Posted by elspeth on May 2, 2001, at 13:43:40
In reply to Re: reducing the dosage of risperidone » elspeth, posted by judy1 on May 1, 2001, at 17:47:32
Thankyou for reply to my query..I've never used a message board like this before!and don't know if I've typed in the right space to reply...so we'll see! Your comments about not mistaking withdrawal for re-emergence of the illness were really helpful..Its so hard to know what has been going on and my daughter doesn't have a consultant at the moment..and doesn't want one . She has been a bit hyper and uptight since she reduced the drugs and I didn't know that could just be withdrawal. I think she probably has cut down too drastically..but will just we'll see how things go now. There seem to be so many conflicting opinions. The psychosis happened when she was on a very high dose of prozac while she was being sick...and so when she quite suddenly stopped being sick due to a change in her social life, there was a much higher concentration in her body.
Its been a really hard time and I'm glad to find this site.It would have been really helpful 3 years
ago.T > My shrink and I share the same views- the risk of using a neuroleptic long term (even the atypicals like risperdal) is not justified in someone who has had one or even several brief psychotic episodes. That being said, I have stopped low doses of risperdal w/o tapering, but I am rarely on it for more than a few weeks. In your daughter's case, she may experience some withdrawal effects- anxiety, insomnia, agitation, etc. So I would find a sympathetic dr. and get a tapering schedule if she has any withdrawal symptoms that are uncomfortable. As for the tegretol- that made me so ill I was happy to go off, if I rememeber correctly I experienced more 'psych' effects, paranoia and agitation. Abruptly stopping can cause seizures. Again I recommend a shrink to monitor. Remember that withdrawal is not the same as re-emergence of the disorder and everyone should be on the same page with that. I really like the 10%/week taper- you tend to avoid discomfort that way. Just curious (having been bulimic myself in the past), did the emergence of psychosis come when the prozac was stopped? I wish your daughter well- judy
poster:elspeth
thread:61273
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010424/msgs/61415.html