Took my daughter for a GP appointment yesterday-
Doc added risperidone about a month or so ago to curb
the aggressive behavior. She got on the scale and saw that she had
gained ten pounds. TOTALLY depressed the rest of the day.
Not a good drug for people struggling with self esteem to begin with,
especially young women.
We ended up taking a two hour hike after her appointment to
work off some weight...she now seems to be focused on losing weight
even if it means stopping medication... not the outcome I'd hoped for
when we started the Resperidone. I don't like it; she seems "off" lately.


Back to the drawing board, and yes, it feels like "shooting in the dark."

BHN

Withdrawing the wellbutrin seemed to handle most of the aggressive behavior, in his case any way, along with me doing 24/7 monitoring to spot the meltdowns before they hit. That was exhausting. It would have been really helpful to me to have a couple of days "off" per week but I never managed to arrange that. He often presented very well so people didn't get it, that things could change very quickly let alone, that he could stay decomped for weeks if the meltdown wasn't headed off.

It only counts if she takes them with either my husband or I present. We went through a stretch where should did not take them. Fortunately, she is not too sneaky yet. I noticed that her prescription was ready, but she still had a full bottle of pills.

She seems to be better this weekend. We upped her med dose and we are making her eat in the morning when she takes her meds. This should have been intuitive to me, but I completely missed it. When her stomach is empty, the geodon is cleared rapidly through her blood stream. She has been very stubborn about eating in the morning. Now she is eating mac-n-cheese or tuna salad in the morning. Whatever works, right?

Small "breakfast" a banana and coffee or something when I get up, a big meal early in the day, more breakfasty and snacky things toward the evening.

I adjust my meds to accommodate that.