help

[cachstsaja]

i am a caregiver for a resident with alzheimers. her doctor prescribed risperdone (1 mg). she has recently had a fall. for the past 4 days she has been experiencing stiffness of the muscles and loss of appetite. i wondered if this is due to the med or from the fall?

[onlyincanada852]

My 90 year old Mother has been on Risperidone 0.5mg for 6 years.  She started wandering at night so her Doctor increased it to 2.5 mg., 1mg in the morning and 1.5 at bedtime. With this amount she is totally drugged! and without it she is very confused, fearful, and hallucinates!  She also has Heart Disease, I've decreased this medication to 1mg and she still feels drugged. I'm not sure what to do, please reply.

"Only In Canada"

[caregiver222]

Risperidone is a so-called "blacklisted" drug and is entirely inappropriate for administration to an elderly patient with Alzheimers. Three years ago Johns Hopkins geriatric unit conducted a seminar at Mount Sinai discouraging it's use in the elderly.

[Dr Sharma]

Hi there. Risperidone is an atypical antipsychotic drug with certain side effects. These are sedation, dysphoria, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, muscle stiffness, muscle pain, constipation, photosensitivity and alopecia.  The fall could also lead to local tissue spasm and tightness in the surrounding muscles. She needs to be seen by an orthopaedician to rule out this as an effect of injury ad also check for an missed fractures. Then only could the muscle stiffness be blamed to be due to risperidone.  Hope this helps.