Risperidone side effects and guidance to stop

Mental health
1

Hi all,

Please, I do need your help. Back in October 2015, my paranoia started that I am watched. It did build up until Marck 2016 where I was admitted to hospital. I refused medication at the time, which was Risperidone and for some reason I thought the medication was placebo one, so I have not taken it seriously and was taking and stopping it for about two weeks switching between 2 and 4 mg. Not long after, in April, it hit me back with a severe feeling of disinterest in life, wanting life to stop, thinking of suicide, harmful thoughts, Waking up at night with extreme heart beets and harmful thoughts, very emotional and the list is endless. I went to A & E then and was admitted to hospital. This time, I started to take Risperidone 2 mg and here are the symptoms I get since I started it: disinterest in life, find everything difficult, severe mood swings (mood usually better at evenings), loss of appetite, loss of interest in people and always wanting to be in bed and smoke. What I want to know please are some answers to these questions:1- I have taken Risperidone for 4 months, can I stop it suddenly or does it have to be gradual?2- Is what I am going through has happened to others here and passed the stage?3- Does paranoia classed as Schizophrenia and can the medication cause it if I don't have it in the first place? Please do help as I am in agony. 

2

I don't know much about your medication but I'm guessing it's simaler to mine is suffer from severe depression & anxiety doctors recently told me to stay on medication for atleast 4 years cos I keep having spells my medication takes effect I feel fine then I stop taking them and boom I'm in that hole again so my advice if the medication is helping with your illness just keep taking them it's nothing to be ashamed of.

I'm not sure I've helped in anyway but I thought I'd try

3

Sorry you're suffering so much. I found this out for you as don't have personal experience:

If you stop taking the antipsychotic suddenly, the balance starts to change again and your brain can take a while to adapt to this change. You could get your old symptoms back. You could get some symptoms from the change which are called withdrawal symptoms although these are mild and rare with risperidone.

Paranoia alone is not necessarily schizophrenia, but paranoia can definitely fit into its criteria and there can be a diagnosis of Paranoid schizophrenia.

Hope this helps and I wish you all the best x

4

risperdone is the medication for paranoid schizophrenia. you may have been on it for too long and need to change to something else so maybe a medical review to discuss your symptoms and a change of meds is in order.