[Cosmo25]

Finally went and saw a pdoc today. I felt very overwhelmed by how he was more like a business person than a doctor. He prescribed me a few medications and I was wondering if any of you have taken them or heard anything about the following meds:
Risperdal
Ativan
Rameron

i'll probably call him tomorrow if he is there and tell him my concerns because after reading the patient prescription info that I got with the meds i'm having second thoughts. Any advice from this community would be much appreciated.

I'm on rispersal every 3 days or so. On other meds as well. I need them if I don't take them I don't function well. I like my pdoc ok although I have experimented on what works on me and what doesn't. I haven't always had the best of luck with all pdocs though.

I hope I helped some it's ok to be on a med cocktail imo at least. I'm bipolar btw.

[roseblossom]

Meds can be a controversial issue. Knowing what I know now, I wish I'd never got on to psych meds and had instead pushed for more therapeutic help and taken better care of my health generally by accepting that I was vulnerable and couldn't do so much.

I haven't heard of Ativan,
But I have been on both Risperdal and Remeron.

In my experience, I liked the Remeron for sleep. But that was it. I was put on it to help my anxiety from PTSD, but it didn't do anything for my symptoms except make me sleep better. And it didn't really even do that, it mostly just knocked me out and if I woke up again in the middle of the night, it made me fall right back to sleep in seconds. I also gained a lot of weight with that one.

I'm still on Risperdal and I like it a lot more than the other antipsychotic I have tried. It works well for my symptoms and I don't have as many side effects. However, it did increase my cholesterol at a high dose.

But meds effect everyone differently.
Those were just some of my experiences on those meds, though.

I hope they help you!

[Cosmo25]

thx everyone for your input. I'm worried I will gain weight or have a bad reaction. I all ready sleep allot without medication and never took meds before. I took lexapro for a month and that was it. He told me to stop taking the lexapro because its not working and to take these 3 meds instead.

[Sometimes psychotic]

Originally Posted by Cosmo25

thx everyone for your input. I'm worried I will gain weight or have a bad reaction. I all ready sleep allot without medication and never took meds before. I took lexapro for a month and that was it. He told me to stop taking the lexapro because its not working and to take these 3 meds instead.

It is possible to gain weight from risperidone I gained ten pounds it wasn't major though. I also stopped having a period and got really constipated...so I quit that one and went on abilify...usually you have to try a couple of APs before abilify since it expensive.

Ativan....for anxiety and also sleep...haven't taken it

Never heard of the third one.

[newtus]

risperdal made me lactate a lot.
i am female.

[roseblossom]

Originally Posted by Cosmo25

thx everyone for your input. I'm worried I will gain weight or have a bad reaction. I all ready sleep allot without medication and never took meds before. I took lexapro for a month and that was it. He told me to stop taking the lexapro because its not working and to take these 3 meds instead.

I just wondered whether you have a therapist of any kind or have considered any other kind of help? I don't know what your symptoms are and am obviously not a doctor, but if you have a mental health vulnerability there is information out there now about different supplements really helping (particularly omegas and niacin come to mind) - although it might take a couple of weeks for them to build up enough before you feel better - and also different psychological therapies might help to get you the extra support you need. Just a thought.

I'm on risperidone (risperdal) which boosts my antidepressant to help with OCD (Anxiety disorder) and stops voices. I'm on 2mg and notice it doesn't make me sleepy at all.

My mom is on ativan to help her sleep. It also helps with anxiety, called a benzodiazapine. The four main benzos in order of strength I think are;

Alprazolam (xanax)
Diazepam (Vallium)
Lorazepam (Ativan)
Clonazepam (Klonopin) (Which I'm on to help sleep sometimes and for anxiety).

[Cosmo25]

Originally Posted by newtus

risperdal made me lactate a lot.
i am female.

Yeah that is a side effect I read about so i'm also concerned about that.

[Cosmo25]

Originally Posted by roseblossom

I just wondered whether you have a therapist of any kind or have considered any other kind of help? I don't know what your symptoms are and am obviously not a doctor, but if you have a mental health vulnerability there is information out there now about different supplements really helping (particularly omegas and niacin come to mind) - although it might take a couple of weeks for them to build up enough before you feel better - and also different psychological therapies might help to get you the extra support you need. Just a thought.

thx. I'm seeing a psychologist also on the side who I think is awesome. I went to college for nutrition. I also heard good things about Niacin and omega 3 to help with your mood so i'm trying to incorporate it in my diet or through supplementation. Yeah my whole life I always wanted to do things naturally, but with my symptoms i'm kinda desperate right now for all the help that I can get.

[roseblossom]

Sorry to hear that your symptoms have been so problematic. Sometimes, even though there are side-effects with medication, it ends up being the option a person has to take in order to be able to cope with day to day life.

One last thought comes to mind, and that is to ask whether your work or home-life is stressful and whether there are any adjustments that you can make there to ease things for yourself -perhaps shortening your hours, changing the type of work, or changing your living arrangements?

When I was very stressed or dealing with symptoms in the past I found the following helpful - gentle massage, listening to classical music either with headphones on or just lying on the sofa, journaling (and especially at times just scribbling when tense), doodling or painting or modelling with clay (not worrying too much about making a 'picture' or perfect model, but instead just focussing on the process, meeting a friend for a coffee (the distraction was a help), and lastly having a 'teddy'. Also, when symptoms happened, sometimes I would ask myself what I was feeling to connect with emotions (rather than be stuck in thoughts) and identifying the emotion or emotions and talking to myself about it or writing about it was often very cathartic and would often lead to me doing something which would help me de-stress. If dealing with emotions feels too much, simply asking yourself what you would like to do might be a help. Sometimes I realise though that all it feels possible to do is take to one's bed at times.

I posted this link on another thread for a holistic psychiatrist's website which might be of help or interest - http://holisticpsychiatrist.com/

Hoping that things improve for you soon. Take care.

[Laina M.]

I've taken Remeron and Lorazepam (Ativan). Lorazepam is a benzo, so it can be addictive and afaik typically isn't prescribed on a long-term or regular basis? Most people I know who've taken it (myself included) had it prescribed as a PRN (take as needed). Keep in mind it can be extremely disabling. It gave me massive memory loss (about 10 hrs or so after taking it that never comes back) and also made me very loopy to the point where I needed assistance to really do much of anything.

Remeron I had to stop taking within a week because it gave me intense, painful and never-satisfied cravings for sugars, fats, and salt. It was hell. It's also used as an appetite stimulant, so if you have an ED (like I do) be very careful with and don't be scared to tell your pdoc if it's giving you the same effect it gave me.

[Cosmo25]

Originally Posted by Laina M.

I've taken Remeron and Lorazepam (Ativan). Lorazepam is a benzo, so it can be addictive and afaik typically isn't prescribed on a long-term or regular basis? Most people I know who've taken it (myself included) had it prescribed as a PRN (take as needed). Keep in mind it can be extremely disabling. It gave me massive memory loss (about 10 hrs or so after taking it that never comes back) and also made me very loopy to the point where I needed assistance to really do much of anything.

Remeron I had to stop taking within a week because it gave me intense, painful and never-satisfied cravings for sugars, fats, and salt. It was hell. It's also used as an appetite stimulant, so if you have an ED (like I do) be very careful with and don't be scared to tell your pdoc if it's giving you the same effect it gave me.

thx. I took them all last night. I haven't really noticed any side effects yet. I was very loopy this morning, but it went away as the day went on.

[butterfly star]

I took or take all of these
Risperdal- an anit psychotic that is pretty much a new version of Haldol- I like it
Ativan- a benzo but not a strong one if you have real anxiety- I like klonopin it helps me so much
Rameron- and anit depressant that makes some feel stoned, it made my legs feel numb and my blood pressure went so low i had to get off it

I also like lithium and do advocate for it as a med. I hope this helps