My son is 4.5 with ADHD/developmental delay. He was on 0.25 mg Risperdal 2/day and Adderall XR, doing GREAT! Then about 2 days after the news came out about the deaths from Adderall, my son was diagnosed with heart defects. Needless to say I immediately pulled discontinued it, hoping the Risperdal would be enough. Unfortunately he is now back to hitting for no apparent reason, stripping, screaming, and throwing chairs in school and having multiple tantrums a day at home. I've tried calling his Dr., but haven't heard back and they're closed today. Does anyone know if there are any non-stimulant drugs that can be used for ADHD on kids his age without the risk to his heart?

Quote from confusedbody:

My son is 4.5 with ADHD/developmental delay. He was on 0.25 mg Risperdal 2/day and Adderall XR, doing GREAT! Then about 2 days after the news came out about the deaths from Adderall, my son was diagnosed with heart defects. Needless to say I immediately pulled discontinued it, hoping the Risperdal would be enough. Unfortunately he is now back to hitting for no apparent reason, stripping, screaming, and throwing chairs in school and having multiple tantrums a day at home. I've tried calling his Dr., but haven't heard back and they're closed today. Does anyone know if there are any non-stimulant drugs that can be used for ADHD on kids his age without the risk to his heart?

Gosh, I hope you didn't cold turkey him? I'd say maybe ask your doc about Strattera, although I'm not pro-med, however, my nephew was able to get off Adderall smoothly with Strattera and now is doing well off both.

My 6 yr old daughter was on Adderal for 1 and 1/2 years. We changed to Focalin, when it no longer seemed to be working, but we have not had as much luck. We have tried adding things with it, and just last week a doctor asked me to look into using Risperdal. I am curious what was the purpose of the Risperdal while using the Adderal? I am trying to understand what purpose it would serve in an ADHD child?

Quote from workfromhome:

My 6 yr old daughter was on Adderal for 1 and 1/2 years. We changed to Focalin, when it no longer seemed to be working, but we have not had as much luck. We have tried adding things with it, and just last week a doctor asked me to look into using Risperdal. I am curious what was the purpose of the Risperdal while using the Adderal? I am trying to understand what purpose it would serve in an ADHD child?

Risperdal is an antipsychotic, a neuroleptic. Drugs in it's class used to be called "major" tranquilizers. It is a class of drugs that is connected to such things as depression, diabetes, and worse, neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Personally, I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole unless the person is in major trouble, perhaps psychotic and such.

Adderall is a stimulant. Although sometimes it can have an opposite effect of calmness/tiredness in some people maybe due to paradoxial or dehydration effect, it is still first and foremost a nervous system stimulant. Sometimes a tranquilizer is used to counter those stimulant effects.

It's simply being on uppers and downers. They want to give your daughter a downer(Risperdal) to counter or bring her down from the upper(Adderall). Now although she may have been hyper before Adderall, this doesn't mean the Adderall isn't making things worse because it might be. My nephew was diagnoised ADHD. His parents did not like the mood swings Adderall produced in him, nor the fatigue Strattera produced.....he was only on meds a few months but they decided to wean him off of all. You know, a year later he is actually better....still a bit hyper but better, and his school seemed to improve with some tutoring. I think sometimes kids can mature and calm down if given a chance on their own.

If a child has been on meds for a long time it may take months to see changes when discontinuing a med, after of course, a very careful tapering off the drug. No cold turkey.

Quote from Jennita:

Risperdal is an antipsychotic, a neuroleptic. Drugs in it's class used to be called "major" tranquilizers. It is a class of drugs that is connected to such things as depression, diabetes, and worse, neuroleptic malignant syndrome. Personally, I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole unless the person is in major trouble, perhaps psychotic and such.

Adderall is a stimulant. Although sometimes it can have an opposite effect of calmness/tiredness in some people maybe due to paradoxial or dehydration effect, it is still first and foremost a nervous system stimulant. Sometimes a tranquilizer is used to counter those stimulant effects.

It's simply being on uppers and downers. They want to give your daughter a downer(Risperdal) to counter or bring her down from the upper(Adderall).

Now although she may have been hyper before Adderall, this doesn't mean the Adderall isn't making things worse because it might be. My nephew was diagnoised ADHD. His parents did not like the mood swings Adderall produced in him, nor the fatigue Strattera produced.....he was only on meds a few months but they decided to wean him off of all. You know, a year later he is actually better....still a bit hyper but better, and his school seemed to improve with some tutoring. I think sometimes kids can mature and calm down if given a chance on their own.

If a child has been on meds for a long time it may take months to see changes when discontinuing a med, after of course, a very careful tapering off the drug. No cold turkey.

ADHD is a funny thing. Although it is true that Adderall as well as Ritalin are CNS stimulants, they are prescribed for ADHD kids to calm them down. They do NOT act as uppers in ADHD children. This is not a just an isolated paradoxical reaction; it works that way in ADHD.

Risperdal may also be prescribed in extremely hyper kids, especially when they are aggressive, to calm them down. We see Risperdal prescribed alot for the aggression that often accompanies Tourettes Syndrome.


Hi Jennita! :wave: I'm baaaack!