Risperdal is generally thought to be sedating. 

However, with our daughter she would fall asleep after taking the Risperdal, but would be up at 2:00 AM.  We have now tapered back on the Risperdal to where it is almost nothing at 0.625 mg.   Her bed time dose is now 0.125 mg. 

The one thing that helped us greatly was over-the-counter melatonin.  She takes 5mg of a time release formula.  We started it a few weeks ago, and she has slept well every night since then.   Since then, she had a few minor rages leading up to Christmas (and blowing the diet), but nothing OMG bad rages.  

Brian

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Daughter 7 BP/violent rages. Unsuccessful with multiple meds. Now reasonably stable (with a few regressions) on Risperidone + Intuniv + Restrictive diet + EMPowerPlus + AminoPowerplus + NAC + Q10 + low dose lithium + melatonin.

 I swear by GNC chewable cherry flavored Melatonin.  DS takes 2 mg and falls sleep w/in 45 min.  It  also keeps me from having to dose short acting Ritalin for hyperactivity in the evenings from his Concerta (12 hr) wearing off.   I agree Risperdal helps that to but try to avoid that because of it's one more prescription med at the end of the day -and we use sparingly because of the weight gain issues.

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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

I have heard of giving the whole lithium dose at bedtime to minimize SE's.  Does it make her sleepy?

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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.