Posted by jdawg on October 7, 2004, at 12:53:21
In reply to Re: rapid cycling » jdawg, posted by Ritch on October 6, 2004, at 23:45:30
I'm taking Risperdal for depression. According to my pdoctor it improves the efficacy of the anti-depressants. It's probably because Risperdal is a "dirty" drug, (unlike typical anti-psychotics) affecting serotonergic and noradrenergic systems in addition to dopamine.
In any case, has anyone had experience in combining Risperdal w. anti-depressants for this purpose?
> I would first consider swapping out (or cross-tapering) the Risperdal for Lithium to get some prophylactic antipsychotic effects. I'm assuming you're taking risperidone to *prevent* psychotic features of your hypomanias/depressions, rather than treating *active* positive psychotic symptoms. While lithium is generally regarded as not very effective for rapid cycling, I have heard reports that atypical AP's like Risperdal can aggravate or fail to help cyclicity. But you might be taking the Risperdal to offset some mild psychosis-*inducing* properties of Wellbutrin and also possibly Effexor (at higher doses)-- if that is the case maybe you can just reduce both Effexor and Wellbutrin and see if you can get *off* Risperdal (forget the lithium)??
poster:jdawg
thread:399302
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041007/msgs/399977.html