Risperdal side effects and withdrawal

[sun17]

I was wondering if anybody knows how long it will take for Risperdal to get out of my system.  My psychiatrist prescribed it to me last week as a supplement to the Prozac I have been on for about 3 weeks now.  Both to treat GAD.  I was kind of getting an obsessed about dying thing which is why she prescribed the Risperdal...to stop the obsessive thoughts.  I was VERY reluctant to use any medication...I had been prescribed Paxil about a month and a half ago and I had a horrible reaction to it.  Made me unbearably dizzy.  They took me off of it after 10 days but I remained dizzy for more than 2 weeks afterwards!  I started the Prozac and that helped the dizziness...or maybe the Paxil just finally got out of my system.  Anyway, I went on the Risperdal last Wed at .25 at bedtime for 2 days then the doc upped it to .5 and I was on that for 4 days but started feeling crazy dizzy by day #3.  Doc put me back to .25 for a day and I just couldn't take it so she took me off of it all together yesterday.  I am still crazy dizzy!  These type of medications seem to have a really big effect on me and the doctors never take that into consideration.  The psychiatrist told me that I wasn't "really feeling dizzy" but that it was my anxiety that makes me dizzy.  Meanwhile...all the meds they give me come with a big label on the thing that says CAUTION: MAY CAUSE DIZZINESS!  So, what? that applies to everyone but me? :)

I just wonder if anyone can tell me if this is going to last for weeks on end like it did with the Paxil?  I have been dizzy for the better part of a month and a half now (with a little reprieve in there between when I started the prozac and started the risperdal) and I almost cannot bear it anymore.  It is effecting my life in EVERY WAY!  I can't even drive...I can barely walk down to the bus stop to pick up my daughter for fear of keeling over on the way there...and it is only 5 houses away!  These drugs are soooo powerful and the doctors just prescribe them without knowing anything about me.  This psychiatrist never consulted my GP...never took a BP or anything.  I mean, she has no medical knowledge of me whatsoever and prescribed something known as an "atypical antipsychotic" for GAD.  Is that right?

[Crystal413]

Did he just take one week to taper you off the Respirdone?

[mamaj33]

I have been on some sort of anti depressant for over 16 years and risperdone for about that long. I also have terrible hypothyroidism and I asked the dr if all of the anxiety and weight gain and all of the terrible side effects could be the hypo he said yes so he took me off prozac and tapered me off risperidone last week. i am a freaking mess. i am withdrawing or am i spirally out of control? I have been on these meds for so long I don't know what normal is? what is your suggestion? i am in a panic all of the time cant focus on my work or household chores just want to exile myself to a dark cold room and cry

[sun17]

Hi Camilla,

Thanks so much for your input.  I swear I have this stupid anxiety thing going on and everything they are doing to "help" the anxiety is just making it worse.  The doctors don't have ANY IDEA how a person on the other side of that desk is actually feeling.  Especially Psychiatrists...I feel like all they ever want to do is give me a prescription and push me out the door without explaining anything. (I kind of like to know what the hell I am putting into myself and what it's effect will be)  They take people in their most vulnerable state..when they are not really able to make the most lucid decisions and just play games with them.  They forget that what might work for one person doesn't always work for another.  I am glad for the info YOU have given me...at least you have taken the drug...know what it does to you and can UNDERSTAND!  Thank you!

:)

[Camilla*]

Hi,
I'm not even close to being a doctor-
however, I've had lots of experience with resperidone.  I am bipolar, and I took it for almost a year to keep my manics "under control". HOwever, it made me a zombie & I gained a/b 30 pounds.  It was horrible-- I was excercizing 45 min every day and dieting, but the weight kept coming on...  anyway, I was only on 3 mg of it (I think it was mg's) -- I started to get that Rabbit syndrome, too where you feel the urge to move things- for me it was my eyes.. back & forth, back & forth... I told my doc I wanted to get off of it & she suggested to cut it in half.  I did this, and all the negative side effects went away w/in 2 months: l lost all the weight and the zombie-ness, and the rabbit eyes. :)
But, your situation sounds like you are either allergic to the drug, or else EXTREMELY sensitive to anything like it.  I know that for psychotic situations, they prescribe WAY more of the drug than we were given! So it sounds like it's not  a good one for you.
Hang in there- it should go away with time.  Oh, and find a new doctor!
Camilla