? for those with Risperdal experience

[hopeful]

Since my son started Risperdal in July, everything has been great! Amazingly great. He's taking .25 3x's a day. Is that alot for a 7 year old? We just upped it to 3 x's a day from 2 because there seemed to be this "lag" time in the afternoon.

Also, he's been great at school and loves it. This is the first year he was excited about starting a new year. He has great friends in his class, and a wonderful teacher.

However, he's been really cranky mornings and nights. I have a feeling this is letting some of the daily stress go from his body, but this is really weird, expecially since everything seems to be going fine. He's making a good case for homeschooling (not at all an option). I'm just finding it really hard right now and I don't quite understand it. He really misses his best friend whom moved away recently, but it seems to really be hitting him now(?) or could it just be the beginning of a new year.

Any suggestions?

[Amsmom]

hi hopeful, .75 mg per day is not a lot for a 7 yr old. my ds8 has successfully been on 1.5 mg per day for over a year. if my ds gets less than 10 hrs of sleep, he is cranky in the morning and at night. i dont know if it's med-related or not, but i try to time everything so that he gets no less than 9-1/2 hrs of sleep per night. if he has less than that, I can guarantee that he will be verrrryy grumpy. good luck

[StrugglingAgain]

Hi hopeful,
My son is almost nine now. He was on Risperdal for the entire school year (2nd grade) because of aggression(dx: severe ADHD, ODD). It helped him alot and the school quit calling me every other day, however; our child psychiatrist wanted him off of it for a few months (summer). He said there is a high incidence of a mouth tic if it's taken for prolonged periods of time. School has started and he's not warranted going back on it...YET. I highly anticipate that he'll need it again, but I was thankful that he could have a break from it. He WAS more aggressive without it, but since he wasn't in school I could run interference.

[hopeful]

Thanks for the info. I hate it when something works so well, yet is so stressful to give.

In talking to the other moms, I think alot of the afterschool crabbiness may be from being so tired. I think my son puts out a lot of effort to be "good" in school.