Eskalith CR, 450mg. We get the generic form. Perhaps your dc needs a different strength that isn't available, but wanted to let you know just in case something had changed recently that might make this an option for you. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 FYI- I just double-checked my dd's rx, and she takes Eskalith CR, 450mg. We get the generic form. Perhaps your dc needs a different strength that isn't available, but wanted to let you know just in case something had changed recently that might make this an option for you. :) We were not in a huge crisis which is why we could do it at home. Sad to say, my daughter can not take the generic Eskalith CR. She is super sensitive to meds and that one was a no go and when they tried generic Lamictal she ended up in the hospital with an ER visit, an emergency MRI, having her head glued (she fell and cut her head), many stat blood draws, etc. I wish she could take the generic Eskalith as that was the best med along with the Lamictal for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funnygirl Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 UGH. I am so sorry. That just sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TGHEALTHYMOM Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 :grouphug: When I had my 2nd child the birth was amazing and natural. The first Nurse who brought her back after cleaning her up and dressing her said."This girl has a temper!" My how I was offended, and my how she was right. She cried everywhere we went, and I admit we went too much! She got mad when I tried to wean her at 18 months old and refused to eat anything... the Dr. tested her blood to make sure she was o.k. And she is now 12 and weighs about 80 lb. still finicky, and does not go to bed when told. Maybe I should consider medication, although her brother has distracted us so much with his destructive behavior, almost burning our house down more than once, and my husband refuses to put him on any medication. I have lost my mind more times than I can count. I have taken Sam-e, 5HTP, and now nothing due to being pregnant again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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