risperdal

[lysergia]

i'm now taking risperdal (0.5 mg) with my cocktail (300 mg WBXL and 75 mg effexor XR). the risperdal is for kinda psychoticy symptoms and agitation.

in the past, i've taken zyprexa zydis and seroquel for this. i liked zyprexa, but i craved sugar like a maniac all day. i loved seroquel, but i seem to build up a tolerance for it quickly (plus the weight gain is intolerable for me, ED issues, bleh).

so far i'm noticing that i don't feel the risperdal at all after i take it. with the other AP's, i felt the warmsleepyfuzzies within an hour. however, i'm also not craving anything and i'm not majorly hungry on risperdal (yay!!!).

my mental state is improving somewhat, so i know it's kinda working, but it doesn't calm me down at night like it's supposed to. i end up taking a couple of PRN clonazepam instead (not something i want to do every day if i don't have to). is this normal for risperdal? is my dose too small?

anybody wanna compare their experiences for me, if you've tried each of these meds?

thanks in advance.

-lysergia

[Velvet Elvis]

That's a fairly low dose for psychotic symptoms so it might be just a trial to check for side effects. I remember it being less sedating than either of the other two you mentioned. It definitely left me with more brain fuzz than seroquel but less much less than zyprexa.

[resonance]

It worked well for me, but after a dose increase it made me really agitated (ironic since it was prescribed to me to treat agitation - but not everything works for everyone). It's often the first AAP prescribed, and it has a lower risk of diabetes than the others.

Klonopin also worked well for me, but I didn't want to be on it long-term if I didn't have to. Seroquel works very nicely for me now - it calms me down, helps me sleep, and doesn't give me weird muscle-tension issues like Risperdal, Geodon, and Abilify did. I haven't taken Zyprexa.

[ehygon]

I take 2 mg of Risperdal a day, 1 in the morning 1 at night. I started out on .5mg as well, but that was mostly to see if i could tolerate it.

I like it more than any med I've been on, but I found it didn't last all day, and I could actually feel it start to wear off, (hence the split dose)

chances are, you will likely get a dose increase next visit, which should help. 0.5mg is really not much, most people seem to be relieved by 2-4 mg

[lysergia]

thanks everyone!

i got an increase yesterday as predicted, i'm to take .25mg in the morning and .75mg at night (because it wasn't really lasting long enough for me either). this is day two now and so far i just forget even more words than i did yesterday LOL.

i even got an increase in clonazepam which i didn't ask for but was pleased about - i've been so agitated i'll take just about anything right now to be able to sit down for half an hour! i've never been prescribed benzos as anything but a prn before but now i'm a BID girl (as opposed to a BAD girl i guess). and these are a whole 1 mg! (like that's a lot hehe)

so far i'm still not sedated and not hungry, so those are good news for me. i also feel better in the depression department. just the agitation and the delusions/hallucinations/night terrors left for the meds to work on.

yay risperdal so far. and wellbutrin and effexor too. i heart my pills today (ask me tomorrow i'll tell you different).

=lysergia

[chimpmaster]

My p-doc tried to change me from seroquel to risperdal (we jointly agreed on the plan), but for some reason the trial failed. I ended up in a psych ward (a good one) and returned to seroquel usage. Risperdal isnt for me, but millions of people out there are doing well on it.