Risperidone

[cornyguy]

I am really happy today.Yesterday I took my last dose of Risperidone which I had been taking since the past four months and which had been tapered off by my Pdoc .I never liked this med which had numerous side effects of which I experienced some,thankfully not the worst ones.I will now only have to take my mood stabilizer which I have been taking for a number of years.Has anybody in this forum stopped an anti psychotic medication and just remained on their mood stabilizer and how did they feel about it.

[bman965]

I am in the same boat as you. My doctor tapered me off risperdal and I am having a slow recovery from the withdraw. The good thing is I am not manic and my doctor may leave me on just the lithium as a mood stabilizer. I am so happy for you and of course happy for myself. How long was your recovery from your withdraw?

[cornyguy]

I forgot to mention that the Pdoc would like to maintain his med at therauptic level for sometime after your husband gets well before he takes a decision to withdraw the med.My Pdoc likes to maintain his patients only on a mood stabilizer if possible and only uses anti psychotics when required.

[cornyguy]

Hi,
I suffer from BP and have been on a mood stabilizer since eleven years and was stable till july 2009.I suffered a Hypomanic episode in July 2009 because of a huge stressor and I was put on Risperdone to calm me down.I became better in a week and my Pdoc decided to keep it at 3 mg for a month.He then  started tapering me very slowly off the med after seeing that I was stable since August and it has taken me eight weeks to come off the med from 3 mg.But I wanted to mention that in spite of the slow tapering I went through a withdrawal syndrome.I had my last dose of Risperidone yesterday and am happy to get off it.
The side effects I experienced were I always felt dull,lethargic,devoid of energy and it also made me lose all interest in things I liked to do like reading,listening to music and watching movies.I have become a bit emotionally withdrawn and anxious(though my Pdoc assured me that these are temporary and will go away on stopping the med) and even left my job as I could not handle the withdrawal syndrome on tapering the medication and have now decided to get one.
In your husband"s case maybe because of severity his Pdoc may decide to keep him for a longer time on the med but this med has to be tapered very slowly when it is being withdrawn.In my case it was used at 3 mg for 6 weeks and it took around ten weeks to taper it down.Hope this helps
Your husband needs all your support now.

[vsantos]

I don't have feedback to you because I'm on the other end of the situation. But if you don't mind I have a question. My husband started taking Risperdone 2 months ago (and DEpakote a bit earlier) for his first major Manic Episode with Psychotic features. And up until 3 weeks ago (when he actually agreed to increase the dose) he was somewhat psychotic, he hates me thinking I was his worst enemy etc...
   But here are 2 question (if you don't mind):
    1- what were some of the side effects (keep in mind that I still don;t talk to my husband about any of this, everything is new and he sill in denial...so I learn through other people's experience)

   2- You took it for 4 months for what? And how did your Pdoc decided that it was time to stop?
     I really appreciate if you can help.
     Vsantos

[cornyguy]

I forgot to mention that in spite of a very slow taper by my Pdoc I still went through a withdrawal syndrome .I just wanted to tell members that stopping or tapering these anti psychotic medications is associated with a withdrawal syndrome.