Posted by floatingbridge on August 24, 2011, at 11:54:51
In reply to Re: Risperdone question: typical treatment duration, posted by Christ_empowered on August 24, 2011, at 10:38:08
> You gotta watch it...and your doc, too. Since antipsychotics can tranquilize people quickly and they're not controlled substances, lots of docs up the dose and leave patients on them longer than necessary.
>
> Since you're female and have a mood disorder, your TD risk is higher than, say, a male schizophrenic. Also, age plays into TD risk; middle-aged or older=higher risk, especially in women.
CE, thanks for this information. This is good food for thought as a take a long view in my treatment. It has been helping (the risperdone) at night. However, it is not a real sleep med. I might see if I can muscle through some amitriptyline and see how that goes. When I go to a pdoc, though, I am never sure what I'll be instructed....The risperdone seems to have put an abrupt end to some recent negative thinking. That doesn't mean it necessarily needs to be taken for a long time for me. I am prone to getting worked up intermittently. This could reallly be the toolbox med I have been looking for for quite awhile.
You are sounding good....
>
> There's also a problem because sufficiently high doses of neuroleptics will cause an increase in dopamine receptors. Pull the plug on extended treatment too quickly and you end up with a rebound psychosis, sometimes even in people who weren't psychotic to begin with.
>
> I'd personally advise you to keep your dose as low as possible, watch out for EPS, take your antioxidants (TD and other forms of neuroleptic-induced brain damage are partly caused by increased free radical formation in the brain), and taper ASAP.
I dig a pony.
poster:floatingbridge
thread:994647
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110822/msgs/994746.html