[Mechante]

I take 2mg of Risperdal.

[Wonder]

I'm not taking any meds now, so I'm not answering the actual poll part. I took Risperdal for a few years, then switched to Zyprexa, then back to Risperdal. My pdoc was going to prescribe Seroquel for me at one time when I was psychotic, but then I pointed out to him that I was already taking Zyprexa, so he just increased my dosage of Zyprexa. Which did help, by the way.

Both meds made me really tired all the time. So does almost every drug with "drowsiness" listed as a possible side effect, except for any antidepressants, which make me manic and pretty much unable to sleep if I'm taking them without anything else.

It's a pain in the ass. I have trouble sleeping without meds. But any meds that do make me sleep work too well. Sigh.

[Tom]

Helena, on Mar 29 2006, 02:20 PM, said:

Velvet Elvis, on Mar 29 2006, 12:17 AM, said:

The showstopper for me was the halflife.  I forget to pick up a refill and missed one dose.  24 hours later I was so fucked up that I couldn't drive to pick up the refill.  I'm way too scattered to take something where I can't ever miss a dose. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep, the half life is a bitch. At first I was taking it once a day which meant half a day of pure stableness (is that even a word?). And then... things went downhill. Now I take it twice a day, and that works great.

I'm pretty good at taking my meds at the right time, thanks to the alarm function on my cell phone.

I think you mean "stability"

I'm on 2mg of Risperdal per day. I think it does calm my racing thoughts somewhat, but i do not think it's enough. I really want to try seroquel, it seems that everyone (or most ppl) does well on it.

Tom

[ehygon]

I take 0.5mg of risperdal for now. I like it a lot, and it helps, so I'm definitely going to ask for more. It doesn't do a whole lot for my paranoia et al at this dose, but it's been extremely helpful with my social problems.

[pressmama]

Seroquel (300) then switched to risperdal (3 --> 1.5). Lactating, but what are you going to do? It works.

[blackbird]

Im batting for Team Zyprexa now (with a side helping of Haldol). This is the best anti-psychotic I have ever been on and I haven't put on any weight either!

[Dweii]

Tom, on Jun 26 2006, 05:18 AM, said:

I think you mean "stability"

Damn.

[sergio]

I was taking Risperdal (3 mg at night), but I stopped because I suffered from severe extrapyramidal

reactions after just 3 weeks. My left arm was completely twisted and I thought my muscles would never

stop contracting. And then I had really rigid muscle movements... so rigid I could not hold a glass of water

for a week. My typing speed has never been the same. I personally think they should only prescribe

Seroquel or Abilify because according to www.webmd.com, Risperdal has 23 severe common

side effects and abilify and seroquel have only 8 less severe common side effects.

This post has been edited by sergio: 18 September 2006 - 08:31 PM

[sergio]

ehygon, on Jul 18 2006, 06:36 PM, said:

I take 0.5mg of risperdal for now. I like it a lot, and it helps, so I'm definitely going to ask for more. It doesn't do a whole lot for my paranoia et al at this dose, but it's been extremely helpful with my social problems.

Check out www.webmd.com for a complete list of common side effects before you take anymore

Risperdal because the psychiatrists never tell you all of the common side effects. In fact, my psychiatrist

only told me of one of the side effects, and he said it would take ten years before I suffered from this side

effect, but it only took 3 weeks. According to www.webmd.com, there are 23 severe common side effects,

and I didn't know 22 of them.

[Loon-A-TiK]

i take risperdal, being fully aware of the risks and side effects. i had EPS on seroquel of all drugs, really bad EPS, but nothing on risperdal.

the only side effect i have is the raised prolactin, resulting in breast milk. i lactate now. it isn't much, but it isn't normal.

i looked up the possible risks of raised prolactin, and of it raised due to risperdal in particular, and there have been studies. the animal studies point to a mild increase in brain cancer and some female problems, such as fertility issues. the fertiltiy issues went away when useage was discontinued.

to me, the benefits of taking risperdal (that my thinking is clear, that my mania is controlled) far outweigh the risk of any issues due to taking it. so far, i've done well on it and have been healthy. with the other atypicals ruled out for one reason or another (all worse side effects than risperdal), i'm stuck with it until further notice.

i'm choosing to take it understanding the potential for side effects. there are side effects to every drug. i agree that our pdocs would not prescribe us our meds if the potential benefits did not outweigh the potential risks.

i could recommend to everyone not to take seroquel because of my huge eps issues with it, but i know that most people have a positive experience with it. the same for risperdal. i could get off of it and recommend that no one take it because i lactate, but i'm one person.

[sergio]

Loon-A-TiK, on Sep 19 2006, 04:29 PM, said:

i take risperdal, being fully aware of the risks and side effects. i had EPS on seroquel of all drugs, really bad EPS, but nothing on risperdal.

the only side effect i have is the raised prolactin, resulting in breast milk. i lactate now. it isn't much, but it isn't normal.

i looked up the possible risks of raised prolactin, and of it raised due to risperdal in particular, and there have been studies. the animal studies point to a mild increase in brain cancer and some female problems, such as fertility issues. the fertiltiy issues went away when useage was discontinued.

to me, the benefits of taking risperdal (that my thinking is clear, that my mania is controlled) far outweigh the risk of any issues due to taking it. so far, i've done well on it and have been healthy. with the other atypicals ruled out for one reason or another (all worse side effects than risperdal), i'm stuck with it until further notice.

i'm choosing to take it understanding the potential for side effects. there are side effects to every drug. i agree that our pdocs would not prescribe us our meds if the potential benefits did not outweigh the potential risks.

i could recommend to everyone not to take seroquel because of my huge eps issues with it, but i know that most people have a positive experience with it. the same for risperdal. i could get off of it and recommend that no one take it because i lactate, but i'm one person.

Really. How long have you been on Risperdal? That's good that you like your new medications. And that you are aware of the side effects before taking the medications. The first two psychiatrists I went to didn't tell me any information on the possible side effects of anti-psychotics. That's why I avoided taking the medications until recently. I really only had drug-induced psychosis becuase of all the meth I was using, but it went away a couple of months after I got off the drugs and I've been off it for years. But just when everything was looking good for me I tried out Risperdal recently and it fucked me up in just under a month. I've decided to never use anti-psychotics again. My typing speed has decreased significantly and my reading speed is fucked up also becuase of the EPS. I also have eye pain from the cogentin I used after the reactions. In my case, it wasn't worth it. I think that I told the psychiatrist too much bad information, so he thought my insanity was an emergency.
The psychiatrist that I went to told me that Risperdal was a very good drug and that most people get EPS in 10 years, but I got it in 3 weeks. I guess it was only my case. I'm glad to hear that somebody is benefiting from it.

[dutch_tony]

I'm on 5mg Zyprexa in the evening. (with my lexapro, efexor and xanax).

[ToxicAngel]

I'm in a transition period right now. Was on 4mgs of Risperdal, but am now being switched to Seroquel. I'm currently on 300mgs of Seroquel in the p.m., and 1mg of Risperdal in the a.m.

[karuna]

I have just weaned myself off Risperdal, after having to take it for nine months. I'm not doing too badly so far, but am alert for signs that I am sliding back downhill again.

[tiredoftherapy21]

Iam on 5 mg of zyprexa, going up to 10 mg tonight!!
yesterday was teh first day I was on zyprexa, have been only on seroquel in teh past..

[tiredoftherapy21]

Iam now on abilify at 5 mg, to go up to 10 mg tomorrow, to eventually get up to 25 .

[Her Tommy]

15 mg. abilify

[CrazyLee]

I take Seroquel PRN at 25mg. I had been on a typical AP before (Navane). I think in 1996 there were not a lot of atypical AP's on the market yet. I find when I get racing thoughts or paranoia, and anxiety, taking seroquel knocks it out pretty good. Navane also pulled me out of a serious psychosis- I developed really bad reactions to it when I started. My neck muscles tightened up on me and I couldn't stop twitching. I remember the nurse had to inject me with a muscle relaxant (EPS? They never told me what reaction I was having). Seroquel is nothing compared to Navane.

This post has been edited by CrazyLee: 15 September 2007 - 09:19 AM

[Earthcalling]

I'm on 5mg Zyprexa and going to the docs next week to see if I can go back to 10mg. Was on 20mg over the summer but came down when went through a patch of "Oh I'm fine. I don't really need to take meds."

Took antidepressants in the past but didn't really do anything for apart from give me hot flushes.

Did not get on at all with Seroquel, triggered psychotic episode.

Hawk

[FairlyOddParent]

I'm taking 100mg Seroquel for sleep. Something I'm taking (or not taking) is making me shake like a leaf. My husband is blaming the Seroquel, but it's probably the Wellbutrin/Prozac combo. He also thinks adding Lithium lately has made things worse, but pDoc also increased Prozac by 50%.