One day in early 2007, his daycare called his mother to pick him up early because he was being disruptive, knocking over chairs and tables for no discernable reason. He is an example of how polypharmacy, when attempted with attention, care and persistence, can provide people with autism the opportunity to thrive.But finding and maintaining the right treatment regimen is still up to each physician, each family, each individual.
“I’d be broken down and sobbing and desperate, and punch a hole in the wall.”Five medications and five clinicians later, Ben was still lethargic, irritable, angry and having a difficult time focusing.Nailing down the right drug combination is particularly difficult when there’s little to no continuity of care. “He was a little tornado,” his mother says. He ran away twice that afternoon — once letting himself out of the car on the way home, and later climbing out his bedroom window. “I don’t think it would have escalated as much as it did if I hadn’t been medicated,” he says. In order to keep both boys safe, she knew she had to help him get his anger under control.His doctor tried him on risperidone, then soon added added guanfacine and Adderall.
The medications add up “because there is no centralized person,” says Prescription numbers can balloon as children pass through adolescence and into adulthood.“People get on the medications and tend to stay on [them] for long periods of time without ever really attempting to determine whether it’s still needed,” says Jeste says that people often arrive in her clinic with a long list of medications. 1 Diaphoresis may interfere with social and occupational activities, which can lead to medication discontinuation and prevent effective treatment. They swapped guanfacine for over-the-counter That was the end of all the experiments. Some people switch doctors in the hopes of finding one with an approach they like, or when their insurance coverage changes. He was spending his weekends at home, but during the week he lived at a nearby residential facility where he could get the behavioral and community support he needed. Now 15, he has taken more than a dozen different medications. It’s not unusual for children with autism to take two, three, even four medications at once.
“The aggression is gone,” Sally says.
“One time, he rolled himself up into the carpet like a burrito and wouldn’t come out until I got there,” Melissa recalls. Although he has trouble maintaining focus in class, his mother says that the risk-benefit ratio of trying another drug doesn’t seem worth it. Never disregard the medical advice of your physician or health professional, or delay in seeking such advice, because of something you read on this Site. The drugs help ease these behaviors about 30 to 50 percent of the time, but leave others untouched. “It was the first time he came home that, for a little bit of time, we really enjoyed his company; we’d get glimpses of the real Phoenix in there,” Sally says.But a common side effect of Zyprexa is weight gain; the drug made Phoenix ravenous.
“He’d just be sitting there and his breathing would be labored.
Data are scant in both populations, but what little information there is suggests multiple prescriptions are even more common among adults with autism than in children. Its been about 2 years now since i stopped taking lexapro and i have been much better since.
We disclaim all responsibility for the professional qualifications and licensing of, and services provided by, any physician or other health providers posting on or otherwise referred to on this Site and/or any Third Party Site. His doctor tried one antidepressant after another; nothing worked.
“Out of the clear-blue sky, he’ll be in the kitchen and say, ‘You know, Mom, I love you.’ He’d never said that in his life.”When new symptoms pop up, the temptation to switch medications can be hard to resist, especially because a complex prescription history can condition families to look to drugs first.