Rankmann45: My small story

[Altostrata]

Generally, withdrawal risk is increased when on the dosage for a month or more. You have been taking AT LEAST 0.5mg + 0.5mg risperidone (1mg/day) since May 18, 2022. 

 

Then you fluctuated between 1.0mg + 0.5mg (1.5mg/day) and 1.0mg + 1.0mg (2mg/day) since June 7 (?) (about 2 weeks as of this date). 

 

It is unlikely that you would get withdrawal symptoms from a reduction to 1.0mg + 0.5mg, you haven't been taking 2mg/day long enough. Reduction to 0.5mg + 0.5mg risperidone (1mg/day) might have a slightly higher risk of withdrawal symptoms, but still not a great risk. 

 

Because you have been taking AT LEAST 0.5mg + 0.5mg risperidone (1mg/day) for more than a month, reduction below that level would require careful tapering to avoid withdrawal symptoms.

 

After taking SPLIT DOSES of at least 1mg risperidone for more than a month, taking one dose of 1mg per day may bring on withdrawal symptoms, as the half-life of immediate-release risperidone is very much less than 24 hours, and your system is accustomed to a more steady level of risperidone.

 

It is unlikely you experienced akathisia as a withdrawal symptom from reducing to 0.5mg + 0.5mg risperidone (1mg/day). Taking risperidone inconsistently can cause odd symptoms, but it is more likely that you experienced the sensation of akathisia from INCREASING your dosage to 1.0mg + 1.0mg (2mg/day). This is a common serious adverse effect of antipsychotics, can lead to permanent movement disorder, and indicates that dosage is TOO HIGH for you. 

 

Do you have schizophrenia? You said you had "intrusive thoughts". That alone is not schizophrenia. You cannot relapse into schizophrenia if you never had it.

 

[Rankmann45]

12 hours ago, Altostrata said:

Generally, withdrawal risk is increased when on the dosage for a month or more. You have been taking AT LEAST 0.5mg + 0.5mg risperidone (1mg/day) since May 18, 2022. 

 

I took Rispaxol for 8 days according to the psychiatrist's plan (0.5mg in the morning for 2 days > 0.5mg in the morning + 0.5mg in the afternoon for 3 days > 1mg in the morning + 0.5mg in the afternoon for 2 days > the psychatrist visit). Then I took 1.0mg in the morning + 1.0mg in the afternoon of Russian-made Risperidone for 2 days, abruptly discontinued it and had 6 days of withdrawal.

 

12 hours ago, Altostrata said:

Then you fluctuated between 1.0mg + 0.5mg (1.5mg/day) and 1.0mg + 1.0mg (2mg/day) since June 7 (?) (about 2 weeks as of this date). 

 

Since June 9, I took 0.5mg in the morning + 0.5mg in the afternoon until June 13. Then I took 1.0mg in the morning + 0.5mg in the afternoon until June 20. That proved to be too high of a dose for me, so I've been taking only 1.0mg in the morning since June 20.

 

12 hours ago, Altostrata said:

Do you have schizophrenia? You said you had "intrusive thoughts". That alone is not schizophrenia. You cannot relapse into schizophrenia if you never had it.

 

My (private) psychiatrist ruled schizophrenia out, but prescribed me this antipsychotic nonetheless. He didn't even tell me my diagnosis. Then again, I've read on Wikipedia that the withdrawal process can produce schizophrenia-like symptoms, so the "psychotic symptoms" I may have experienced yesterday could've simply been the result of me getting incredibly anxious (I'm also a cyberchondriac, so...)

[Altostrata]

There is no need for you to recount your history again.

 

16 hours ago, Rankmann45 said:

That proved to be too high of a dose for me, so I've been taking only 1.0mg in the morning since June 20.

 

As explained before, your taking only ONE DOSE OF RISPERIDONE PER DAY may have brought on withdrawal symptoms or other odd symptoms, because risperidone has a SHORT HALF-LIFE and your system was accustomed to TWO DOSES PER DAY.

 

Strongly recommend you go back to 0.5mg risperidone twice a day, preferably 12 hours apart, for a total of 1mg per day, and STOP CHANGING YOUR DRUGS FOR A WHILE.

 

16 hours ago, Rankmann45 said:

the "psychotic symptoms" I may have experienced yesterday

 

What were those symptoms?

 

With your dosing history, it is unlikely you unmasked supersensitivity psychosis by reducing to 1mg per day. More likely, the change in your drug schedule caused the usual withdrawal symptoms.

 

16 hours ago, Rankmann45 said:

I'm also a cyberchondriac, so...

 

You will need to get this tendency in hand. We're only peer support and we cannot help people who spin themselves up into panics over nothing -- which may be the root of your original problem. See 

 

The Windows and Waves Pattern of Stabilization

 

Neuro-emotions

 

Non-drug techniques to cope with emotional symptoms

 

Easing your way into meditation for a stressed-out nervous system

 

Music for self-care: calms hyperalertness, anxiety, aids relaxation and sleep

 

Ways to cope with daily anxiety

 

Dealing With Emotional Spirals 

 

Health anxiety, hypochondria, and obsession with symptoms

[Rankmann45]

4 hours ago, Altostrata said:

Strongly recommend you go back to 0.5mg risperidone twice a day, preferably 12 hours apart, for a total of 1mg per day, and STOP CHANGING YOUR DRUGS FOR A WHILE.

Thanks for the advice. I've been planning to do just that.

[Rankmann45]

11 hours ago, Altostrata said:

we cannot help people who spin themselves up into panics over nothing

 

With all due respect, I wouldn't call the large amount of stories on this site about how a lot of people were irreversibly damaged by Risperidone and other psychiatric drugs "nothing". 

[Altostrata]

Please let us know when you're ready to taper.

[Rankmann45]

My weight has drastically increased over the past two weeks, and I percieve this as an unacceptable side effect. I am officially starting to taper today.

 

I've been taking 0.5mg + 0.5mg per day since 23 June. Today, I'm going to take only 0.5mg in the morning without the afternoon dose. 

[Rankmann45]

Disregard the previous message.

[Rankmann45]

@Altostrata I have reduced my dosage to 0.25mg + 0.25 mg per day yesterday due to the unbearable side effects of the 0.5mg + 0.5mg dosage. I've been feeling intermittently restless and almost perpetually emotionless both yesterday and today. I also feel a bit dumber and sleepy. Are these withdrawal symptoms? It's really hard for me to discern at this point.

[Altostrata]

15 hours ago, Rankmann45 said:

I have reduced my dosage to 0.25mg + 0.25 mg per day yesterday due to the unbearable side effects of the 0.5mg + 0.5mg dosage.

 

You have been making random changes up and down in your drug dosage. We cannot identify withdrawal symptoms from one isolated report. You would have to stay at THE SAME dosing regimen for at least several days to see the effect of a dosage change.

 

I hope this helps you feel better.

[Rankmann45]

7 hours ago, Altostrata said:

You have been making random changes up and down in your drug dosage. We cannot identify withdrawal symptoms from one isolated report. You would have to stay at THE SAME dosing regimen for at least several days to see the effect of a dosage change.

 

I did stay on the 0.5mg + 0.5mg dosage for 6 days and I felt incredibly slowed down after taking the afternoon dose. This is what forced me to change the dosage yet again. 

[Rankmann45]

I've been taking Risperidone since 9 June 2022. How long would I need to taper before discontinuing it? I completely understand that this process depends on the individual, but I'd like some input from people who have already got through tapers & withdrawals

[Altostrata]

15 hours ago, Rankmann45 said:

I did stay on the 0.5mg + 0.5mg dosage for 6 days and I felt incredibly slowed down after taking the afternoon dose.

 

As explained before, that's what antipsychotics do and is absolutely no surprise to us here.

 

Good luck with your dosage changes. Please let us know if you want to taper.

[ChessieCat]

8 hours ago, Rankmann45 said:

I've been taking Risperidone since 9 June 2022. How long would I need to taper before discontinuing it? I completely understand that this process depends on the individual, but I'd like some input from people who have already got through tapers & withdrawals

 

@Altostrata The above post was moved from the Tips for Tapering topic.

[Altostrata]

On 6/30/2022 at 12:42 AM, Rankmann45 said:

@Altostrata I have reduced my dosage to 0.25mg + 0.25 mg per day yesterday due to the unbearable side effects of the 0.5mg + 0.5mg dosage. I've been feeling intermittently restless and almost perpetually emotionless both yesterday and today. I also feel a bit dumber and sleepy. Are these withdrawal symptoms? It's really hard for me to discern at this point.

 

Rankmann has been determining his own dosage changes. We can't advise a moving target.

[Rankmann45]

I am tapering. For real this time. And my psychiatrist is completely unavailable at the moment. What am I supposed to do?! 

[ChessieCat]

I suggest that you go back to the start of your topic and read all the posts that Alto made.

 

And look at all the links she gave you.

 

And note this comment

 

On 6/23/2022 at 9:05 AM, Altostrata said:

STOP CHANGING YOUR DRUGS FOR A WHILE

:

 

 

[Rankmann45]

If I get too sick from a dosage and it doesn't resolve within 2-3 days, I change it.

 

What timespan can be classified as "a while"? I was on the 0.5mg + 0.5mg dosage for 6 days and felt atrociously slowed down during these 6 days, so I reduced the dosage on 29 June with the belief that I'll feel better on that dosage.

[Altostrata]

How do you feel on 0.25mg + 0.25 mg?

 

I'm not sure what we can do for you, since you are changing your dose according to how you feel. That's not how it works.

[Rankmann45]

On 7/3/2022 at 12:53 AM, Altostrata said:

How do you feel on 0.25mg + 0.25 mg?

 

I feel much more better physically on 0.25mg + 0.25mg. I also have a little bit more motivation to do things whereas on the 0.5mg + 0.5mg I could barely brush my teeth. However, the huge mental slowdown along with the emotional blunting is still there. It's very distressing to me since the very first brand of Risperidone I took, Rispaxol, didn't seem to cause any side effects and was quite effective in dealing with my intrusive thoughts. It's currently unavailable.

 

The single most distressing thing to me, though, is that the medication is working in a wave-like pattern regardless of the dosage: I can feel relatively well for a day or two, only to subsequently feel like a depressed turd for the next day or two, rinse and repeat. Since the city where my (private) psychiatrist is stationed is getting aggressively shelled at the moment, we can't contact him and schedule an appointment. Hence why I'm planning to begin taking only 0.25mg per day from this day until 12 July 2022, at which point I'll completely discontinue it. I'm just incredibly exhausted of oscillating between two states of health like this and I can't deal with it anymore.

[Ariel]

@Rankmann45

I'm not a mod but would like to offer a thought. 

 

31 minutes ago, Rankmann45 said:

The single most distressing thing to me, though, is that the medication is working in a wave-like pattern regardless of the dosage

 

This sounds to me like a windows-and-waves pattern indicative of withdrawal symptoms. 

Please seriously consider the possibility that you are tapering too fast, and that the speed of your cuts is causing withdrawal symptoms.

Accelerating your taper further will only exacerbate withdrawal symptoms. 

 

Please carefully review this topic: 

 

[Ariel]

On 3/23/2011 at 2:20 AM, Healing said:

 

Fast Tapering and Waves
Alto: If you are tapering too fast and get withdrawal symptoms, they may fluctuate in a windows and waves pattern. This leads a lot of people to ignore the warning signs of going too fast. If you continue to taper, withdrawal symptoms probably will get worse. It's the nature of withdrawal symptoms to fluctuate, because the nervous system is trying to correct itself.

 

 

[Rankmann45]

 @Ariel So this is most likely withdrawal beginning to emerge? Huh. 

 

I don't know how fast should I taper, then. I've taken Risperidone only for approximately a month

[ChessieCat]

1 minute ago, Rankmann45 said:

I've taken Risperidone only for approximately a month

 

18 May 2022: Started taking a Latvian-made brand of Risperidone ("Rispaxol") for intrusive thoughts

 

It's been 7 weeks.  It can take as little as 1 month for the brain to fully adapt to getting a drug.

 

On 7/3/2022 at 7:53 AM, Altostrata said:

I'm not sure what we can do for you, since you are changing your dose according to how you feel. That's not how it works.

 

[Ariel]

On 10/10/2021 at 6:37 AM, Altostrata said:

For psychiatric drugs other than benzodiazepines, the general rule is if you've taken the drug a month or longer, you'll need to taper. Unfortunately, people can become physiologically dependent on benzos a lot sooner, so they require even more care in tapering.

 

Rate of taper is always a negotiation with your own nervous system, it's not a rule that allows exceptions. We have seen most people can handle a 10% per month exponential reduction with minimal withdrawal symptoms.

 

You might be able to go faster or slower, there's no way to predict that in advance. If your nervous system sends up signals of withdrawal symptoms, you're going too fast. It is dangerous to ignore these communications from your nervous system even if you want badly to be off the drug.

 

If you are getting withdrawal symptoms upon a dosage reduction, it doesn't matter how long you've taken the drug. Your nervous system has become accommodated and you need to set up a tapering schedule that doesn't cause withdrawal symptoms.

 

 

[Rankmann45]

14 minutes ago, ChessieCat said:

18 May 2022: Started taking a Latvian-made brand of Risperidone ("Rispaxol") for intrusive thoughts

 

Wait, that counts too? I genuinely thought that the only drug regimen that should count now is the one I've begun on 9 June 2022

[Rankmann45]

23 minutes ago, Ariel said:

If you are getting withdrawal symptoms upon a dosage reduction, it doesn't matter how long you've taken the drug. Your nervous system has become accommodated and you need to set up a tapering schedule that doesn't cause withdrawal symptoms.

 

Would continuing on the 0.25mg + 0.25mg dosage for some time be a good decision, then? Or should I reinstate the 0.5mg + 0.5mg dosage? The former is not as unbearable as the latter for me, at least 

 

I'm just very, very confused at the moment. My psychiatrist is currently unavailable and will be unavailable in the immediate future, so I don't really have an idea what to do and how to set up a good tapering schedule for myself.

[ChessieCat]

23 minutes ago, Rankmann45 said:

 

Wait, that counts too? I genuinely thought that the only drug regimen that should count now is the one I've begun on 9 June 2022

 

Rispaxol (Риспаксол) is a tradename that contains a main active ingredient in its composition: Risperidone

 

Risperidone, sold under the brand name Risperdal

 

From what I can find on the internet they are the same thing, ie they both contain risperidone, but they are made by different manufacturers.

 

You need to decide on a dose and stick to taking it until you stabilise.  Only you can make the decision about what dose to take BUT if you decide to go up in dose then it would be best to keep taking it, instead of changing it every time you feel different.

 

Please note that the effect on the nervous system of continually changing your dose is cumulative, it adds up.  There may come a time when you change your dose and your nervous system cannot cope with the change and you may feel a lot worse that what you do now.

[ChessieCat]

3 hours ago, ChessieCat said:

From what I can find on the internet they are the same thing, ie they both contain risperidone, but they are made by different manufacturers.

 

The drugs are both risperidone.  The drug name is shown at the top of the webpage:

 

https://pillintrip.com/medicine/rispaxol

 

https://pillintrip.com/medicine/risset

 

Edited July 6, 2022 by ChessieCat

[Rankmann45]

How long can stabilization take? I'm genuinely at my limit here. 

[Altostrata]

In what way are you at your limit?

[Ariel]

@Rankmann45

How are you doing?

Thinking of you <3

[Ariel]

Thinking of you @Rankmann45

How are you feeling?