Does anyone know whether allergy shots interfere with the performance of Risperdal or other drugs used to treat bipolar children?

Our son was on Risperdal for ~18 months and was making great progress. He was able to go to kindergarten and 1st grade; he was making A's & B's; and his classroom behavior was similar to that of other young boys.

After an asthma attack in 10/05 put him in the hospital, he went back to school and his behavior continued to improve. In 12/05 we decided to give him allergy shots in an attempt to eliminate nasal congestion.

Almost immediately his classroom behavior began to get worse and his ability to concentrate on his school work went away. He also became more agitated and his manic episodes returned. In early 3/06 we took him out of the classroom environment and a school employee came to our home twice a week to help him with his school work.

In late 3/06 we replaced Risperdal with Geodon and his ability to concentrate returned and he finished the school year with all A's. His pleasant personality also returned without the manic episodes. The side effects of Geodon were that 1) his taste buds changed and he could not find any food that tasted good any more and 2) he had some involuntary physical movements (hopping and shoulder movements).

However, by June the positive effects of the Geodon had gone away and he became even more violent. In working with our psychiatrist we have tried various combinations of lithium, Geodon, Risperdal and Depokote. Nothing seems to bring his behavior back to where it was before the allergy shots. My wife is now home schooling him, but he has a lot of trouble concentrating even with all the one-on-one attention.

I have read that allergy medications such as Sudafed and St. John's wort should not be used with bipolar medications. Do you think allergy shots could also cause similar problems as these other allergy medications?

Looking for answers & ideas,

Fly2max

welcome
and yes any medication or drug over the counter or vitamin or supplement can have side effects and interactions.
Everyone is different and responds differently to meds as you probably already know.
unfortunately we truly never know if a medication treats a symptom or if the mood just took a change on its own...that may have happened for him with the geodon.
does that make any sense?
Is he also diagnosed ADHD?
My first bipolar hospitalization was triggered by depoprevera birth control shot....mania! at the age of almost 30....
caffeine can affect our moods swings so can alcohol...
so long story short...yes I think his allergy shots could affect him....
I don't know...sorry...I am not being very helpful.
welcome again...
hoping that someone comes along for you...there are other moms who post here and you may want to try posting in the sub forum if you have not done so already.
hang in there
bizi

Hi-

I was diagnosed at age 25 and I am now 34, and I started allergy shots when I was 33, back last April 2006, so almost a year now.

I am assuming its the actual shots where they stick you 150 times to decide your serum in each shot...?

I was encouraged to see this allergist by my therapist who specializes in addictions and adhd, neurofeedback. The allergist promotes a yeast free diet and or gluten free diet that I did for awhile also and it helped. Either way, I stopped the diet, continued the shots and I am okay. My therapist, and this is not exact science here, seems to think that molds, allergies to molds, esp in buildings can provoke a reaction from an adhd child, or red dyes in certain drinks, like gatorade? This is just off the cuff stuff I have heard from her. I am def. bipolar, so I just gave it a shot for my own self, plus I live in the deep south now.

I have NOT noticed that they affect my medication at all, but that is just me. I take Lamictal and Seroquel.

I cannot be sure its the same for your son. Usually, they say you can see a reaction the hour or day of the shot, notice anything that actual day?? Maybe a trial period of skipping the shots?? I have heard alot of people who know I get the shots, say they don't work, or they never worked for them?? I researched it a bit, and the call it immunotherapy, and all I could find was basically an answer of it takes a year or so to see if they really work, and basically I am going to have to be the one who kinda determines if it works. It all is kind of speculative to me, because I can say yeah, I think its helped, but I still got the flu and could not breathe?? I don't know.

Thank you for your comments. As you suggested, I will also post my message on the parent's sub forum.

You asked whether our son had been diagnosed with ADHD. The answer is no. He did not have any problems concentrating before the allergy shots began.

Hi,
Also try bp kids so you can talk to other parents:
http://www.bpkids.org/site/PageServer

A doctor who works with multiple issues related to allergies could be a good source of information/help.

The allergy shots are not supposed to interfere with medication. But I can imagine that they could throw off a sensitive immune system. Bipolar can be triggered at onset and then made worse through its course through stressors.

Did he continue the shots?
Have you been able to identify food (and other) allergies/sensitivities?
Have you been able to eliminate allergies?

Some books discuss ameliorating bipolar by use of vitatmins and supplements. Others, by avoiding allergens:
--The Natural Medicine Guide to Bipolar Disorder by Stephanie Marohn
--Nutrition and Mental Illness: An Orthomolecular Approach to Balancing Body Chemistry by Carl C. Pfeiffer
--Brain Allergies: The Psychonutrient and Magnetic Connections by Willam H. Philpott, William H. Philpott MD, et al

There are others, as a quick search of amazon will show you.

These ways of thinking are starting to show up in the science. but I can't site scientific sources for you write now. I think that the books have bibliographies for further reference.
Mari

Mari,

I like the idea of trying vitamins and supplements. We may look into that.

Our son has been taking the allergy shots for over 1 year, and the shots seem to have cleared up his nasal congestion - which helps him breath through his nose.

So his physical health seems to be OK with the allergy shots.

Gary

I'm not a doctor and I really don't know that much about this...

But I did think of this... a lot of the anti-psychotic type drugs hit the histamine receptors in the brain. This is why Seroquel makes my nose stuff up and gives me marijuana-like munchies. Histamine receptors. (histamine, as in anti-histamine, as in allergy control)

This is a long shot and I'm no pharmacologist or anything...

But might there be a connection between the action of the allergy shot and histamine receptors and the meds??? (possibly blocking the action of the meds, or down or up-regulating the receptors so they aren't as sensitive to the meds or something like that...)

Bring it up with your doc... hopefully he'll listen even though he'll probably think you have no idea what you are talking about...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histamine_receptor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antihistamine

...Other agents with antihistaminergic activity
Many drugs, used for other indications, possess unwanted antihistaminergic activity. These include tricyclic antidepressants, antipsychotics, etc.

PS - nasal spray (like Afrin) is what I use for the Seroquel induced stuffiness. It works like a charm. Lately I haven't had to use it as much.

Wondering if your son's stuffiness is from the meds... and not allergies...

Tritone,

I sorta get what you are trying to say but its hard to understand, but I am going to ask my doctor about this myself.

I take seroquel, I did get the stuffy nose and I too did use afrin, and those mary jane like munchies, ugg, yes.

When I got tested you have to be off all histamine type drugs, and they tried to tell me to stop seroquel for a week before the needles test, but I said no way. They said there was a histamine in it, but then the doctor looked at it, in PDR and talked to nurse and then they said no, keep taking it, no problem

This is very good info. Thank you.

Tritone,

Your analysis makes sense to me. In www.healthofchildren.com I read that allergy shots create a 'blocking' antibody to make our son's immune system less sensitive to the substance that is causing the allergic reaction.

If the allergy shots are blocking allergens, could they also be blocking the effects of the bipolar meds - as you suggest? I agree that I need to find a way to discuss this with our doctor.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Fly2max