13 replies to this topic

[risperdaldude]

i took risperdal for 3 weeks, stopped cold turkey and had a horrendous withdrawal, worst experience of my life. 5 months later, my libido is completely destroyed, my energy is out of the window, my muscles are extremely weak. can anyone help me? who has gone thru the same thing?

[PeaceAndProsperity]

How was the withdrawal? I was told not to cold turkey or I'd risk dying. I had to taper down over months.

[Mind_Paralysis]

Stopping Risperdal cold turkey was not a good choice.

 

Could you explain a bit why you felt the need to stop it CT?

 

And what were you taking it for? Schizophrenia? Bipolar? Irritability?

 

My only suggestion going forward is to try the new atypical - Brexpiprazole (Rexulti). It is nearly free from extra-pyramidal effects, so it has far fewer side-effects than any antipsychotic to date - in fact, the chemical properties are so different, that it's considered to be an all-new class of drugs!

 

SDAM - serotonin-dopamine activity modulator.

 

It has, unlike every other antipsychotic, actually been cleared by the FDA as treatment of Major Depression - that alone should tell you that it's different.

 

It was also intended as a medication for the treatment of ADHD, but alas, it failed the phase 2 trials.

 

The intention of the drug is to create a successor to Abilify - Aripiprazol - but with fewer side-effects and a stronger anti-psychotic effect.

It's a rather peculiar drug in that sense, that even though it has greater antipsychotic efficacy, it's actually, in some ways, more activating than Aripiprazol.

[PeaceAndProsperity]

Stopping Risperdal cold turkey was not a good choice.

 

Could you explain a bit why you felt the need to stop it CT?

 

And what were you taking it for? Schizophrenia? Bipolar? Irritability?

 

My only suggestion going forward is to try the new atypical - Brexpiprazole (Rexulti). It is nearly free from extra-pyramidal effects, so it has far fewer side-effects than any antipsychotic to date - in fact, the chemical properties are so different, that it's considered to be an all-new class of drugs!

 

SDAM - serotonin-dopamine activity modulator.

 

It has, unlike every other antipsychotic, actually been cleared by the FDA as treatment of Major Depression - that alone should tell you that it's different.

 

It was also intended as a medication for the treatment of ADHD, but alas, it failed the phase 2 trials.

 

The intention of the drug is to create a successor to Abilify - Aripiprazol - but with fewer side-effects and a stronger anti-psychotic effect.

It's a rather peculiar drug in that sense, that even though it has greater antipsychotic efficacy, it's actually, in some ways, more activating than Aripiprazol.

Well, I didn't need it. Risperidone is one of those, "Are you feeling anxious, irritable, experiencing any potentially possibly delusions or hallucinations, flat affect, unmotivated, tired and so on and so forth? Then take one of these." One size fits all, it's all dopamine! If you show signs of low dopamine, you get a dopamine blocker. Signs of high dopamine and you also get the same dopamine blocker, it doesn't matter.

 

I had so terrible anxiety that I was shaking in my bed, afraid that I might kill someone - not a desire, obviously. I've never experienced so intense, extreme anxiety ever before in my entire life. This was caused by the drug.

My heart would either beat extremely fast and take long to relax or beat extremely slowly and take long to get back to normal, if just I moved my body a tiny part. I couldn't stay alone, I was like a scared 5 year old again. Someone needed to be by me at all times.

[risperdaldude]

Stopping Risperdal cold turkey was not a good choice.

 

Could you explain a bit why you felt the need to stop it CT?

 

And what were you taking it for? Schizophrenia? Bipolar? Irritability?

 

My only suggestion going forward is to try the new atypical - Brexpiprazole (Rexulti). It is nearly free from extra-pyramidal effects, so it has far fewer side-effects than any antipsychotic to date - in fact, the chemical properties are so different, that it's considered to be an all-new class of drugs!

 

SDAM - serotonin-dopamine activity modulator.

 

It has, unlike every other antipsychotic, actually been cleared by the FDA as treatment of Major Depression - that alone should tell you that it's different.

 

It was also intended as a medication for the treatment of ADHD, but alas, it failed the phase 2 trials.

 

The intention of the drug is to create a successor to Abilify - Aripiprazol - but with fewer side-effects and a stronger anti-psychotic effect.

It's a rather peculiar drug in that sense, that even though it has greater antipsychotic efficacy, it's actually, in some ways, more activating than Aripiprazol.

i was taking it for a schizophrenic episode that came out of nowhere. i felt i needed to stop it cold turkey because it was making me feel horrible, so i stopped completely not knowing how even worse the withdrawal would be, i still pushed through it. could that have had a permanent effect on me? i'm so scared of this being permanent. correction: it's been 7 months

Edited by risperdaldude, 02 August 2016 - 06:30 PM.

[risperdaldude]

How was the withdrawal? I was told not to cold turkey or I'd risk dying. I had to taper down over months.

to be honest it was by far the worst experience of my life, i felt horrible and it lasted for almost 2 weeks.

[Mind_Paralysis]

I can't find any info on this phenomenon - and the little there is, indicates that it's a temporary state.

 

I'm a bit too burnt out to dig deeper at the moment, regarding antipsychotic discontinuation syndrome - it doesn't even appear to be an actual, accepted phenomenon within medicine - unlike SSRI discontinuation syndrome, which is.

 

Sorry mate, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe your symptoms are related to your Schizo-disease instead? Rather than discontinuation syndrome.

 

Could be you have some other commorbid disease - perhaps something hormonal. Have you done testing? Hormones, vitamins, minerals.

[risperdaldude]

i can't see how schizophrenia would make my libido get destroyed and ruin my energy. my prolactin is 41 almost triple the highest range (4-15). i can't see how it's a coincidence that my libido and energy got killed at the same time i took risperdal, plus i had a horrible reaction to risperdal.

[PeaceAndProsperity]

Sorry mate, but I'm starting to wonder if maybe your symptoms are related to your Schizo-disease instead? Rather than discontinuation syndrome.

In case this is meant for me, which it probably isn't, those symptoms (non-withdrawal related) of extreme anxiety and heart dysfunction are clearly induced by Risperidone's mechanisms of action. Anxiety is a well-known but almost always rejected by psychiatrists, side-effect of Risperidone.

[Mind_Paralysis]

tl;dr: Abilify lowers prolactin, and is being used to treat your problem.

 

 

i can't see how schizophrenia would make my libido get destroyed and ruin my energy. my prolactin is 41 almost triple the highest range (4-15). i can't see how it's a coincidence that my libido and energy got killed at the same time i took risperdal, plus i had a horrible reaction to risperdal.

 

HMM! You're right.

 

Those prolactin-levels are certainly a clue that something isn't right. I did a second take on this, and I think I'm starting to find some info here.

 

This review discusses the problem in some depth:

 

 

Schizophrenia and Sexuality: A review

http://schizophrenia.../4/767.full.pdf

 

It does mention how the disease may be causing an extra sensitivity to hormonal disturbances:

 

Lower levels of total gonadotropins and testosterone have been reported in unmedicated male schizophrenia patients relative to controls (Gil-Adetal. 1981; Van Cauter et al. 1991).

 

 

It includes a listing of the various atypical antipsychotics and how much they affect prolactin:

 

Risperidone - Of all the SGAs, risperidone has the highest propensity to elevate plasma prolactin levels (Kleinberg et al. 1999).

Mean prolactin levels at doses of 3mg are about 27 ng/mL, significantly higher than those of olanzapine or clozapine (Turrone et al. 2002).

 

The incidence of sexual dysfunction at doses of less than 6 mg/day was not significantly different than placebo (Kleinberg et al. 1999)

 

 

Which dose were you on?

If you were on more than 6 mg, then you've got a clear indicator there. It also says that the incidence of sexual dysfunction was under-estimated in the pivotal trials.

 

It actually mentions treatment-options as well! = D
 

"Cabergoline  was  also  found  effective without  a  worsening  of  psychosis  in  a  few  case  report s (Tolli n  2000 ;  Cohen  and  Biederman  2001) .  A  comparative study  in  hyperprolactinemic  patients  (Sabuncu  et  al . 2001 ) found  that  cabergoline  led  to  a  greater  reduction  of  prolactin  levels  than  bromocriptine  while  also  being  better tolerated  (cabergoline  had a 12 %  rate of side effects  versus 53 % for bromocriptine).Doses used are generally 1 mg / week."

 

Cabergoline.

 

An interesting compound - used by bodybuilders to control gynecomastia. There's one big problem though... it's a D2-agonist.

Now, it says it's not too prone to induce psychosis, but I can see how that might still be a problem, depending on dosage - so your Doctor may not be too keen on prescribing it.

Then there's of course the fact that at certain dosages, D2-agonists will turn you into a gambling trans-homosexual - if that is not already your orientation, I can see that being another problem...

 

https://en.wikipedia...iki/Cabergoline

 

Reading up more about Ergot-derivatives and Cabergoline I realize that it may be very, very unfitting for a schizophrenic - the compounds are derived from various "magic mushrooms".

 

There is the possibility of using the Japanese herb Shakuyaku-Kanzo-To as well though - it's been reported to help with prolactinemia.

 

The study above mentions the simple solution of Testosterone-replacement therapy (for women, I'm guessing other, more complex replacement-therapy), so there's always that to fall back on.

 

 

BUT HOLD!

I just found this post, apparently ARIPIPRAZOL lowers prolactin! : D

 

http://www.psychforu...opic144452.html

 

Which lead me to this study which goes into depth regarding this effect of Aripiprazol:

 

Dose-dependent effects of adjunctive treatment with aripiprazole on hyperprolactinemia induced by risperidone in female patients with schizophrenia.

http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/20814333
You don't even need a high dose! "The effect occurs even when a low dosage (3 mg/d) of aripiprazole was used and achieves a plateau at dosages beyond 6 mg/d".

 

 

So... I guess the first thing to try is clear - get some Abilify and you might just be crackin' again in a few weeks! : )

 

 

 

In case this is meant for me, which it probably isn't, those symptoms (non-withdrawal related) of extreme anxiety and heart dysfunction are clearly induced by Risperidone's mechanisms of action. Anxiety is a well-known but almost always rejected by psychiatrists, side-effect of Risperidone.

 

 

 

Ah no, I meant Risperdaldude. Sorry to hear that you had such a bad reaction to Risperidone, mate.
 

Edited by Stinkorninjor, 03 August 2016 - 03:20 PM.

[risperdaldude]

stinkorninjor, thanks for the info. i was on 3mg daily for 3 weeks with two 7mg injections. unfortunately the doctors don't want to give me any meds to reduce the prolactin :(. if i were to take another anti psych, i would refuse all except for abilify since it's shown to lower prolactin apparently.  

 

i'm interested in shakuyaku-kanzo-to though...i've heard many herbs suggested to me such as mucuna pruriens, vitex, and vitamins like P5P, but never shakuyaku. i'm gonna do some research on that.

 

thanks so much.

[Mind_Paralysis]

No problemo. = ) You totes' deserved a real second opinion!

 

Ask for Abilify - it will help with a lot of your health-problems.

[Bobbi Petrov]

See contraindications

[spira_dream]

How are you now? I personally, am 4 monthes out of Invega. (and doing decent.)