On Risperdal, slow thinking and unemotional?!
Question: On Risperdal, slow thinking and unemotional?
I've been on Risperdal for about two months now and am currently at 3mg twice a day, down from 4.5 mg twice a day which was prescribed to me last week. Over the course of my treatment, but especially over the past few days, I've noticed some side effects that alarm me. I feel that there is constantly fluid in my ear when I talk. I have difficulty thinking, and sometimes when speaking I have to stop in mid-sentence to re-collect my thoughts. And I am flat and unemotional.
Does anyone have any experience with Risperdal that can help me out? Is it just because of the high dose that I've been experiencing these things? And are there any online support groups for people like me? Thanks!
ps Is there any hope for getting off this medication for good eventually?
Answers:
Oh, I know just it is, even though I can't remember the dose I was taking back then.
After 2-3 months on that medicine I put on craploads of weight (which I still haven't taken off), didn't talk for days and felt literally lost in space. Even if it was this autumn, I still can't recall most of the things that happened, I only remember eating and eating and eating.
I wasn't even in the state to post a yahoo question about it.
Now, looking back, I should have done anything to stay mentally active. Now I feel as if most of my brain cells have been destroyed.
I remember talking to my psychiatrist about getting off of them, but I can't recall if she let me, or I did it on my own. Any way, eve though I don't know exactly why have you been prescribed Risperidone, there most certainly is a way of getting off of it for good.
And I don't know about online support groups, but feel free to message me about anything if you want to.
You need to get in touch with the psychiatrist who prescribed this medication. Let him know that you are experiencing side effects and describe to him just what you are experiencing and the extent to which they present themselves.
Don't waste any time in getting in touch with him because the longer you wait, the more severe of a problem could exist.
In regards to the side effects themselves, side effects can differ from one person to another and it is imperative that you get in touch with your doctor. The longer you wait, the more severe of a situation may occur.
I hate being on Risperdal. I'm actually getting off of it today. I find that I'm often at a loss for words, or start talking and realize I'm not articulating what I mean correctly. I'm on a very low dose, and I experience this. It makes me extremely irritable or numb. I have no desire to do anything. I also experienced weight gain as another post said. I really hate it. Unless you think it's helping you in some big way, try switching to something else.
My husband informs me that when I was on risperdal, I spent the whole summer watching TV, wouldn't go out, didn't read, didn't talk much, plus I put on 30 lbs. I sure didn't do any thinking. My opinion is that almost nobody should take antipsychotics. They cause such severe harm to your body that they shave years off your life.
And what are you taking it for??? For you, or for your family? Did you have outrageous dangerous behaviors? Or are you hoping to get your moods stable enuf to go back to work, or at least be more functional, which was my motive? If the latter, risperdal will not do that for you. It will totally disable you. You shouldn't be driving. You can't think right, and your reaction time is too slow. Have you noticed your vision is blurry yet, or that you can't go to the bathroom? If you like to play sports or hike, better give that up, cuz you will collapse with heatstroke. If you have a significant other, better warn that person that your sex life is over, because antipsychotics increase prolactin and this inhibits sexual activity. Finally, if you google Andreasen antipsychotics, find her recent study that shows antipsychotics shrink your brain over time, up to 1% a year. Antipsychotics are well known to cause premature death, due to cardiovascular harm. They are one of the nastiest classes of meds out there.
I am doing much better off meds. No meds even helped a bit, so the choice was easy for me, but psych meds are so harmful that imo, if it isn't a magic bullet for YOU, it isn't worth it, unless you have dangerous behaviors. In my case, the meds consistently caused the dangerous behavior, so there you go. NAMI and the drug company brochures gloss over all this stuff and say patients go off meds cuz they don't know they are sick or want mania back etc, but when patients are actually surveyed, they stop usually because the meds don't work or the side effects exceed the benefits.
PS did you notice the other 2 answers where they got off risperdal, it was due to side effects NOT due to denying they had a mental problem. Psychiatry rarely acknowledges that.