Posted by mojojar on June 6, 2004, at 16:35:46
In reply to Re: Long term effects of antipsychotics, posted by Daniel Woodfield on June 6, 2004, at 12:42:45
Hi,
I stopped taking the Risperdal on my drs. advice as my 'thinking' stabilized meaning no more thinking things were 'out to get me', no more odd smells, and a whole host of other oddities. I believe it was the risperdal that helped those things and the dr decreased the dose little by litte until I no longer took it. Antipsychotics are typically for those w/ schizophrenia but my diagnoses was schizoaffective and I had fairly early intervention (which is supposed to improve the prognosis). I have had no trouble for the past 3 years w/ those things but I do feel kind of 'dead' on the inside.
The hardest thing about Risperdal for me was the first 2 weeks. I had all the bad side effects but they soon disappeared. In the meantime, they gave me some type of Parkinson medicine to help w/ the side effects. I think it was Cogentin? which helped but also gave me blurry vision until I quit it. I felt no further side effects from Risperdal after a month or so except for a low heat tolerance during summers.
On the SSRI's, I unfortunately swallowed the company line of them being nearly harmless. Something I regret in retrospect especially when or if I try to go without (especially Paxil).
On the dopamine front, I have read that it is intricately involved in the reward/pleasure mechanism of the brain, which in my case is apparently as tired as I am.
ty
poster:mojojar
thread:354281
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040602/msgs/354334.html