From Lisa, Child's Age 10 - 12/03/15 - IP#: 72.49.207.xxx  Click here to reply  
Hello. My daughter is on the autism spectrum. She is high functioning, but extremely irritable, and is taking medication. First we had her on Risperdol, which has a known side effect of increased appetite. At the time, we didn't worry about her weight because she was tiny, and we were more concerned with her throwing chairs at people than we were about side effects. She was on this for approximately one year (it worked very well for irritability) before she gained so much weight we had to stop. We switched her to another medication without the side effect of increased appetite. She has been on the new med for about 2 years, however, the "habit" and appetite is still there, and it has been extremely hard to break. She is now 124 lbs, and only 4'8" tall at age 10. Her BMI is around 26, which puts her in the 95th percentile for weight, and "obese" category. She continues to say she is "hungry" even though she has just eaten. We cook 99% of our meals at home from scratch using healthy ingredients (we have always done this). We don't have candy, cookies or junk in the house. We have tried increasing fiber with no effect. She continues to gain weight. Please let me know what you have tried to help curb appetite. Her doctors referred us to a nutritionist, but he had little advice for us since our eating habits are already so healthy. Thanks in advance!