Autism
"My 9 year old son, who has autism,  was put on risperidone about a year and a half ago after being hospitalized for aggressive and self-harming behavior. It has been very effective with the violent behavior. He is still quite argumentative and has tantrums and meltdowns occasionally but it&#039;s much better. The main side effect was weight gain due to his increased appetite. He was always famished! He gained 8-10 pounds in 2 months which is alot for a 7 year old. The Vyvance that he takes for adhd is supposed to suppress his appetite but it wasn&#039;t enough to outweigh what the risperidone was doing. After a few months his dr put him on metformin. It did the trick. He lost his added weight. The Vyvance/metformin combo balanced out the risperidone."