Risperdal Okayed for "Treating" Autistic Children

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WASHINGTON - A Johnson & Johnson drug received expanded federal approval Friday to treat aggression and other symptoms of autism in children.

The new use for Risperdal is to treat irritability associated with autistic disorder, including temper tantrums, deliberate self-injury and aggression in children and adolescents, ages 5 to 16.

The approval is the first for the use of a drug to treat behaviors associated with autism in children, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Risperdal, first approved by the FDA in 1993, has been used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in adults.

The anti-psychotic drug is not a cure for autism, nor does it treat the condition itself, but it may provide relief for some children, according to Johnson & Johnson.

Autism is a complex developmental disability. It typically appears during a child's first three years of life, and it affects communication, social interaction and creative or imaginative play.

"This approval should benefit many autistic children as well as their parents and other caregivers," said Dr. Steven Galson, director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Two eight-week trials involving 156 children between the ages of 5 and 16 showed that those given Risperdal achieved significantly improved scores for certain behavioral symptoms of autism compared to those given dummy pills, the FDA said.

In 2005, the FDA declined to expand its approval of Risperdal, also known as risperidone, to include autism.

The most common side effects of Risperdal include drowsiness, constipation, fatigue and weight gain.

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"Improved scores" in what? Did they learn speech to prevent the tantrums? Or were they just shut down?

Last edited by KimJ on 06 Oct 2006, 9:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I was on Risperdal from 1995 to 2001.

Tim

I really hope they stick with just giving this to extreme cases of aggression. I hate to think of kids being on antipsychotics.

Deliberate self injury? Great, we have a medication for self harming aspies. f*****g brilliant. If it weren't being given to some lower functioning aspies that are being forced into it by "caretakers", I'd fill the damn bottles with cynide. Cowards.

Yeah I was under the impression guanfacine could be usefull in preventing SI.

Its a non-stimulant drug used to treat the hyperactivity ADHD type only.

I think its side effect profile is rather small. It may make you feel tired.

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update:

Oh do not confuse guanfacine with the drug mentioned in the OP.
Guanfacine is a well tolerated blood pressure lowwer drug that has off label
use in a number of mental conditions.

Last edited by TheMachine1 on 07 Oct 2006, 12:42 am, edited 1 time in total.

SIDE EFFECTS.....a lot of fat,tired,docile aspies....ah,my dreams have come true at last.....

Sounds like a great way to "benefit" parents and caregivers...I dont think they are to concerned about the "patients" as they are not the ones who buy the drugs.....This s**t makes me very sad for humanity,but no suprised.....american philosophy...."dope 'em and dump 'em"

Yes I worry about this sort of thing. I definitely wouldn't want to be sedated or anything similar and it worries me that other autistic people might lose parts of themselves because they are being suppressed with these sorts of drugs.

Rispiredol is horrible.. it never did anything for me, and it made me gain weight that i've never really been able to get rid of.

That stuff gave me a siezure
Giving a nueroleptic to any as au is realy irresponsible.
It cause loss of intelligence and savannt skills and frontal lobe shrinkage and brain stem growth(thus granting motor coordination)
these psychiatrists have nasty little habit of giving this stuff to us as has been my personal experience they seem to want to cure us of being us.

I just saw a ticker on the bottom of the screen of the news today touting this as the first drug to treat autism. So now are there going to be tons of doctors prescribing this stuff even more to kids. I know this was being used off label for kids anyway - but now that it has approval are many more kids going to be dosed for "behaviors" instead of trying to find the reason for the behaviors.

First drug approved, that is. They use Ritalin and Clono-something which suppresses/depresses the nervous system.
I remember the pediatric neurologist suggsting Ritalin and mentioning that it was experimental in autistic children. I asked if it worked and he said, "I don't know, but you can try it and it might help give you more rest".
Okay, I give the child an experimental drug and I get more rest. Sure.
The family doctor suggested a sleeping pill/sedative when I mentioned my son was waking at night and/or sleep walking. He didn't understand that I was asking about it, like why is he doing this, is it common, should I worry. He just wanted to prescibe something for the symptoms.

http://www.whatmeds.com/meds/clonidine.html

Is used by itself or combined with ADHD stimulant meds like ritalin.

Guanfacine and clonidine have the same action but clonidine has many other side effects.
The tireness is just a side effect for some the real action is it target that same area in the
brain that stimulants do to calm a hyperactive mind.

Last edited by TheMachine1 on 07 Oct 2006, 6:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I was placed on an anti-psychotic drug as a teenager. It caused me to have a dystonic reaction which put me in the emergency room. There in the ER I was given the wrong dose of another drug to counteract the antipsychotic. This other drug, as an overdose, made me hallucinate for 2 weeks and it took me months to return to my normal self.

Over my dead body would I give this to my kid...

Psychotropic drugs should be the last resort; if it can be done just as effectively with education/training or counseling alone, then it should be--those are more permanent than drugs and have fewer side effects.

It seems that often people who take drugs, and the drugs don't work, are often given yet another prescription--rather than switching or discontinuing the original drug. I don't understand this; unless one drug is needed to control side effects in another, shouldn't the trial of psychotropic drugs be done in a logical, process-of-elimination manner, rather than this haphazard sort of, "Well, let's try this, and this, and this..."?

Regarding "antipsychotics"--they are often given for things other than psychosis, such as anxiety, manias, or other agitated/energetic conditions. When used properly, they should even out someone's otherwise unstable mood; when used improperly, they act as sedatives that often lower a person's ability to cope with the world.

Sedatives shouldn't be used to control behaviors that don't come from a person having excess energy; and even then, if you can find out where that excess energy comes from and control it at the source, they shouldn't be needed.

Its my understanding (correct me if Im wrong) the majority of cases of aggression in LFA's is caused by frustration or is unintentional and the person is simply overloading.

Sedating them wont help and if anything will only make it harder for them to cope and understand.

Here a kid is trying to figure out the world around him and you dope him up with mind-altering antipsychotics and sedatives to make it even harder to think.. fat lot of help that is.

So your right.. correcting the source of the problem is really the only solution. Preventing the child from reacting to the problem doesnt change anything.

I was put on Risperidal as an adult, eight years ago. I've noticed an improvement in my temper, within two months. I do admit that I'm built like a Bus, though. However having said the part about my weight, that will all change after I move out, and start controlling my own food.