I take risperdal and find that it is very effective in managing my symptoms. I take 2mg at nite, in addition to 500mg of depakote and 20 mg of buspar daily. I am finding now that I will probably need to up my dosages as stress and day light savings time are negatively affecting my moods. Risperdal does work great for me as a maintenance med. I gained 15lbs, experience mild sedation in the morning, and have had a slight increase in appetite. Overall it works for me

My Mother has Alzheimer’s. She just started risperidone (.5mg)this week. She has had 4 strokes and resides in a wheelchair. One website stated Do Not Take this drug if you have dementia or are prone to strokes. Has anyone had any experience with risperidone and an Alzheimer’s patient?

Hi there, I have been on Risperidone since Aug 07 and have had really no issues. Just this past week it was increased to 1mg at bedtime and .5mg in the morning. Now I am starting to see why people gain weight on it since my increase. I see a difference in my mania but honestly the stopping of caffiene has done wonders. Just an FYI if anyone’s interested.

My 16 yr old daughter was on 1,000 mg of depakote ER per day, 5 mg Risperdal, 75 mg Trazodone. She was hospitalized less than a month ago with suicidal ideation. The psychiatrist reduced her Risperdal to 2 mg per day over a period of 1 week, then 2 weeks later down to 1 mg per day. 1 week ago she had suicidal ideation and was again hospitalized. The psychiatrist increased her Risperdal to 4mg per day over the course of 1 week. The hospital is wanting to discharge her today and the psychiatrist is again reducing her Risperdal today.

I don’t see how putting her on this rollercoaster of Risperdal dosages is going to possibly help her. Obviously, Risperdal, like Xyprexa and Geodon before it has stopped working for her. I am very frustrated and fear that if she is discharged today without being stable, she will have thoughts of suicide again and may choose a more injurious method and could possible commit suicide. I am at a loss about what to do to get this hospital and psychiatrist to understand that releasing her after playing with her medications like this is not safe and not in her best interest.

Your thoughts?

I am bipolar and have been on Lamictal and it has worked great for me. My son is 6 years old and has bad anger issues. I fear he is bipolar as well. His doctor has him on Risperdal 1mg in the morning and 1mg at night and the stuff doesnt seem to be working. He has been on it a year and the results are very minimal. We have adjusted the doseage and still no change. I heard if a parent is Bipolar that your child has an 80% chance of being so as well…I really think he is and can’t take his medication not working anymore. He is just too hard to handle. I heard Triliptal could work from a friend…Should I suggest this to my son’s psychitrist?

I am manic depressive and was started on Risperdal when I was first diagnosed. 1.5mg however, gave me pretty bad tremors, and the Artane which was supposed to counter the tremors made my vision blurry. I was still going manic so my pdoc switched me to Seroquel, which was extremely sedating but worked without much problems. I find Risperdal much cheaper a drug though, and it worked well at first before my mania got out of hand. Too bad about the side effects though.

Hi,
I am curious about what may be a side effect, as I have mentioned it to my psychiatrist. I have “tremendously irregular breathing.” I find myself all of a sudden “over breathing.” I am curious if Risperidone has had any influence on this. Could it be related to tardive diskenisia? I am also taking Lamotragine.
Thanks,
Nate

Please I need your advice and help

i am bipolar ii and have borderline personality disorder. i am on celexa 20mg in AM, lamictal 200mg in AM and 150mg in PM and risperdal 2mg in PM. risperdal is my miracle drug. it caused clear and better / more rational thinking within 5 days. the downside is that i’ve always been overweight and since being on/off risperdal since 2000, i have gained more. tried geodon, abilify and seroquel — none worked so i went back to risperdal. since being on risperdal, i have developed metabolic syndrome (diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, high tryglycerides and am on meds for each problem). being overweight (apple-shaped too) already didn’t help, but being on risperdal pushed me right over into having these additional health issues in my 30′s. i was on 2.5mg while hypomanic. i’m on 2mg now. my psychiatrist tried to decrease it to 1.5mg and i did terribly with raging, mood swings, depression and my friends said my logic and reasoning was “off”. am going to the gym and trying to eat better (hard because i have binge eating disorder) and have lost 15 lbs so far this year (2010). it’s hard — have to weigh the pros and the cons. risperdal works for me, so i’m trying my best to manage the dangerous side effects.

I’m caring for my 88 year old mother who just lost her husband of 62 years last month. Her coping mechinism for unexpressed grief was to go into a state of mind where she repeats sentences over and over for hours while in a daze. Risperdal (.25 mg 2X daily) has brought her back to reality, but she has severe tiredness as a side effect. She wants to sleep constantly which makes her quality of life unacceptable. I’m hoping her geriatric psych evaluation results in finding a medication to offset the tiredness.