onki: Trying to withdraw Risperdal after 9 years of intake. Does anyone have experience with this?

[onki]

Hi folks!

 

I am taking Risperdal since summer 2005, which was when I had an episode of paranoid schizophrenia.

For a short time, I was prescribed 5mg of Risperdal and subsequently, I was prescribed 4mg and 200mg of Zoloft (Sertraline).

I had problems reducing the Risperdal for a long time, since the Zoloft triggered sleeping problems, confusion and an agitated state. Years went by until I noticed that I should first withdraw the Zoloft and succeeded in doing so in 2013.

 

Now I want to withdraw the Risperdal which I am currently taking 2.5mg daily.

But from the information that I got so far, such as this forum thread and the blog http://beyondmeds.com, I believe it will take years and the withdrawal symptoms will maybe turn me into a disabled person.

Right now (2014), I am 28 years old and studying computer science which I will hopefully finish soon. In my life I am functioning the more or less within the limits the medication imposes on me, such as that I am less connected to my emotions and less creative and intelligent as I once was.

 

I would like to know if anyone has succeeded in withdrawing or reducing Risperdal after a long time, 7 years or more of taking it?

 

Edit:

I also want to share some of my own experience.

At least I could reduce the Risperdal from 4mg to 3.5mg to 2.5mg which was not easy.

 

Most of this happened in 2013 and 2014, after I got rid of the Zoloft.

My method was to decrease the dosage in very small steps. I bought a cheap milligram-scale from Amazon for that.

I also tried to dilute liquid risperdal but I found that with my ration from 1:100, the diluted Risperdal gets destroyed by bacteria as the anti-bacterial additions get diluted, too.

There were some ups and downs but eventually, I reached 2.625mg in the beginning of 2014 and 2.5mg in April 2014.

Still, I had terrible withdrawal symptoms. I had mood swings, could not sleep, had problems with my blood sugar levels, felt intense fear, sometimes a bit of paranoia came back, I was leery, hopeless, etc.

I even was on a lower level than I am now, but I had to go back a bit. I could not stand the fears.

Right now I am glad, that I do not have much psychotic or withdrawal symptoms although I am at the reduced level of 2.5mg.

And I want to go further with the reduction. I fear the many side effects of antipsychotics such as digestal problems, cardiovascular problems, tardive dyskinesia, etc.

I hope that one day I will be medication free. But it is also a possibility that I will never reach that point.

I will see.

[mammaP]

Hi Onki, you certainly can get off the risperdal by tapering slowly.  I'm glad that the symptoms seem to have

settled after you increased the dose slightly.  Here at SA we recommend no more than a 10% reduction every

4-6 weeks, based on the current dose. It can take a very long time but is the best way to avoid those nasty

withdrawal symptoms.  I think it would be good for you to hold at your current dose for several weeks to allow

your nervous system to stabilise before making another cut.

Here is the topic for tapering risperdal .

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/1716-tips-for-tapering-off-risperdal-risperidone/?hl=risperdal

 

How long did it take to taper the zoloft?  

 

You have done a lot of research and found the very best place on the net for support during your taper.   

Edited May 11, 2014 by mammaP
Added link

[onki]

Hi mammaP,

Thanks for your encouragement!

 

I also think I should wait some weeks before decreasing the dose again. I had some turbulences that should settle first.

 

For the Zoloft I just looked into an old spreadsheet of mine where I kept track of the dosage.

Somewhere at the very beginning of 2013 it must have been 50mg.

The spreadsheet itself starts in february 2013. I took 25mg in the morning and 12.5 in the evening until 2/10/2013.

Then I went to only 25mg in the morning on 2/11/2013.

I then tried to go lower by another 12.5mg but that did not work.

On 4/14/2013, I went to 22mg.

Then it might be that some values are missing. Next entry is 5/28/2013 with 14.6mg.

7/9/2013: 12.36mg (the fractional values are because I cut the pills and calculated the agent amount by weighing the pills in mg and following the rule of three).

7/21/2013: 10.23mg

7/28/2013: 8.68mg

8/4/2013: 8.16mg

8/13/2013: 7.89mg

8/16/2013: 7.11mg

8/22/2013: 6.84mg

8/27/2013: 6.58mg

10/2/2013: 5.79mg

10/4/2013: 4.21mg

10/9/2013: 3.55mg

then I stopped keeping track of the values until 10/30/2013 where I was at 0mg. This was probably just because of lazyness.

 

So, I can say it took me 10-11 months to taper off the 50mg.

The time during and after that, I felt quite bad and hopeless and worried that I might have tardive dysphoria. But in the last months, I had some few days where I felt good, so it seems the dysphoria lightens after a long time. Also, as I still take the Risperidal, this makes me feel bad, too.

 

I wish you the best for your taper.

From my experience, psychotherapy by a Carl Rogers-influenced therapist helped me a lot in decisions and gaining resources. Fortunately, the german health system bears the cost of a limited amount of therapy. Otherwise, I sure would not have gotten so far and still be the medicine soggy weirdo that I was when being on 4mg Risperdal and 200mg of Zoloft.

[Jemima]

Hello, Onki-

 

I'm sorry to hear of your bad experiences with Risperdal.  The atypical antipsychotics seem to do more harm than good from what I read on this forum.

 

I believe you'll be able to get off this drug and lead a normal life in time, so don't give up hope.  The withdrawal and stabilization process just takes a lot longer than any of us would like.

 

Here's a member Intro topic written by a father whose son was put on Abilify, an atypical antipsychotic.  The son is gradually weaning off and doing lots better:

 

http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/topic/3931-edted-son-tapering-abilify/

 

I hope that helps.  There's another post by Edted with a letter from his son that's encouraging, but I'll be switched if I can find it.

 

Welcome to the forum, Onki.  You'll find lots of solid information and friendly support here.