Akim6: Cold Turkey Risperidone

[Akim6]

Hey Guys. First,I want to say that I hope yhat everyone is making progress with their symptoms and words don't describe how appreciative I am for this forum.

 

My story begins not to long ago in early May. I graduated college last year with a degree in political science. People always described me as "really intelligent but not all the way there," whatever that means. I'm an entp and I was always coming up with new ideas and I could have an intellectual conversation with just about anyone.

 

A year after I graduated I began having extreme anxiety and intrusive thoughts. I was also selling/ experimenting with drugs at this time and I took a full gram of molly in a suicide attempt. Long story short, I ended up being given a shot of haloperidol and ativan in the ER. I was put in a mental institution, given seroquel once (dose unknown) then given a high dose of resperidone follwed by 1 mg of resperidone to stay on. Left the facility in 5 days. Was off risperidone for two days, then took it 3 more times I took risperidone a total of 7 times. I began to notice that I was much more sluggish, not my usual ADHD self and my sex drive diminished by the day

 

 I sat down to study for the GRE and work on a great idea I had come up with for a historical fiction movie and realized I could no longer perform either task so so I decided to quit risperidone cold turkey. It's been a week since I stopped and I have no motivation or libido, I'm not nearly as intelligent, no emotions, creativity, or imagination, plus insomnia.

 

I began feeling better just yesterday, it was exactly one week since I had taken it last and I feel like the hardest part is over (I actually get a buzz from cigarettes now and I'm not as lethargic) but I'm still very much in a state of withdrawal. Any tips that you all could give me would be really helpful. I used to wish I was "normal" and had a different mind now all I want is my old mind and emotions back. Thanks

Edited August 1, 2016 by scallywag
paragraph breaks added previously, tags added

[AliG]

Hi Akim. Welcome.  It sounds like you have had a fairly short history, with the drugs.  You've been off for a week but I think you will be fine after your CNS settles.

You are perhaps sensitive to the drugs. If you could put your drug & withdrawal history in your signature, it would be helpful.

Please put your withdrawal history in your signature.

 

After we know more of your history we can offer advice.

Ali

[Altostrata]

Welcome, Akim.

 

Most likely, your symptoms will continue to fade. Your nervous system has had a big upset, you should treat it gently for a good while and let it recover. This means no drug adventures, no drinking, and low stress.

 

See our Symptoms and Self-care forum  http://survivingantidepressants.org/index.php?/forum/8-symptoms-and-self-care/for suggestions about how to cope with symptoms.

 

Please let us know how you're doing.

 

Given you now have this record, if I were you, I'd stay far away from street drugs and stay out of the hospital, or the next time, they'll give you a depot injection that will last a month and force you to see a psychiatrist regularly.

[Akim6]

Thanks for that advice. I plan on staying far away from that hospital and drugs in general. Keeping down stress will be difficult for me nbc I'm currently in a new city around family that doesn't really understand what I've been going through for the past week.

[Altostrata]

You need to keep calm and figure it out. Learning meditative breathing would help you a lot.

[Akim6]

Is there any chance that my thinking and memory will improve? That's what I miss the most. It nearly comes back to me when I smoke cigarettes for some reason. Does any one else experience this?

[risperdalhater]

how are you now?

[Akim6]

how are you now?

I'm a shot ton better dude. Still not 100% yet but to put it in perspective, I started off at a very low level of he'll, which imagine you may be in, and now I'm in purgatory. Believe in yourself, you can and will get better. Just don't give up!

[Akim6]

Sorry for the typos, my auto-correct is horrible. @risperdalhater I took the equivalent of six full 1mg doses of that poison. After quiting, I felt like I was in the bottom of hell and it has taken me two and a half months to reach purgatory. Time is the only thing that will heal you. All you can do is be patient; recovery will come bro.

[scallywag]

Akim, glad to hear that things have improved for you even if you're not where you want to be ... YET!

[Akim6]

Akim, glad to hear that things have improved for you even if you're not where you want to be ... YET!

Well thanks Scallywag but...what's crazy is that the day after I wrote this, yesterday to be precise, I experienced a new symptom- complete memory loss. I was forgetting everything as I spoke until eventually, I couldn't speak at all. I'm doing a little better todyay.I decided to get some high quality magnesium and fish oil/vitamin d suppliments by nordic naturals. Those are helping me immensely I believe( I think I should have taken them back when I was normal,they definitely would I helped my mood and concentration and I probably would not be in this predicament- oh well.) I no longer have the constant paranoia and anxiety anymore, which is great, but now there's a new monster to battle. Wish me luck guys!

[Akim6]

Hello everyone, I only took risperidone at a very low dose for about a week but 4 months later, I'm worse off than I was at the beginning. I was getting slightly better each day for about two and a half months, then I experience what felt like this sudden memory loss.

 

I continued to work and function and felt as if my memory was improving but at the threemonth mark I began to experience what feels like rapid cognitive decline. Along with this came physical symptoms like fatigue, headache, occasional facial twitches, and loss of appetite. Each day I lose more of my intelligence. I've lost maturity, wisdom, knowledge, and everything else I've worked hard for throughout my whole entire life.

 

I'm 23 years old and it's difficult seeing my friends movibg on with their lives, finding careers, getting married, while I'm at jobless and living with my grandmother. The funny thing is that prior to taking the meds I was about to start working my way into politics and was extremely ambitious.

 

Now I don't even have an innate sense of self preservation anymore. I don't feel a slight bit of fear over anything and this is dangeruos way to live bc it makes me vulnerable. I was always a good communicator now I can't speak to people without saying um or thinking long and hard before saying a single sentence.I think I could have an underlying health issue that's making me worse and preventing me from recovering but last time I went to the doctor I got some tests done with no bad results and the doc told me that I was just depressed. I go again tmrw and I think I'm going go get the same response, or he's going to think I'm nuts.

 

I haven't worked in a month and bc my family doesn't understand what I tell them about my experiences, I'll have to get a job soon. I can't work in this state and the only solution I can think of is possibly taking a medication that could increase dopamine and give me a little more cognitive function. Has anyone had an experience like this? My post may be laced with typos btw as I'm using a small phone. I apologize about that in advance.

Edited September 26, 2016 by scallywag
merged topics, added white space

[scallywag]

I'm sorry to read that you are still dealing with symptoms 4 months after a 1-week exposure to Risperdal (risperidone). Unfortunately you are not alone in this. There are other people posting here on the site that have similar stories.

 

I've moved your post from a new topic you started to your Introduction thread so that all your information stays in one place.

 

Two suggestions:

1. You may way want to follow this topic so that you get notifications when someone posts in your thread.  Click the gray "Follow this topic" button. A dialog box appears:  select one of the notify options, then click follow this topic in the dialog box.
    
2. Setting this web page as a bookmark or favorite in your browser will help you navigate back to it.

[Akim6]

Thanks. The doctor prescribed me effexor. I read up on the drug and it seems to be one of the worse to withdraw or even taper from due to its short half life so I've decided to stay away from it...

[scallywag]

Excellent decision to stay away from Effexor. Adding drug #2 to deal with symptoms caused by drug #1 is where these situations can start to go haywire.

[phoenix7]

Hey Akim i think part of your problem, may be the mix of APs you received.If the shot of haldol was long-lasting then you received haldol+seroquel+risperdal at once.In any case changing antipsychotics quickly is never a good thing, the drug stays in your system more days after the last dose, so when you take a new one, it's like you combine two (in your case three) drug substances on your brain.

[Akim6]

Hey Akim i think part of your problem, may be the mix of APs you received.If the shot of haldol was long-lasting then you received haldol+seroquel+risperdal at once.In any case changing antipsychotics quickly is never a good thing, the drug stays in your system more days after the last dose, so when you take a new one, it's like you combine two (in your case three) drug substances on your brain.

I hope so. What I'm going through right now is rapidly progressing cognitive decline. Every few hours I lose more cognition and awareness. Its declining so quickly and so badly that I see myself getting dementia within a month at the most and eventually becoming a vegetable within 3 months. The doc just thinks it's deoression so I know I won't get the medical tests I need until my cognitive impairment gets bad enough to where other people notice. I hate to see myself wither away into nothing like this while simultaneously being under pressure to get a job and work. I'm living in hell. Right now I hope what I'm experiencing is from the meds and that it will all turn around soon. After I quit, things got better slowly for about 2 1/2 months and then just flipped on me. I sincerely hope that things go much better for you!!! By G-d, I hope no other human being ever experiences this after me.

[phoenix7]

Relax akim dont get desperate, this is probably another wave of your discontinuation.Some people experience withdrawal symptoms more than others and as i told you again, the mixture of APs probably made it worse for your brain to adjust.There is no way you are getting worse after you left your brain at ease, you are HEALING.Give it more time and try (although i understand it's difficult) to think that this is part of your recovery process.Mindset is everything.Your memory and cognitive skills will get better sooner or later.

 

Hang in there..

[Zharul]

hey akim did u get betteR? still feel weak?