Risperdal Permanent Damage

[sharma6637]

Hello all,

I have been on risperdal for about 6 months now and plan to get off soon. However I am scared of permanent damage from the risperdal. I've read stories of people who were permanently damaged by the medicine. For example, their orgasm intensity never returned back to normal.

Does anyone have any experience with coming off the risperdal and if so did you get permanent damage from the medicine.

 

Thank you

[Stickler]

Pardon me, but I would like to ask a few questions:

-What condition are you using the Risperdal to treat?

 

-Have you been having any bad side-effects so far, and if so, what are those?

 

-have you brought your concerns up with your prescribing physician, and if so, what were the results?

 

...You see, a lot of our membership would end up nonfunctioning or dead if not on meds.  

 

OTOH, if your condition can be managed without medication, OR with a med that has a better side-effect profile, then that would be a very good thing.

 

Too...there are a lot of websites that greatly exaggerate the risks of you experiencing negative side-effects....like Naturalnews.c0m and others.

Quack sites, I call them.

 It's not that the negative side-effects can't happen?

 It's that for a lot of people, psych meds improve quality of life so much that the risk (usually a fairly low one) is acceptable.  

Each person has to make that evaluation for themselves...and you should NOT make that evaluation based on something you read on a quack site.  

OK?

This site has a chart of reported adverse reactions in a population:

http://www.rxlist.com/risperdal-drug/side-effects-interactions.htm

Edited May 10, 2014 by Stickler

[sharma6637]

Hello Stickler:

 

-I'm using the risperdal to treat schizophrenia(hearing voices in my head)

 

-The main bad side effects I'm noticing are sleeping too long, no semen during ejaculation, and reduced orgasm intensity.

 

- I brought up these issues with my pdoc and he offered to add abilify to release semen again but said there was nothing that could be done for the other side effects.

[San]

Well, decide what's more important. Out of control schizophrenia, or releasing semen. 

[Velvet Elvis]

I've been on it for over five years and I love it.

[lorki]

Risperdal can cause permanent damage if taken for a long time. I can give the following link as an example: http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/articles/antipsychotics-and-shrinking-brain

The shrinking brain is just one example. Other problems are the sedation and depressing effect on your life, loss of creativity, loss of self-healing capabilities, etc.

And getting off gets harder, the longer you take it.

Nevertheless, there may be reasons to take Risperdal. For me, it took away psychotic symptoms so I did not have to go to the psychiatry a second time.

And I currently try to slowly reduce the dose, which also helps reducing the damaging effect.

I found this information to be helpful: http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/2170-vaseadude-anyone-went-through-risperdal-risperidone-withdrawal

[hagar]

Other problems are the sedation and depressing effect on your life, loss of creativity, loss of self-healing capabilities, etc.

You say that like it's a given for everyone taking it. It's not. Also, what are "self-healing capabilities" and how do APs take them away?

[hagar]

Also, from the article you cited:

 

 

 

However, we are left with the additional dilemma that a longer duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) may also be neurotoxic. Longer DUP has been associated with poorer symptomatic and functional outcomes as well as brain volume loss. Studies of DUP have their own methodological limitations and controversies, but they should serve to warn us that the rapid control of psychosis may also be important. 

 

Eta: And I will refrain from commenting on the second link you provide, to a forum post on a forum called "Surviving Antidepressants"....lol.

Edited May 11, 2014 by hagar running

[San]

I don't believe there is risperdal withdrawal so to speak, its not an addictive substance, like a benzo would be. It would more be a case of discontinuation syndrome.

Looking for a good, peer reviewed study on AP's shrinking the brain... not having much luck..

[Wonderful.Cheese]

Also, from the article you cited:

However, we are left with the additional dilemma that a longer duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) may also be neurotoxic. Longer DUP has been associated with poorer symptomatic and functional outcomes as well as brain volume loss. Studies of DUP have their own methodological limitations and controversies, but they should serve to warn us that the rapid control of psychosis may also be important.

Eta: And I will refrain from commenting on the second link you provide, to a forum post on a forum called "Surviving Antidepressants"....lol.

^^^this!! Thanks Hagar!!

[San]

From a peer reviewed article.

 

 

Further, all patients were treated with antipsychotic medication, and with respect to medication dosage, no effects on tissue intensity changes emerged in our sample

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0037016#pone-0037016-g002

 

The brain shrinkage being talked about in all articles is reduction of gray and white matter. Do you know what commonly causes it? Aging.

 

As for OP.. well. Those side effects go away not long after you stop the medication. Abilify can be sedating or activating, it depends on you, it depends on the dose. Personally, I wasn't a big fan of risperdal, and I had bad side effects (lactation from high prolactin, I'm female) but there are other options.

[lorki]

In the end, it's a matter of choice if you want to take the medication or not.

I think the medication is a kind of crutch to take away symptoms of schizophrenia. And indeed, the symptoms disappear.

But taking medication, other things also worsen, such as the ability to enjoy feelings, to react to music, to be in contact with ones self and others.

And there are people, who get along with paranoid schizophrenia without medication. E.g. John F. Nash wrote that he only took the medication when forced to and for the most of the time did get along without it. Still this option is not for everyone as there are severe and less severe progressions of schizophrenia.

Interestingly, in developing countries, where there is no access to medication or psychiatry, the recovery rates of schizophrenia are better than in developed countries. So, it seems that medication can chronify psychiatric diseases.

[MrTastybutt]

I think the medication is a kind of crutch to take away symptoms of schizophrenia.

WTF? I can't even respond. If you're so against medication, why are you here?

[MrTastybutt]

BTW, I have a heart condition that I take meds for and I have yet to meet anyone who says it's a crutch. I take meds for diabetes and my thyroid, no one has ever said it's a crutch. Oh, but if I take meds for my brain it's suddenly a crutch?

Whatever.

[Wooster]

Lorki, the first article you cited clearly states that in the absence of a control group, there is NO POSSIBLE WAY to know if brain loss is related to meds or to the progression of the disease itself:

Many additional potential confounds complicate these findings. First, it’s not possible to determine whether higher antipsychotic doses are contributing to the progression of brain loss or are merely a response to it. In the absence of an untreated control group, it’s also not possible to detect neurotoxic effects of drugs that are not related to dose and, without a healthy control group, it is not clear which changes in brain volume are pathological. - See more at: http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/articles/antipsychotics-and-shrinking-brain#sthash.B3QMs4oe.dpuf

Taken together, these studies suggest that antipsychotics may contribute to early gray matter loss and, later in the course of treatment, to white matter loss. These effects may be dose-related and probably are not prevented by the use of second-generation agents. This argues for minimizing antipsychotic exposure both acutely and long-term. However, we are left with the additional dilemma that a longer duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) may also be neurotoxic. Longer DUP has been associated with poorer symptomatic and functional outcomes7 as well as brain volume loss.8 Studies of DUP have their own methodological limitations and controversies, but they should serve to warn us that the rapid control of psychosis may also be important. - See more at: http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/articles/antipsychotics-and-shrinking-brain#sthash.B3QMs4oe.dpuf

So rather than being the evidence you are seeking that antipsychotics cause brain loss, it acutally argues against the point you are trying to make.

I agree that it is interesting to look at cross-cultural approaches to mental health and illness. Is it possible, for example, that there is less stigma (i.e., "I think of meds as a crutch...") and more social support for people experiencing symptoms than here? Less pressure to work and live independently and/or religious/spiritual or cultural contexts in which symptoms have a different meaning?

People love to cite Nash as shining example of what an unmedicated person can achieve. However, Nash himself said that had he not lived in an environment where he felt "pressure to succeed", and had be been able to live "a quiet life" he may have had fewer symptoms of less intensity and shorter duration. The fact is, Nash had a life of an enormous amount of privilege and access to resources that could help him compensate for his "eccentricities" including a wife who made sure his basic needs were met, and a university who supported him and kept him employed even when he was not performing the tasks associated with his official role. Most of us don't have that kind of support and therefore can't run the same kind of experiment that Nash did with his life.

In addition, most of us aren't starting out with the same kind of baseline thinking as Nash. How many of us would be nominated for Nobel Prizes to begin with? I believe Nash is at best an outlier whose experience can encourage people to make anti-med choices due to people seeing him as an example but neglecting to understand all of the privilege that made it possible for him to continue to exist.

[hagar]

I think the medication is a kind of crutch to take away symptoms of schizophrenia. 

Well, yeah. So? If you break your leg, you use crutches. If your brain is fucked up, what's the fucking difference? 

[San]

 

I think the medication is a kind of crutch to take away symptoms of schizophrenia. 

Well, yeah. So? If you break your leg, you use crutches. If your brain is fucked up, what's the fucking difference? 

 

^

[sharma6637]

Yes I've read before that the brain can shrink from APs and I've also read that orgasm intensity never returns. I'm scared of taking this medicine  

[San]

They have not proven brain shrinking from any medication and I'm sure plenty of people here (I can, at least) can vouch that their orgasm intensity has returned.

 

I have fantastic orgasms.

[hagar]

They have not proven brain shrinking from any medication and I'm sure plenty of people here (I can, at least) can vouch that their orgasm intensity has returned.

 

I have fantastic orgasms.

Mine were never "blunted" to begin with from antipsychotics....from psychotic depression, yes, but not from medications. Medication gave me back my sex drive.

Yes I've read before that the brain can shrink from APs and I've also read that orgasm intensity never returns. I'm scared of taking this medicine

Of allllll the information presented in this thread, that's what you came away with? Reread Wooster's post.

 

I understand being scared of taking meds...I was too, that's probably a normal reaction. But if you're manic, or psychotic, or whatever, chances are you need them (at least for now) to return to a functioning life. 

[San]

I take a strong typical antipsychotic by injection and I still have fantastic orgasms.. I'm on a shitload of psych meds.

 

OP, you obviously got nothing out of this thread, what was the purpose of posting it? You apparently wanted someone to validate what you thought, and when you didn't get it, you just re-posted what you originally posted.

 

We've given you information that shows that it's extremely unlikely (and can't be proven) that AP's don't shrink the brain. If it had permanent side effects like that it wouldn't be FDA approved.

 

But you don't want to hear it. So why bother? This is the last time I'm posting here.

Schizophrenia is a LOT worse than a bad orgasm.

[jt07]

Risperdal helped me get my life back on track at a very low point in my life. It in no way caused me any permanent effects.

[revv]

I too take something similar to risperidone (invega sustenna) and I dont ejaculate as much anymore and my orgasm intensity is greatly reducing I am currently trying abilify inconjunction with invega sustenna but I can't fucking sleep and im taking it in the morning so I might lower the dose next time I see my pdoc or get a sleep med I don't know what he will do... and hopefully I won't have anymore stupid sexual dysfunction after taking only on Abilify

[quiet storm]

I think the medication is a kind of crutch to take away symptoms of schizophrenia..

lol'd when I read this. Holy shit.....

[Stickler]

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0083679

Schizophrenia itself causes gray-matter damage.

[koa]

You could always talk to your doctor about switching to a different antipsychotic that does not have the prolactin effect.

I can say that my sex drive returned completely after I stopped risperdal.  As soon as the prolactin levels return to normal, your body will function the way it did before.  

 

Having said that, I'm glad I made the trade off for sanity over a sex life for the several years I took risperdal.  It is not a bad drug, and is generic, so it was essentially my only option at the time I started taking it since I didn't have insurance.  Risperdal is much more weight neutral than many other antipsychotics, such as zyprexa and seroquel.

[sharma6637]

thank you koaku, you've been very helpful

[sharma6637]

koaku, did your orgasm intensity return back to normal

[koa]

Well, I'm having some trouble with orgasming during sex, but I am pretty sure it is because of another drug I recently started taking, lexapro.  My sex drive was completely gone when I was on risperdal and I couldn't even become aroused for sex most of the time.  That at least got completely better once I switched to a different medication.  The issue for me was never orgasm intensity, because that never reduced on risperdal, but rather even being able to become aroused.

Edited May 22, 2014 by koakua

[sharma6637]

Thank you koaku. Did you notice any cognitive impairment while on risperdal and if you did, did that get better?

[koa]

No cognitive impairment from risperdal at all that I noticed.  Just the prolactin effect.  In fact I was more lucid on it due to not being continually paranoid or psychotic.  Risperdal was sedating for me, though, especially during the mornings, so I noticed I was often very groggy during the first hours after waking up.  I don't think this was due to brain damage, but rather from physical fatigue. The only reason I stopped taking it was the prolactin effect and some slight weight gain... have switched to latuda and those are both better on it, as is the morning sedation.

[jyk55]

Take the meds the fear goes away I look at it like this 30 minutes of pleasure vs 23/1/2 hours of pain taken away note this is my personal experience plus my doc subscribed me vigara to fix it lol

[Equivilency]

The 'experts' are going back and forth whether or not schizophrenia or the drug shrinks the brain. Its the lesser of two evils (insanity) and all science has to offer us at the moment. That's just the way I view it. 

 

To the OP: There's a lot of horror stories of permanent damage floating around but take those with a grain of salt.. I've been off anti-psychotics before and had no permanent side affects. Don't worry so much!

[sharma6637]

Thanks for all the support guys.

[San]

I'm now on Risperdal Consta, the injection form of Risperdal, at 25mg, and so far, (only had the injection a week ago) haven't noticed a difference. I can't orgasm from sex - but I'm not currently  having sex and I've never been able to anyways. I can orgasm from masturbation (TMI, anyone?) and haven't noticed any cognitive effects, like dulling. I am a bit more sedated, but I also stopped 300mg Wellbutrin (which I was taking to quit smoking, ran its course, physician stopped it) at the same time and am also coming down from a manic episode. It is still too early to judge, though.

 

I did have issues with it the first time I took it, I was 19, because I was on something to raise my prolactin (I had low prolactin) and Risperdal, so I started lactating. As soon as the supplement was stopped, everything else stopped as well. Your mileage may vary, everyone reacts differently. I am biologically female. I'll keep you updated.

 

I keep track of my symptoms, side effects, etc daily on the site http://www.patientslikeme.com

 

If Risperdal doesn't work or you find the side effects too much, discuss other AP's or AAP's with your pdoc. If a medication is making you that miserable, you shouldn't have to take it - there are a lot of other options. The lack of orgasm and whatnot can be caused by too much prolactin, which is an uncommon, but known problem with Risperdal. There are other meds that can lower it, or a switch in AAP's can help. It's not the only option. It is a good med, I find, for  myself, but it may not be the best for you.

 

So talk it over with your pdoc. If you feel embarrassed talking about more sensitive matters like orgasms and stuff, write it down, or print something out. But believe me, they've heard it all and much more before. 

 

Also, if you're on an SSRI or SNRI in conjunction with it, that doesn't help. I find my biggest nemesis in losing the ability to orgasm is in SSRI's or SNRI's, not antipsychotics, believe it or not. When my lexapro dose was dropped from 40mg to 20mg, there was a HUGE change.

 

Sorry if there's TMI. Just my experience!

[cactustomato]

Hello,

 

I hope you are still availible. Did your orgasm, brain function return to normal? Anyone else have just a really hard time getting back to normal?

 

I have been on Risperdal for only 3 months. Psychosis went away so I stopped medication a month and a half ago. Ruining my teeth by constantly clenching them and still have some twisting side effects in my forehead that I hope are not tarditive dyskinesia. I get twitches like something pushing up my skin all over my body in random areas. Additionally, my sleep doesnt feel the same at ALL never well rested, and I wake up periodically with very bad butterflies in my stomach to the extent that I can only sleep on a particular side of my body.

 

I hope someone can either update this post with their experience or give a different story altogether of what you went through. Im praying its still withdrawal although its so hard to believe at this time and it doesnt particularly feel like its getting better. I cant get to a doctor because I have no income this is my only hope right now.