Autism / Autism Spectrum Support Group

Although I have never taken any of these drugs I do agree that we need to watch carefully for signs of side effects in our children. We need to make sure the Dr they are seeing isn't going to just blow off as seeing/feeling things that aren't there. We had that happen with our non-ASD child and she no longer sees that Dr. If we hadn't educated ourselves to the possible side effects (not just what this "Dr" told us) of this med we could have lost our daughter!

Thanks! We are going for an appointment at the end of June so, your advice is helpful.

SO GLAD TO HEAR YOU GOT HELP, MY SON IS 22 NOW AND NOT LIVING AT HOME . I STRUGGLED FOR 18 YEARS FEELING SAME WAY I WAS A SINGLE MOM ,SON HAD LOTS OF BEHAVIORS. FELT LIKE I WAS GOING CRAZY, HE JUST GOT BIGGER AND STRONGER, HARD TO HANDLE, BUT IF I HAD TO DO IT OVER I WOULD, I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AND IT WAS HARD ON HIM TOO. HES DOING GREAT AND WORKING ON CAMPAS.. HOPE THE BEST FOR YOU.

@justletmebe
i acn very well empathise with u, u must be going through a lot, taking care of 2 autistic kids alone, it must be overwhelming for you.

You said that u hv been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, can u plz tell whether in past u had any maniac or hyperthymic episodes, because without these u dont qualify for bipolar disorder.
If u had all depressive episodes in past u fall in Recurrent depressive disorder.

U are being given quetiapine (seroquel) and aripiperazole (abilify), both of these are antipsychotics, quetiapine also has some mood stabilising properties,
i fail to understand why u hv not been given some proper mood stabiliser if u are having bipolar disorder (like valproate, lithium etc.)

Quetiapine and aripiperazole are comparatively safer drugs primarily used to treat psychotic disorders, or as an adjuvant to a mood stabiliser in bipolar disorder, they have other uses too which are beyond the scope of this discussion.

Quetiapine can cause sedation and weight gain to some extent, aripiperazole is relatively free of much side effects but is less effectiv too and doesn't has much mood stabilising properties,
both of these drugs fall in the category of safest antipsychotics which have very little propensity for E.P.S. that is extra pyramidal sympyoms.
take care and be in regular touch of your psychiatrist, and express your concerns to him.

i have replied assuming u r asking advice for you and not ur kids,

if u r asking about use of medication in your kids then let me know their age, weight and symptoms.
it is best to use biomedical treatment first in kids and then only go for and psyhiatric medications, because kids are in developing phase and are much more sensitive to side effects of drugs.

@rhautm
I've been diagnosed with bipolar 2 meaning I've never had a full blown manic episode.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipola...

I'm very hypomanic and experience agitated/catatonic depression as well as severe anxiety with ocd like symptoms.
I'm an ultra rapid cycler meaning, I can experience these symptoms (cycles) many times a month or day. Bipolar is a spectrum disorder just like autism. Just like no two kids with autism are exactly the same, the same holds true for bipolar.

i apologize for not being clear on my meds. I am on a mood stabilizer (lamictal) and an anti-psychotic(abilify) as well as klonopin for sleep.

Thank you, I am in regular contact with my pdoc and a very compliant patient. My meds are working for me now thank god, but I had to try ones like seroquel and geodon to get to he right AP (abilify) and thats why I posted this -both seroquel and geodon were nightmares for me. I wanted the rest of us to know the potential side effects.
My daughter at her worst was considered a candidate for medication but I decided to wait it out, and not medicate her.. shes doing better but if there comes a time again where she needs meds to help her along ( puberty ) I'll be able to watch for any side effects that the drugs have simply because I've been on them. Granted, not every drug works the same on every person but its good to have a ballpark idea.

Thanks so much guys to take the time to read this, in no way did i want this post to sound preachy, i just wanted to share my experience and maybe pass something along ♡

justletmebe...

Thanks for the info. It was with a very heavy heart that I put our 6 year old on a low dose of zoloft for anxiety. So, your post is appreciated. Thanks.

@justletmebe, i very well know that bipolar disorder is a spectrum disorder that's why i had posted manic (most severe) and hyperthymic (mildest) on the range, there r various categories used to describe it, in U.S.A. psychiatrist use DSM 4 criteria, but in india (my country) and in many others ICD 10 is used for categorization and diagnosis.
in ur post u had described only depressive episodes and antipsychotic medications, which didn't make sense to me, that's why i asked u d questions in my above post.
there r genetic differences in each person in their metabolsim and some other gene expression which leads to different responses to same drugs.
thank you for sharing