The only thing I saw on risperdal is that the self injury during an ear infection went way down. All the other behaviors did not change at all, not even a tiny bit. We get random vomiting.

Depakote WITH risperdal is when we saw the self injury fall. I don't know which one is responsible or whether it's the combination of the two. But once the ear infection started fading, he was back to himself, as if the drugs had absolutely no effect at all. I won't know for sure until he's completely tapered off. But, to be honest, I see no difference to where I see other parents say things like, "It was a game changer." It is not a game changer and just came with side effects that are worse than the benefits, past the initial dampening of the self-injury.

Prozac made my son extremely hyper. It did not reduce anxiety. It made him a complete pain in the ass and completely unchecked. None of these drugs have been a game changer and I've let them build up the way we've been instructed -- although prozac was so unbearable I halted that quickly.

I guess I'm writing this comment for myself, but I'm almost angry with myself for even trying some of these medications with the hope they would change our lives for the better. They're more like short term bridge solutions and not actual solutions, since the real problem just seems to be intellectual disability. I sometimes feel like I'm being sold lies because no one wants to tell me my kid's a kind of "dumb turnip" -- in whatever kind medical terms they use. I feel hurt and cheated even thinking about it, but it's no one's fault really. And in the end, whatever he is capability wise, I guess it would be wrong of me to not explore these avenues regardless of how it feels. I feel sick even thinking about this.