Risperidone - side effects; any advice?

Has anyone had experience with risperidone tablets? How long does it take to get better?

This is my fourth night of taking risperidone tablets, and my first night of upping the dose. I'm supposed to take it at bed time, but I'm too anxious to sleep right now.

The first night it made me really sleepy. The next day I woke up groggy and had a hard time keeping my eyes open for the first couple hours. Everything I touched felt like fun fur (and it was only a 1/4 mg dose). I had a controllable panic attack on the highway (I am not good in cars) and it seemed I could feel it wearing off in the late afternoon, when I got suddenly hyper and silly/happy. Except for mild sleepiness later I was pretty normal.

When I took it again at bed time that night, I didn't seem to feel very sleepy. Waking up on Sunday wasn't as hard, and I felt almost normal all day.

Last night was a different story. Does it build up in your body or something? It could have been the situation I was in at the time (something with my boyfriend), but I got panicky after taking it, paced and rocked a bit, had really sweaty hands, and a bout of vertigo sitting at my computer, but it passed after about an hour.

Today at work I had a hard time reading things, couldn't seem to focus on anything words or numbers occasionally, and was fidgety. I felt sort of numb or separate from my surroundings, like I wasn't really there for a few hours. Had to pee way more often than usual.

I told my foreman that I would rather not drive my stacker at work tomorrow just in case the double dose doesn't go well.

I'm hoping that this medication will make my head quieter, stop the music and noise, and also hopefully help me control the bad thinking that makes me pace at night. So far, aside from the "interesting" side effects, I haven't noticed a great improvement. In fact, it seems to only slow the music down. I'll get one bar stuck in my head that will repeat for an hour, impossible to make it stop.

Can anyone share their experiences with risperidone? Am I going to feel 'normal' soon?

hey there. i've been on risperidone before. in my experience... i found that it took about a week for my body to adjust to it. in that first week i felt really sedated and dissociated (i didn't quite feel real and the world didn't quite feel real and i felt like my head was stuffed with cotton wool). after about a week (on a constant dose) my body seemed to adjust, however, and i didn't feel that way anymore.

i think it does take some time for your body to adjust to taking it. you are probably wise to lay off the heavy machinery for a few days or a week until you start to feel more 'normal'.

could you stick with it for a week and see how it goes?

i was on risperidone

initially it was great. i woke up feeling full of energy and slept well at night but then i became very sedated.

it got worse so i got taken off it but initially it was fantastic. it quietened my mind and helped me focus. i would say give it a couple more days. it does build up in your system so you will notice changes over time. i can't remember what time of day i took it as it was a couple of years ago but if you were told to take it at night then i'd suggest taking it a few hours before you go to bed so the sedation wears off while you sleep.

and yes it sounds like a good idea not to be driving or operating machinery until you get used to it

I go back to my pdoc tomorrow morning. I've been taking it at night and this is the first day since I've been on it that I didn't have any trouble getting out of bed, even though my mind was full of noise last night and was pretty frustrating (ended up just sitting on my bed in the dark for a while, head in hands). I hardly noticed anything at all today, actually.

What I did noctice yesterday and the day before was that while I could feel negative emotions, I felt no will to express them physically. However, while I could smile or understand why jokes were funny, the smile on my face felt like a mask, and totally fake, as though I were just making some bizarre, meaningless face at people. Later in the day I felt "normal" (for me) again.

I'm worried that it's not doing what it's supposed to, because as soon as I'm not groggy, my mind is full of music, and sometimes disorganized thoughts. I know I'm on a really low dose right now, 1/2mg a day (some people take up to five or six), so maybe the dosage isn't high enough? I don't know, I'll have to talk to my pdoc tomorrow and see what she thinks :P

Thanks for responding

i started on 1mg and then they tried doubling it. but when the side effects kicked in we lowered it and then i stopped when i got lactating breasts. which i guess only affects women?

anyway i don't know your history so it's hard to know but it doesn't always kick in immediately. i was getting nightmares and sleep disturbances as well as agitation and overthinking so that sounds slightly different to you. if you're seeing your p-doc tmrw then i'd suggest taking the pill again tonight. i think it's early days and that the sedation and emotional numbness are quite normal. it's meant to calm you down so it tends to take out some of your reactivity

also most docs insist you take meds for at least a couple of weeks, so by taking it for another day you can give your doc more info to make decisions.

I took a small dose for a brief period of time. I stopped taking it because of my fear of weight gain and because my thigh muscles kept twitching. I got worried that the twitching would be permanent. But, I can't say how it affects other people that was just my experience. I also was on other psych meds at teh time so maybe it was the combo that was causing the problem.