Antipsychotics to treat autism

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I've heard that antipsychotics such as risperidone are used to "treat" some of the behaviours in children due to autism

What do you think about this?

I'm on antipsychotics for paranoid schizophrenia and I get enough of side-effects; I think it's unjust to put a child through that

Anti psychotics are used in greatly reduced doses compared to treatment for psychosis as a treatment for anxiety. I mean 1 mg as opposed to 50 mgs. My son's sensory issues were so severe they decided not to mainstream him. Treatment with tiny doses of risperidone did wonders. He started communicating for one thing. It reduced his sensory anxiety to the point that he could begin to develop in other areas. He is no longer taking it, however.

i was on the drugs zyprexa and risperdal back in 2000. they did absolutely nothing for me except cause me to gain 30 pounds in a month and make me sleep all day. I lost an entire summer to zyprexa.

I've even heard of Risperidone being prescribed as a sleep aid, which is strange because one of the side effects is insomnia
Surely there are better treatments for things like this than an antipsychotic that can have horrible side effects (weight gain, lactation, dysphoria, etc.) but I guess it could be beneficial to a lot of people and the positives could outweigh the negatives.

I have to wonder what it is about our behavior that strikes people as psychotic.

I'll stay me rather than fat and twitchy. Anti-psychotics cause massive weight gain and tardive dyskinesia.

It's not supposed to be used for psychosis in autism (which, as MizLiz pointed out, doesn't exist unless there's another condition present that does involve psychosis). What Risperdal is approved for is extreme anger in autistic children--that is, violent meltdowns. In this function, it serves as a major tranquilizer much like Haldol or Thorazine, with somewhat fewer side effects.

EDIT--Oops, I forgot about the "multiple-complex developmental disorder" idea--if that's a separate entity rather than just a bipolar/autism or schizophrenia/autism combination, then it'd be an exception to the rule of "autism has no psychotic symptoms."

I was treated with antipsychotics twice, once before I was diagnosed with AS and then again after. I had a really good experience with Risperdal and really helped me with my meltdowns and stuff. It's not fair to say "I think it's unjust to put a child through that". Everyone is different, and they can be beneficial for people.

to clarify my earlier comment: my father had me put on zyprexa, shortly before i moved home to my mother. He does not believe in aspergers, thinks is pop-psychology. He believed i had schizo-affective disorder, thus an anti-psychotic was given to me. Zyprexa was recently the subject of a class action suit, i was not able to join the suit because i was a minor when i took the stuff.

When i first began puberty, i had a violent side, which i never expressed to another person, just the cat(feel bad to this day about that). It was thought that risperdal would calm that. I never felt any effect of any of the meds i took, except for tiredness and incredible weight gain on zyprexa 30 pounds in three weeks.

I asked to be taken off of everything when i was 14, i have survived just fine.

They can be dangerous to people with conditions that are more common in autistic people than the average person. I really don't believe in use without informed consent. True informed consent, not what usually passes for it. Except as an anti-emetic, which isn't how they're using them and usually involves far smaller doses. They don't actually "treat autism" anyway.

I use them and for whatever reason they do work in some of the autistic kids I volunteer with.

They put me on Haldol when I was in child protective custody and it caused my neck to bend completely backward until my head was nearly touching my back. They had to give a shot, which immediately reversed the effects. I have always had extreme, adverse reactions to their drugs and won't try any now.

They also give you manboobs and make you fat.

Risperdal and Zyprexa are wonderful for me. They make me really happy and full of ideas. It's like being unfrozen and suddenly able to do a lot of things that I felt paralyzed to do before. I had a similar, though lesser, effect with Abilify.

I realize this is an uncommon reaction, but for me they were a godsend. The downside is the effect only lasts about two months and then they don't work anymore.

I had no side effects but I would gladly accept them, if only the drugs worked permanently instead of for only a couple of months.

It only goes to show that different drugs work differently on different people, and that one should keep an open mind.