People on anti-psychotics.

[fluffydressinggown]

I hope this will attract people taking them :)

I just wondered what people take and what side effects they have. There seems to be a lot of dicussion about anti-depressants but not so much about anti-psychotics.

I am titrating up to 4mg of risperdone, currently on 1.5mg a day, I take it for psychotic symptoms ( I hear / see / believe things). I am finding it ok so far, when I first went on it I went up to 4mg too quickly and was crippled by tiredness but going up slowly seems to be keeping that at bay.

Does anyone else struggle with taking them? I find it very hard to believe that some of the things I believe need to be medicated out of me :( I take them because the alternative (hospitalisation and forced to take them) is shitty. When people talk about a chemical imbalance with me I find it hard to believe that that is true.

Anyway. Would be interested to chat to people on them.

Hi fluffy. This is a big question for my pdoc--I remember being told that if you move away from a medication and then try to go back, it's often not as effective. So my concern is that I jump from quetiapine and then not be able to go back if it doesn't work out. Eugh. I am going to have a list of questions as long as my arm.

If you don't mind me grilling you: how have you found the Risperidone, generally? Has there been fogginess or sedation?

When I first started on it I was put on 2mg for two days and then went up to 4mg and honestly it was horrendous, I felt like a zombie, I was restless, I could barely keep my eyes open. I was taking it as a split dose as well, so 2mg in the morning and 2mg at night. I just felt so drugged up.

So after a discussion with my CPN I stopped taking 4mg and started at 0.5mg and have been working my way up to 4mg, I am currently on 2.5mg a day. I take it at night and it does help me sleep, which for me is a bonus because without medication I don't sleep very well. During the day I don't feel sedated at all. I am restless and I had stiff muscles but I started on procyclidine which has helped with that. I am on fluxoetine as well which makes me restless so I think that has made the restlessness worse.

Other than that I do feel much much better mentally. Things are clearer and I am calmer and less anxious. When I started on it I was hearing things and getting messages from the radio and TV and that has stopped now. I still get unusual thoughts but hopefully by the time I get to 4mg they might have stopped.

Sorry this is so long!!

No, thank you for taking the time to write that! The fact you've mentioned muscle stiffness is worrying as that's the reason why I'm thinking about switching! I did some research today and it seems that muscle stiffness and pain is more commonly reported with Risperidone than quetiapine!

I'm worried about the whole mental fogginess. I can't afford that with work. I experienced it on quetiapine. It settled down, certainly, but I can't spend the time adjusting to that all over again. Hope it keeps working for you, fluffy.

I have a very difficult relationship with medication. I think this has a combination of reasons; I'm very anti drugs in all respects (inc. alcohol), I was forced to take medication during my time under CAMHS, I feel as though my side effects are belittled by family members rather than listened to, & more. I sympathise greatly with the feelings you have when the 'chemical imbalance' point is brought up. I appreciate I do have a chemical imbalance but being told it needs medication to correct it doesn't cut it for me. At the moment I am not taking medication and have not been threatened with inpatient status.

I took risperidone when I was a child and had awful side effects including a large weight gain (went from a very petite 6-8 to a size 12) and breast milk. As a 15 year old struggling with the usual teenage angst along with a mental health illness it was devastating. So upsetting that I secretly went cold turkey and stopped taking all of my meds. My psychiatrist looked stunned when I told her I was no longer taking any meds and hadn't experienced a withdrawal despite fairly high dosages.

Of course it is important to look to your mental health team for advice but I truly believe no one should take medication unless they themselves want to. Forcing medication is not conducive to good MH. Treatment without medication IS a viable option.

Olanzapine made me very sleepy and I gained about 10kg in one month - I really didn't care though - totally spaced out.

Risperidone made me super manic. I was speeding off my tits - loved it. Psycho team whipped me off it toot sweet haha.

Can't remember the third one, but it levelled me out.

dontrunwithscissors I can understand why you don't want to go through the whole brain fog phase again. I would really recommend going up in 0.5mg increments, doing it this way I have not had any brain fuzz.

The cramps were only in my calves and when I was walking, it felt like my muscles were all tensed up. When I was in bed or sitting down it was fine and the procyclidine has really helped with that.

Eugh. Terrible pain today. It feels like I've done a triathlon three times over. Aching in muscles I didn't know I had

I've been on quetiapine for a week, and so far I'm loving it. I've gained more weight than I'd like, but given the difficulties I've had over the past 6 months, that really seems like the least of my problems.

I'm drowsy, but I don't have that aching, complete fatigue I had when on various other drugs. What I used to find was that when I got tired, the only thoughts able to break through were the really bad ones. On this, it's just beautifully quiet in my head. It's such a blessed relief. I mean literally; i was weeping with relief earlier in the week.

I'm only on a low dose at the moment, but so far so good.

I hope that the pain eases up soon, Scissors.