Problems with risperdal and natural calm(magnesium)

[mom2ck]

I recently had a thread of clonidine and natural calm. But, then I realized whoops he isn't on Clonidine (it was one of the last ones), crazy me. He is on risperdal.

Anyhow, my son was sick with a cough and fever the end of Jan. The 1st of Feb. we increased his risperdal dosage from .25 mg bid to .5mg bid because it wasn't helping him. His child psych wanted to increase it before saying it doesn't work. Well we actually took a few days of increasing before we were at the .5mg bid. We also started natural calm. Apparently it was way too much for his little body. He fell asleep the very first day in the afternoon. We attributed it to his sickness and not feeling well as he was also taking Robistussin. After stopping the Robistussin, he was still falling asleep at school and early in the evening. So, we backed off on the magnesium. He stayed awake for the most part. Then last week he had a headache/earache on Wed. and again on Thurs. His teacher called me to come get him as he was in a lot of pain. I took him to his pediatrician who checked him thoroughly and found nothing. She knows of his sensory issues and said maybe it was just that. She gave him some ear drops to help soothe it. Also, said we could do an antibiotic if I wanted to as she could telll he was in a lot of pain. I declined and told her we would check back in a couple of days. In the meantime I called his child psych to see if it was the med causing it. Her nurse called back the next day and said that it should not be causing the headache/earache. She also told me he shouldn't be taking magnesium unless he was defecient. I told her we wouldn't know that because no one has ran a test. She said they could next time we came in. Anyhow, I was really angry because they pretty much told me it was the magnesium and I shouldn't give it to him. After only a day off the magnesium we saw tics worse as well as frustration and argumentative. To add to it, yesterday I was looking at a med book on prescriptions and one of the occasional side effects of risperdal is EARACHES! This really aggravates me when a Dr. doesn't know the side effects even if they are only occasional. So, over the last few days we have lessened his med and taken him back down. The headaches/earaches have went away. We also started magnesium again. My dh and I are going to completely take him off the meds slowly and try just the magnesium as this child psych doesn't seem to know.

[guy123]

To add to it, yesterday I was looking at a med book on prescriptions and one of the occasional side effects of risperdal is EARACHES!

 

 

From Drugs.com for Risperdal:

 

EENT

 

Rhinitis (36%); abnormal vision (7%); pharyngitis (5%); conjunctivitis, otitis media (less than 5%); ear disorder (3%); earache (1%); retinal artery occlusion (postmarketing).

 

I forgot, have you tried Clonidine yet? You may want to begin with that as it is less harsh of a drug. The main side effects of Clonidine are headache (temporary and goes away), dizziness upon standing, drowsiness, and loss of libido. And if you come off Clonidine, they all go away. Risperdal is an atypical-neuroleptic which is a much riskier class of drug (altho not as risky as regular neuroleptics).

[mom2ck]

Yes, he was on clonidine for a few days and fell asleep and got sick from it even on the lowest dosage. Didn't want to continue that!

[Chemar]

Hi Mom

after what I saw clonidine do to my husband I sure understand why you dont want to go back to it!

 

honestly, I have reached the point where I am not even surprised anymore when I hear of these kinds of responses from docs.

 

they are always quick to blame everything BUT the drugs

when my son was having the horrid drug reactions they kept wanting to put him on more drugs to take away the symptoms that the other drugs were causing

 

I am glad the earaches have eased since you adjusted the med dose

None of my family have been on risperdal but I have friends whose kids also had bad side effects from it

[CSP]

mom2ck,

 

My son was on risperdal for about 6 months, and also took the natural calm the whole time. In fact he showed an unbelievable improvement almost the day after his first dose of natural calm. My son did feel like he needed a nap, but that was only on Sundays because he was not doing anything on that day. The other days he was active and did not need to sleep.

 

My son never had any side effects except the tired one however; he did get the dizzy spells when we weaned him off.

 

CP

[myrose]

What is risperdal?? Is this a tic med?? Never heaed of it...thats why I am asking. Wondering if I missed something???

 

As far as side effects: I believe everyone has different ones.....my daughter never tired on clonidine but a very very low percentage of people reported nightmares.....We were in that percentage......

[EAMom]

Hi myrose:

here is info on risperdal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risperidone

 

Risperdal is the one of the drugs that boy (Cory) in the James Patterson book "Against Medical Advice" was on. http://www.amazon.com/Against-Medical-Advi...g/dp/0316024759

 

( I do wonder if Cory might have had a chronic variant of PANDAS...)

[myrose]

Thanks for the info! I think I may just have to go back to amazon and pick up that book. Seems like it may touch home too much and send me over the cliff for a bit until I recover.....

 

Thats also a serious drug YIKES. The possible TD would scare me to death....I have seen enough jerks and movements to last me a lifetime.

If topamax had a chance of causing it....I would have never agreed. For some reason the TD thing bothered me the most...maybe because its so closely related to what we were trying to fix in the first place.

 

Thanks again......my daughter sees a new neuro on March 18th.....this ought to be interesting.....(New Neuro again for Health Insurance)

Now we have to start all over yet again!!!! Never know though, may be a blessing in disguise...(high hopes huh?)

 

I do want to come off from topamax and we will if we get the okay when school lets out. Wish us luck.....

 

Hope all is well with you and your daughter.

[abbe]

 

Myrose

 

How long have you been using the topamax? I started Nicholas on it on Feb.14 at 15mg and it has made the world of difference. I don't want to go back there (off of it I mean)

 

abbe

[Char]

abbe,

 

Just wondering how your son is doing? You said you started your son on topamax, has it helped your sons tics? Have you seen any side effects from it? It's great to hear that something is helping your son. Any feedback would be great Thanks Char..

[Olivia]

Please be very careful about allowing your children to take Risperdal. My son has developed a Tourette's problem as a side effect of taking this drug. My son was 28 when he was put on this drug. He was put on it because the Zoloft, the anti depressant they gave him caused him to have rages, which he had never experienced before. To calm him he was given Risperdal. While on Risperdal he gained about 20 pounds very quickly. After 4 months his was throwing it up and could not tolerate it. We cut it down as slowly as possible due to his reaction we had to stop it. Within 3 weeks, he was twisting his wrists and flipping his hands uncontrollably and muttering "Jesus Christ" over and over. It's taken over a year to stop the hand twisting. Now he has a vocal tic and makes repetitive movements with his arms spontaneously. His doctor at UCLA said he didn't know why he had those symptoms, neither did a neurologist whom we paid $350 for a visit. I called the company that makes Risperdal and they said it could cause those side effects but they had no cure. I am on the look out for alternative medical solutions and feeling very disappointed with our mental health professionals. Ollivia

[kim]

Olivia,

 

I'm so sorry that this has happened to your son.

 

I recently came across something that was hard to believe. Seems the message bds report TD type movements quite often with the use of risperadal, altho it may be older females ( i haven't paid close enough attention), which i have read are at higher risk. The warning should be made very clear that it is a possibility for anyone, at any rate.

 

This is the article i was refering to

 

http://www.neurologyindia.com/article.asp?...5;aulast=Thomas

 

Tardive dyskinesia following risperidone treatment in Tourette's syndrome

 

To our knowledge, this is the first report of TD complicating the use of risperidone in the treatment of TS. We wish to highlight the need for awareness among clinicians and patients about the potential risk of getting new movement disorders during the course of treatment with risperidone for tic disorders.

 

I'm wondering if you have read any of the studies on Pub med? I copied the titles, the year, and the "conclusion" line for a few of them. Maybe you know all of this (or more) but in case you don't, hope it helps. There are many more. I just went to Pub med

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

typed the words ... tardive dykinesia vitamins...and hit GO

 

here are a few. Pyridoxal refers to a form of B6 (P5P) in the first study

 

2008

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1867024...Pubmed_RVDocSum

 

Pyridoxal plasma level in schizophrenic and schizoaffective patients with and without tardive dyskinesia

 

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that schizophrenic and schizoaffective male patients with TD have lower PLP plasma levels than non-TD patients.

 

2005

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1805255...Pubmed_RVDocSum

 

 

High serum homocysteine levels in young male schizophrenic and schizoaffective patients with tardive parkinsonism and/or tardive dyskinesia.

 

RESULTS: Men with TMD (demonstrating tardive parkinsonism and/or TD) had significantly higher mean serum total homocysteine levels compared to sex- and age group-matched controls. The difference between groups was almost entirely attributable to the homocysteine levels of young male patients (age group, 19-40 years old) with TMD. CONCLUSION: High serum total homocysteine level may constitute a risk factor for certain variants of TMD, especially in young schizophrenic or schizo-affective male patients. Further prospective studies are needed to clarify these findings

 

 

Vitamin B6 treatment for tardive dyskinesia: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study.

 

CONCLUSION: Vitamin B(6) appears to be effective in reducing symptoms of TD. The specific mechanisms by which vitamin B(6) attenuates symptoms of TD are not clear.

 

 

2004

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1470995...Pubmed_RVDocSum

 

The effect of vitamin E treatment on tardive dyskinesia and blood superoxide dismutase: a double-blind placebo-controlled trial.

 

These results support earlier findings of the efficacy of vitamin E in the treatment of TD. Moreover, the efficacy of vitamin E may be due to its ability to increase SOD level, which may reduce oxidative injure in tardive dyskinesia.

[kim]

Olivia,

 

In addition to above post (and this may be a real long shot) I'm wondering if this could be involved in any way. The vomiting, just made me wonder.

 

 

 

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100002285.html

 

Risperdal tablets contain lactose and should not be taken by people with rare hereditary problems of galactose intolerance, the Lapp lactase deficiency or glucose-galactose malabsorption.

[Olivia]

Hi Kim,

 

Thank you for your kind words and references to articles. Actually he did not have TS at all before taking the Risperdal. My son originally was given zoloft as an anti-depressant, which was upped in dosage, too high, and he begin to have occasionally rages. To counteract the rages he was given Risperdal, absolutely the wrong medication for him. 4 months on Risperdal and then he had the Tourette's tics from the withdrawal.

 

I shall study those articles and try some of the suggested supplements. Interestingly, the hand movements stopped, but we now have the vocal tic. I believe it will slowly improve with supplements and the cognitive skill focused activities he is trying now.

 

Thanks again for caring. I have always been very cautious about medications, but he was just given Risperdal without any warnings or investigation by the psychiatrist. One thing I learned in hind sight is that there were no blood tests done prior to giving him these medications, if they had they could have seen he should not have had them. It was even more upsetting to have no doctor admit that this was a side effect of this medication. I had to call the company who made Risperdal to validate my guess.

 

We all need to be better educated about these drugs, the doctors are too eager to use them on everyone. For heaven's sake look at our TV ads, they are encouraging every one watching to ask their doctors if they need a drug.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Olivia,

 

I'm so sorry that this has happened to your son.

 

I recently came across something that was hard to believe. Seems the message bds report TD type movements quite often with the use of risperadal, altho it may be older females ( i haven't paid close enough attention), which i have read are at higher risk. The warning should be made very clear that it is a possibility for anyone, at any rate.

 

This is the article i was refering to

 

http://www.neurologyindia.com/article.asp?...5;aulast=Thomas

 

Tardive dyskinesia following risperidone treatment in Tourette's syndrome

 

To our knowledge, this is the first report of TD complicating the use of risperidone in the treatment of TS. We wish to highlight the need for awareness among clinicians and patients about the potential risk of getting new movement disorders during the course of treatment with risperidone for tic disorders.

 

I'm wondering if you have read any of the studies on Pub med? I copied the titles, the year, and the "conclusion" line for a few of them. Maybe you know all of this (or more) but in case you don't, hope it helps. There are many more. I just went to Pub med

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/

typed the words ... tardive dykinesia vitamins...and hit GO

 

here are a few. Pyridoxal refers to a form of B6 (P5P) in the first study

 

2008

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1867024...Pubmed_RVDocSum

 

Pyridoxal plasma level in schizophrenic and schizoaffective patients with and without tardive dyskinesia

 

CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that schizophrenic and schizoaffective male patients with TD have lower PLP plasma levels than non-TD patients.

 

2005

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1805255...Pubmed_RVDocSum

 

 

High serum homocysteine levels in young male schizophrenic and schizoaffective patients with tardive parkinsonism and/or tardive dyskinesia.

 

RESULTS: Men with TMD (demonstrating tardive parkinsonism and/or TD) had significantly higher mean serum total homocysteine levels compared to sex- and age group-matched controls. The difference between groups was almost entirely attributable to the homocysteine levels of young male patients (age group, 19-40 years old) with TMD. CONCLUSION: High serum total homocysteine level may constitute a risk factor for certain variants of TMD, especially in young schizophrenic or schizo-affective male patients. Further prospective studies are needed to clarify these findings

 

 

Vitamin B6 treatment for tardive dyskinesia: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study.

 

CONCLUSION: Vitamin B(6) appears to be effective in reducing symptoms of TD. The specific mechanisms by which vitamin B(6) attenuates symptoms of TD are not clear.

 

 

2004

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1470995...Pubmed_RVDocSum

 

The effect of vitamin E treatment on tardive dyskinesia and blood superoxide dismutase: a double-blind placebo-controlled trial.

 

These results support earlier findings of the efficacy of vitamin E in the treatment of TD. Moreover, the efficacy of vitamin E may be due to its ability to increase SOD level, which may reduce oxidative injure in tardive dyskinesia.

[Olivia]

Hi Kim,

 

Well maybe that was part of his problem. He has never seemed to have a problem with lactose, but we recently had blood tests of possible difficulties and we found he should not have dairy products. Good thinking! Unfortunately the doctors don't take the time to inquire about any of this.

 

Thanks Kim

Olivia

 

 

 

 

Olivia,

 

In addition to above post (and this may be a real long shot) I'm wondering if this could be involved in any way. The vomiting, just made me wonder.

 

 

 

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100002285.html

 

Risperdal tablets contain lactose and should not be taken by people with rare hereditary problems of galactose intolerance, the Lapp lactase deficiency or glucose-galactose malabsorption.