Published on 12, July, 2020
My son is 17 and has not been prescribed anything for his autisic symptoms other than dietary supplements.
We love him to bits. He is profoundly autistic, non-verbal with profound learning difficulties and very much in a world of his own.
He has bouts of anxiety, not every day but frequent enough for it to become a challenge outside the home. OCD has gone from 'quirky' to making our lives very limited. He has now started with teenage tantrums that are happening more and more when we are out and about (shop is closed, things in a store have moved, train is late, bus takes a wrong route etc). As well as tantrums he will also refuse to move and can literally stay in the same spot for hours. We are struggling to get him to school too as he refuses to come out of his room in a morning - his school is the best school for autism in the area and we all have a great relationship with the staff and they are fantastic with him.
Now - I think he would benefit from some mild medication to help him stay calm with life's disappointments my husband thinks differently. I know literally nothing about anti-anxiety drugs so please feel free to give your opinion.
Can anyone share experiences or offer advice?
Thank you
Hi, your son sound very much like mine was at that age. My son is 28 now and has been taking a low dose of Risperidone for about 10 years. It has been brilliant for him. I didn't want him to take medication to begin with, I worried about side effects, long term health issues etc, but the impact that his anxieties were having on his behaviour and his quality of life meant that I was prepared to try medication.
We have tried reducing the dose or stopping the medication but each time it has led to a recurrence of the problems. The last time he became very anxious and distressed.
It may not be the right thing for your son. We see a very good psychiatrist who says she finds for some people it works really well but not for others. She sees no problems in him remainging on Risperidone at a low dose for years to come. It's not ideal, but if my son could talk I know he wouldn't want to go back to feeling the way he does without it.
|Good luck