My 12 year old daughter has had many years of distress and torment due to her aspergers symptoms. She has endured severe bullying throughout her schooling years until she had a major breakdown 16 months ago which required emergency hospital treatment as she wanted to end her life. At the hospital she was placed on Zaprexia. This medication is very strong and it causes other problems for the child. She experienced severe weight gain & it lowers dopamine levels in the rear & frontal lobes of the brain. This caused her to feel foggy in her thinking & very tired.

Since then she has tried other medications: Lovan, Risperidal. All of these lower the dopamine level in the rear & frontal lobes of the brain. She is currently on ABILIFY. This medication has been working wonders for her. It lowers the rear dopamine levels which controls her anxiety & calms her, but enhances the frontal dopamine levels. The benefit of this is the frontal dopamine levels effects the thinking skills & by enhancing these it allows her to think clearer to undertake her learning. ABILIFY has been her main medication for the past 7 months & she has been a different person. She is calmer, the negative thoughts have lowered dramatically, she works much better on her schooling, understands & accepts events occurring around her. She now looks towards the future.

The biggest negative thing about this medication is that it is not on PBS for Aspergers, which means it costs $250 each script. Her health card doesn't cover her for ABILIFY because it is not on PBS for asperger patients, yet this medication has been available in Australia for 6 years and used by Psychiatrists to benefit Asperger patients. My daughters psychiatrist asked me to help petition the government to place this medication on the PBS, so that other patients can benefit. Many cannot afford ABILIFY, so they have no other choice but to take the above mentioned medications. In America ABILIFY has been administered to Asperger patients for many years & have displayed the same wonderful results.

There needs to be a way we can get ABILIFY placed on the PBS for asperger patients.