Yes we are on that med combo.  He takes 15 mg Abilfy a day and .5 risperdal m tabs 3x a day.  the Abilify is given 4 times a day.  And it so helps out.  he has gaine weight.  But he is ok with it and uderstand that its a side effect of his medicine.

--my son went from 116 lbs to 193 when we started rispiradal, even with taking concerta. We are now weaning him off rispiradal and putting him on zeldox aka..geodon (in the USA) apparently zeldox is the same class of drug but is weight neutral.

Jamie,33; PTSD,depression &Panic attacks, 10mg cipralex
Paul,38
Alex, 12, ADHD, Social Anxiety Disorder, ODD; currently takes 0.5mg rispiradal & 40mg zeldox (aka GEODON)
Noelle,2 years old

My son has been taking concerta for several years and he has not gained any weight so they would not up the dosage when it wasn't as effective. The doctor decided to supplement it with abilify. He has gained five pounds this year alone. He is eating twice as much. This is not a huge deal for me because he hasn't gained any weight at all in the two years prior to starting the Abilify. He is so tiny that it didn't seem to matter and is very active. I am glad to have read your posts because it will be something to keep an eye on. I actually took him off of it for a few days because I had heard bad things about abilify not knowing that they were talking about cases that were a decade old. The few days that he was off of the medication were hell. We had to deal with screaming and crying fits, talks of suicide, and violent behavior. This all coming from my seven year old. We decided to restart the medication and we have a well behaved boy. With this medicine combination for ADHD we have a normal acting child. He is active, smart, controlled, loving, and supportive. I hate to give my child medicine but I think that this combination is helpful. I do notice the weight gain but since he hasn't gained any weight in the last two to two and a half years, it isn't necessarily a bad thing in this case.

 your lucky  the weight gain isn't an issue:)  Since writing my original message, we continue to cut the Risperdal in hopes of just going with Abilify for mood coverage.  I credit the Abilify for allowing us to this.  Now we need to work on cutting all the Risperdal .25mg am and .25mg pm- probably skip the afternoon dose and see what happens.  PDOC meeting Wed.  This last bit of reducing Rispie has me nervous but we will go up (I am assuming thats what doc will continue to do) on the Abilify again for 3 weeks and then cut out the p.m. dose of Rispie.   Happy to report I have noticed his appetite had decreased doing this process, especially in the last month.

--

Wendy
47-adoptive mom
46-DH-adoptive Dad

DS age 13, (adopted 4 yrs ago from eastern europe) ADHD, LD, PTSD, anxiety, mood disorder-NOS, with lots of great qualities:)
Concerta 54 mg, Zoloft 50mg, Abilify 17.5mg, and Risperdal (.25mg a.m and .25mg late afternoon-weaning off slowly the last few months) Vtiamin D and Melatonin

DD- age 19
DS- age 14
Both adopted as baby/toddler -both ADD,LD

My son is also gaining weight since taking the risperdal.  But he looks healthy for the first time in 4 years....He was skin and bones.  I'm the same with what someone else had said, when my child wasn't on risperdal he was rapid cycling several times a day and was talking about suicide at 7 yrs old also.  To me a few lbs is nothing.  With warmer weather now and my ds getting out to play and run, he has already shed a few lbs.  

On the other side of this topic, my ds was noticing the weight gain at first and was not happy about this.  One more thing for him to be depressed about.  However, he took it upon himself to eat healthier snacks:)  We too will have to watch and see how this goes for him. 

Jessica

My daughter is 12 and was dxd about 5 years ago to be bipolar and ADHD.  She has been on both medications, but cannot remember if it was at the same time, but before any meds she weighed less than 100 lbs...within a year she was over 100 lbs and is now 160 lbs at 12 y/o.  Her doctors, however, attributed the weight (most recently) to the Abilify.  She has been on so many different medications though, it is really hard to tell I think.  BUT....Abilify was like a "wonder drug" for her....at first....the first time she was on it was at 5 mg/day....she was like a different child, but the effectiveness wore off after two weeks.  Most recently she was started on it again at a higher dose of 10 mg/day...this time it lasted maybe a month.  Nothing else has worked like the Abilify, but it always loses its effectiveness on her. 

Minnabird

 Minnabird many kids require much higher doses of Abilify, up to 30mg,  for it to be effective long-term.  My son is on 17.5 mg and suspect the Dr. will increase it today as we taper off the Risperdal completely. Perhaps your daughter needs a higher dose han 10mg? Just a thought.  Have you evered tried Lamactil (sp?)?  We haven't as of yet but have been encouraged by the good hings I've read on this board about it.

Jessica,  you're right the stability is a trade-off and requires a good balance of healthy food and excercise.  I feel encouraged now that it's Spring and the ability to get out more and having soccer and baseball all starting up again:)

Wendy
47-adoptive mom
46-DH-adoptive Dad

DS age 13, (adopted 4 yrs ago from eastern europe) ADHD, LD, PTSD, anxiety, mood disorder-NOS, with lots of great qualities:)
Concerta 54 mg, Zoloft 50mg, Abilify 17.5mg, and Risperdal (.25mg a.m and .25mg late afternoon-weaning off slowly the last few months) Vtiamin D and Melatonin

DD- age 19
DS- age 14
Both adopted as baby/toddler -both ADD,LD

Wendy, that was something I was going to ask about actually....when I read above that there was a child on 15 mg I think it was....our last doctor told me that 10 mg was the maximum dose!!  I will definitely bring that up with the new doctor, b/c the Abilify was the only thing that has done any good for us.  They did put her on Lamictil for a short time and that seemed to be helping, but around the same time I was noticing improvement she developed a rash to it, so she is not able to take it....the rest of the medications have been like taking candy.  I will definitely bring this up with the new doctor, thanks!!  With the Abilify have you noticed an increase in appetite/weight gain?  As I said before, the Abilify is what they attributed to my daughter's weight gain (which is hard to know for sure b/c she's been on so many different meds).  She had kind of leveled off in recent months staying at around 160, but was eating constantly.   The weight gain is less of an issue vs. her behavior/moods, however, it is an issue though b/c obesity is a real problem in my family with my sister weighing well over 300 lbs (prior to surgery) and a cousin also well over 300 lbs.   She is physically active, but her eating habits are bad  (even if it is something good for her, she eats too much of it) and I actually have to hide her sibling's school snacks.  Im so glad to have found this site!!  I really appreciate hearing from other parents dealing with the same issues...it can feel SO lonely...people often dont like what they dont understand.  Thanks!

MinnaB

 Yes, my son has had weight gain but it's so hard to tell if it's from being on Risperdal for 2 yrs with the addition of Abilify.  Hopefully, w/o the Rispie,  I'll have a better idea about the Abilify and the weight gain. Doc gave me the okay to start cutting the low dose of Rispie that's left but this time w/o upping the Abilify (so We have room to go up if needed later).  I am a little nervous about this and not sure how I'll cut those very small Rispie pills!  Strange thing about my son's weight gain. Its all upper abdomen, chest and shoulders which the Doc says most likely it's the Risperdal causing that based at first glance.  He looks avg. weight from the back until he turns around:)

I am glad you found this this site too and equally thankful as well for this board. You are not alone:)

--

Wendy
47-adoptive mom
46-DH-adoptive Dad

DS age 13, (adopted 4 yrs ago from eastern europe) ADHD, LD, PTSD, anxiety, mood disorder-NOS, with lots of great qualities:)
Concerta 54 mg, Zoloft 50mg, Abilify 17.5mg, and Risperdal (.25mg a.m and .25mg late afternoon-weaning off slowly the last few months) Vtiamin D and Melatonin

DD- age 19
DS- age 14
Both adopted as baby/toddler -both ADD,LD

APRIL 12,3 KIDS,3CATS,1 DOG

MY DAUGHTER WAS ON RESPERDAL FROM 5 TO 9 YRS.OLD .IT MADE HER GAIN ALOT OF WEIGHT  AND COMATOSE  -- SHE SWITCH TO ABILIFY.SHE STILL HAS ALOT OF MANIA MOMENTS BUT FOUND OUT AFTER NOT TAKING RESPERDAL THAT SHE WAS VERY ATHLETIC.I HATE RESPERDAL. 

SHELIAE MOM

DAD 17 YRS.

12 YR.OLD BP DAUGHTER...JUST SWITCHING FROM 30 TO 15MGS  OF ABILIFY AND SOMETHING ELSE.

14 YR BOY

16YR OLD GIRL

I know this is an older post but just looking at it...

My dd was on abilify for several years.  It did a great job controlling her anger/rages/irritability.  However, she finally told us about hallucinations she had been having for about 7 years now!!!!  She was put on risperdal to help with that...it did!

The pdoc took her off of the abilify since we added the risperdal.  However, the past few weeks she has been SO hopeless and depressed.  It just dawned on me today that it started right after we took her off of the abilify.

So...was just checking to see if it's okay to be on both.  She has been on several other meds that helped, but everytime we take away the abilify or lower it, she gets VERY irritable...now it's also extreme depression. 

--

L Anxiety, Lexapro
Mom to:
T (16) Mood disorder (Depression, Anxiety, OCD, BP, SA, ADD?), Risperdal 1mg morning/night, Zoloft 200 mg., Trazadone 150 mg.
Also has hypoplastic left heart syndrome (open heart surgery 3X), Lisinopril, Aspirin
10th grade-currently going to school online at home.
J (13)
J and C (10)

I believe it is relatively safe to use them together, but if you add some Abilify back in, start with a low dose.  Since both drugs are in the same class, they have similar SE's.  So you want to keep the dosage as low as possible.

--

Brenda,51, TBMF Parent to Parent Volunteer
Mom to A, 17, BP, Tourette's, OCD, ADHD: Eskalith CR, Lamictal, Cytomel, Allegra
E, 15 1/2, BP,AS: Seroquel, Eskalith CR, inositol, Buspar
B, 14 & H, 11
Married 18 years to DH, 50

FROM TBMF: Do not start, stop, or change medications or other treatments for yourself or your child based on what you read on this Website or elsewhere on the Internet. Information presented here should not replace the considered judgement of a doctor who knows you or your child.

Yes, I am the original poster and my son has been on both Abilify and Risperdal (low dose) for over a year. It has proven to be very effective, minus the weight gain.  Spoke to the new pdoc about replacing Abilify with lamicatal but doc didn't feel ds's weight gain was so much of an issue-why rock the boat he said. I think DS is about 20 lbs over weight but has not had any movement disorders or tics from either.

--

Wendy
48-adoptive mom
47-DH-adoptive Dad

DS age 14, (adopted 5 yrs ago from eastern europe) ADHD, LD, PTSD, anxiety, mood disorder-NOS, with lots of great qualities:)
Concerta 72 mg, Zoloft 50mg, Abilify 17.5mg, and Risperdal (.25mg a.m and .25mg late afternoon-weaning off slowly the last few months) and Melatonin

DD- age 20
DS- age 14-other son
Both adopted as baby/toddler -both ADD,LD

Hi Wendy,

 I saw that you had talked to your pdoc about replacing the Abilify with Lamictal... How about adding Lamictal to the mix? My dd is on 150mg of Lamictal with 15mg of Abilify. The Abilify helped with dds rages but still felt like she needed a little more help. We added Lamictal and eventually, once we got up to about 150mg we noticed a big differance, we have been at 175mg for a while now and it is definately helping. After her moods were stable with both Abilify and Lamictal we noticed how bad her underlying anxiety was. She started taking Tenex about 2 weeks ago. The Tenex is still questionable because of a rough week last week but we'll give it a little more time. Hope this helps:)

--

Teresa,31
dd,H,10, BP, GAD
abilify 10mg, Lamictal 75mg a.m/75mg before bed