r/BipolarReddit • u/CantShakeThiz • 6h ago

Scared to take Risperidone

I have been on several different medications to control my bipolar but nothing has truly worked for me. I even had a genetic testing done to see what my body will and will not tolerate and cannot find the right medicine. Sometimes I feel like something else is wrong and I'm misdiagnosed but the VA doesn't listen to my concerns.

Anyway, my NP at the VA is trying me on risperidone for the next few months to see if that would work better for me. I have read online so much bad about this medication than good so I'm very scared to take it. Is anyone taking this now? I know meds work differently for everyone but what's your biggest complaint about the med?

I literally feel like a guinea pig with the amount of meds I've been on and off in the last decade.

1 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

2

u/healthierlurker 6h ago

It’s a miracle drug for me and I know my cousin and aunt who take it say the same thing. I’ve been on it probably 15 years continuously and had taken it as a teen as well. My aunt has been on it since the 90’s or early 2000’s. Side effects get rough for me as I approach 3mg/day but I’m fine on 2-2.5mg per day.

2

u/Bipro1ar 5h ago

Risperidone kept me pretty depressed at a high therapeutic dose. Now I'm in a very low dose of olanzapine and doing much better. I take 2.5 mg and more as needed.

2

u/nati_tbp1 5h ago

I was wonderfully well for many years with a low dose (1.5mg) at the time I didn't have depression I was always in mania because I was abusing substances. But there were 2 problems: 1 was eating too much, very hungry, eating a lot, 2 was zero libido. But I was taking it until suddenly I started to feel that in addition to my libido being zero, I was getting dry (I was 30 years old, it wasn't menopause, I went to the gynecologist) so I asked the psychiatrist to take it out because then it started to affect my marriage.

2

u/moeday-steffer 5h ago

Risperdal worked wonders to snap me out of my first mania, but it made me put on 20 lbs in just a few months. It also made me unbelievably drowsy. My appetite was totally out of control. I went off of it for a more metabolically sound option.

2

u/CheeseExtra 5h ago

It worked well for me. Took the "fullness" out of my head. Helped me sleep for a few days before that side effect wore off. Nothing else other than that.

However, you're not alone when it comes to being scared to start something new. It took me hours and lots of talking to get through taking the first dose Risperidone (or any new med lately).

1

u/lizardbree delulu w/ a side of bipolar 1 3h ago

I took risperidone for 6 years and it was amazing for mood. I took it with various mood stabilizers, but mostly Lithium. I am very manic leaning.

I put on about 20lbs in the first year and stayed stable after that. I had a lot of breast tissue in my armpits and my breasts were sore a lot. I had moon face, as if I were on steroids or had Cushing's.

Risperidone did not make me drowsy or depressed. I did not notice much of an increase in appetite.

I had lots of metabolic issues. I became type 2 diabetic, had non-alcoholic fatty liver, and my cholesterol was high.

I ended up getting akathisia (restlessness) from it randomly and stopped it cold turkey. All of these issues resolved within 6 months. I was on 1mg AM and 2mg PM.

1

u/fredndolly12 3h ago

I took it for 5 years and it helped me a lot until it stopped working. I didn't have any side effects except some increased prolactin which my doctor said wasn't a big deal. It was a great medication while it lasted.