List of possible medication for Asperger's (7 year old)

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At 7 my son started Adderall. It helped him a great deal, but it was important to get the dose just right or he got a bit zombified. But when the dose was right, it was the difference between night and day. I would say the biggest difference, or the one with the most impact, was that he was able to focus enough to actually learn some social skills. Prior to that, he was a like a bull in a china shop. He was so impulsive and so intrusive. He has always been a nice kid, but the other kids in his class could only handle him in measured doses and before medication, he just couldn't...I don't know how to put it...but once he was on meds, he started to notice things that he never noticed before, like the fact that other kids were trying to move away from him. At first his feelings were very hurt, but then he was slowly able to learn which behaviors were too much for his peers and also how to tell when he needed to stop. He still had other deficits, but controlling his impulsivity and intrusiveness was a major step in the right direction for him.

He's no longer on the meds, btw, we stopped them at 10, though we are looking into trying them again. Not due to the same issues, as he has gotten very laid back and mellow as he got older, but because of focus issues at school.

It is a hard decision. I was staunchly against the use of meds for kids before I had to put my son on them. I finally realized that my adherence to my own philosophy was robbing him of an opportunity for a better life. We decided to do a trial without notifying the school (I wanted to see if they could tell), so we started the meds over a school break. When he went back to school, the teacher contacted me to ask me what we had done over the break because he was completely different. That was my answer. That, and the fact that my son wanted to be on the meds because he noticed the difference. Try not to let other people's judgments get to you. As long as you are doing your due diligence with research, you need to block out the ruckus, because you are the one responsible for your child's well-being, no one else.

This is the first thing I've ever read that makes me wonder whether I should consider medication for DS. He is just like your "before" description - impulsive, intrusive, and doesn't notice how he affects other people. If I ever feel I really must medicate him, I will consider Adderall.

My son's official diagnoses are ADHD and NLD, if that is of interest to you. He presents as "Aspie lite" with a whole lot of ADD and mild to moderate sensory integration issues. There was a good measure of hyperactivity when he was younger, but that is mostly gone. Actually, I would say the hyperactivity is totally gone. But when he was younger he was like the energizer bunny on speed.

I think it is wrong to know your child has autism/aspergers to a degree that it affects their ability to lead a relatively normal life, and deny them medication you know could help.

It's just as bad as when some parents refuse to get their kids vaccinated, putting their, and other people's kids at risk. There's a vaccine now for chicken pox. A vaccine with no known major side effects. But parents till let their kids get chicken pox, which can have complications leading to death, and leaves the door open for the shingles virus to come live in your spinal cord and become active every few years. But people don't give their kids this vaccine.

It's on the same level as denying your kids medication. What do the parents who are against this think is going to happen? Do they think their child is going to become a zombie or something? How is having an imbalance in your brain any different from having an imbalance in your heart, which you WOULD take medication for, and give your child medication for, right?

I was helped considerably by Effexor (an anti depressant) when I was 15. I'm still on it. I was helped TREMENDOUSLY by risperdone and cipralex, which I started at 27. It's like I'm a whole other person.

When your kids don't make friends. When they get picked last for teams. When nobody wants to work with them. When they get ostracized, riddiculed. When they feel like they don't fit in, when they don't understand... it hurts them. You can mitigate all of this with the right medication. Don't deny this opportunity to your children.

I agree, it's important to think about the child's perspective. And overall needs.

It's wrong, though, for any of us to think we KNOW another person's experience and needs because they MIGHT be similar to our own.

I don't think avoiding medications is anything like refusing to get kids vaccinated.

I was put on many, many different drugs when I was a teenager before anyone had a clue about Asperger's. When I was around 13 I was diagnosed with schizophrenia form disorder (which I don't believe I really had), so most of the medications were for the treatment of such. They were HORRIBLE. I developed severe anxiety, eating problems, facial tics, insomnia, lack of concentration, severe dry mouth and eyes, weight gain, difficulty swallowing, really bad restlessness, and on and on. They were a million times worse than whatever symptoms I was having and did not help at all. They told me the side effects would go away. They didn't. Every day like going to war and back and stepping on every land mine. I wondered if I would feel this way for the rest of my life and then I felt like I couldn't bear it and wanted to just die.

This pure hell I went through many, many times during my younger adult years and it wasn't until I was diagnosed with Asperger's that things very slowly began to improve, but I was a horrible mess for months. One time I was put in the hospital and they took me off all my meds and I couldn't eat, sleep, or stay still for half a second as my body went into withdrawl. The tried putting me on lithium even though I was once put on it before and it was also horrible and even my shrink didn't want me on it. I feel bad for people with bipolar or other mental illness who have to take that awful substance - the list of info that the pharmacy gave me with it had about 80% of the side effects listed in capital letters, you're not supposed to eat or drink certain foods with it and need your blood tested all the time to make sure it's not destroying your body. Reading all the side effects or reactions to most drugs terrify me. As a kid I heard that medicine is supposed to make you feel better. Another childhood myth. And the staff at the mental wards were cold, cruel drill sargeants who see you as nothing but a psychopath and all they care about is drugging you into a stupor so you won't be a danger to yourself and others. If you cry loudly they come in and make you take more drugs or even inject it painfully into you. It's like the air itself is chewing away at your flesh and the bed sheets are giving you paper cuts all over and the the white walls are burrowing into your eyeballs.

Those were the darkest days of my life, and I would much rather be dead than be forced to go through all that again.
When people decide to put their children on drugs they really have no idea what they're up against.

I still have to take three different medications each day. I really have no idea if they actually work or not but if the shrink wants to put me on something else I'll refuse. I hate the mental health quacks and they should be in prison or forced to take the drugs they put me on to find out what it felt like.

Sometimes the side effects of a drug can be worse than what they treat.
Also, many drugs are allowed onto the market and then pulled 10-20 years later when it's found they cause serious organ damage. I don't want my son to need a new liver at 30 because of a drug he didn't absolutely require.

Or the drugs have no long-term benefits, or it is unknown what effects they have on brain development, or they could prevent kids from developing coping mechanisms that will be needed in adulthood or when the drug stops working due to tolerance.

Our son is ASD and ADHD. We started with ADHD med, and it made a big difference in his ability to concentrate and stay on task. Which means he is successful at academics. Which is a benefit, because when he wasn't successful, he felt like he didn't deserve to live because he was so stupid (that either/or thinking). We later added Abilify and Lamictal to help with his severe meltdowns. Because with those too, after they were over, he felt worthless and not worthy of living. So any reasonable side effects are worth it to prevent suicidal thoughts, in our case.

That being said, we carefully researched and worked with our doctor to choose the best meds to do the job, given the risks they carry. We did stay away from risperdal, because we thought the side effect risks there were too great, for instance, for a beginning pubescent boy, and I had the doctor take away the SSRI he was originally on before the Lamictal because we didn't think it was necessary to do both. And we've switched his ADHD med choice a few times to get one with the best impact and the least side effects

But that's just my experience, what is working for our son. Who can now handle things much better, things that used to trigger severe meltdowns. No suicidal ideation in over a year.

For yourself, weigh the benefits against the risks to come to an informed decision, and disregard anyone who tells you that their opinion is the only one that matters. They don't walk in your family's shoes.

Just be aware of what it is. I don't oppose adderall for kids/people who it helps immensely I know that does exist...but it is amphetamine and recreationally...has been referred to as speed, though that also refers to meth which is from what I understand simular and much more potent. But basically there are risks with that drug...it is effective to help some people, but even for people it helps it can cause physical dependence. I have heard sometimes when someone is put on adderall as a child and then as an adult(since much like autism ADHD is seen as a childhood condition) their adderall treatment ends and then they end up seeking out stimulant drugs on the street to 'self medicate'....So such a treatment does need to be monitered and should the individual be taken off the medication that needs to be monitered and done slowly and careful as to avoid withdrawl. I guess my main concern is when parents give their kid a medication, without having a clue as to what kind of drug it is....and that it might in fact have side effects, risks and possibly end up not working or making it worse..I hate hearing of when a kid starts getting very irritable after starting a medication and they try everything from positive reinforcement to harsh punishments ect. to correct the behavior before realizing it was a bad reaction to the medication....so they had been essentially keeping their kid on a drug that made them feel worse and punshing them for 'acting out' due to that...because it never even occurred to them that the medication they are giving their kid is a 'drug' and drugs have their risks and don't effect everyone the same.

RIsperadone has really helped both of my children but both ended up with insatiable appetites and gained a lot of weight. Now they stand out even more because of being overweight and having particular behaviors. Abilify was helpful for a while, but was really expensive because there are no generic alternatives. One of my sons takes Geodon clonidine, and an anti depressant for anxiety. The clonidine helps with his tics and keeps him relaxed.
My other son is bipolar and has ASD so he is on stronger meds and we have to monitor him much more closely. He has taken clonidine as well for agitation.
You have to have a good doctor and psychologist to help you decide what is best for you child. Don't be afraid to go back to the doctor a lot and try to get the dosage just right.