Abilify

[Autismskat]

Hello,
I just want to know if any of your kids have been prescribed a medication called Abilify? Joshua has been taking clonidine 0.2mg and his new doctor wants to take him off clonidine because it raises his blood pressure when we give him something like childrens tylenol for a fever or cold. And when Josh starts to feel better he gets very hyper. So Abilify is supposed to make him calm down and it has neutral effects with any over the counter medicines. I just wanted to know if any of you have had experiences using this drug and if so, how were the effects and did this medication work out for your child?
Jannette:)

[Lisa S]

Catherine used Abilify. Its only side effect for her was it made her a little more constipated and therefore she had a few accidents when she was on it.

Do you want me to see if I can find more information about Abilify for you?

Lisa

[Autismskat]

Hi Lisa,
Sure, I would love more information on Ablilfy. I'm weary to trying new meds.
Thank you,
Jannette

[Lisa S]

Hi Jannette,

Here is Abilify on RxList to give you some general information about it:

http://www.rxlist.com/cgi/generic/abilify.htm

Here is an article with several interesting links about Abilify, which is also used to treat bipolar disorder:

http://bipolar.about.com/od/abilify/

Here is one interesting article about Abilify and other psychiatric drugs used to treat aggression in children with autism.

http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleId=171201535

Hope this helps,
Lisa

[mlwear]

I have two children that have taken Abilify. My youngest age 8 high/moderate functioning autism. We saw no benefit, but we saw no negative side effect. He no longer takes it.
My older son has many dx's and no one can seem to put their finger on exactly they want to call it. Basically, he has some traits that mimic Aspergers, but is extremely high functioning. He takes Abilify and it helps him enormously. If I had to choose the most significant benefit, I would have to say mood stabilization. I can definitely tell when he forgot to take a dose. It basically just helped him get his life going in the right direction--I don't know how to describe.
The thing with Abilify is that for us it isn't listed as one of preferred medications with our insurance. They (insurance) think that Risperdal is an equally good choice. It isn't for my son. We did try Risperdal. It didn't help much (or really any). Luckily, our insurance has tiers and we can still get the non-preferred medication at a co-pay rate, but it is higher than other meds. If you check out a pharmacy receipt, it is an expensive medication (at least the last time I checked). But, it makes such a difference for my son that it is worth it.

[Autismskat]

Thank you both for your input. I read up on the scripts and it was easy to understand than the pharmacy info. So far Joshua is getting used to ablilfy and is very groggy. He has been going to school and attending his weekly therapy and he's been compliant. So it will probably be about 2 more weeks to know for sure if the ablilify is helpful or not. Thanks again:)
Jannette