We have been through the ringer on medications. My son has tried 4 different ADHD meds (we're done with that, I will not put a single stimulant in his body every again) and all have failed.

We have tried Depakote, Lithium, Risperdal and now we're doing Abilify.

Sounds like a horrid track record, doesn't it? Makes you want to give up - but don't. You CANNOT, absolutely CANNOT afford to miss out on the possibility of your grandson feeling normal again someday. Not angry all the time and everyone around him afraid.

My son had 2 great years on Risperdal. And unfortunately when we introduced Metadate (an adhd med) it caused a severe reaction and my son developed tics. So we had no choice but to stop both meds.

We went vitamin therapy route. For 3 + weeks we gave my son some very expensive, healthy, good vitamins, and I did serious research on which ones were recommended for his issues. We are talking about $65 for a months worth of vitamins!!

It did NOTHING. We are still giving him the vitamins, and we are going to continue to do so. But we had to go back on meds. He was suffering and the family was suffering. And he's doing much better again.

It has been my strict experience that *any* medication that causes an immediately negative reaction - is not going to work. I would call in tomorrow morning, 8am and tell them the reactions he's having. Our psych has never had us stay on any med that caused a worsening of behaviors, for more than 5 days. He always has us go off them when it makes him worse.

The meds might either show no change, or minimal changes either way, or erratic changes for awhile, that's not unusal. But to have an almost instant worsening of behaviors following a dose, plus continued worsening of behaviors thereafter is a sign that he's not reacting to the medication correctly.

But don't give up. I can tell you that risperdal made a believer out of my husband. For 2 years I fought his "we should never have put this kid on any meds, he's just going to have to learn to handle his problems". And when we finally found risperdal, my husband was literally in TEARS. He grabbed me a couple days after starting it and said "I have my son, there's no constant fight to get through to him, to try and keep him from hurting himself or anyone else - I can just be with him".

Hugs. The medication dance is often times worse than just living with the behaviors. But sometimes we have to go through the pain and suffering of finding the right one, to get to a place were our child can finally live, instead of spending each day fighting demons.

It scares me about the meds my son's body has had. But the alternative for my son would be permanent placement in a psychiatric hospital for kids. As hard as it is to admit this, I'd rather my son have 50 short years of "living" life on medication, than 80 years of living in hell.
Christine