Risperidone Question
 

My partner has been put on Risperidone since last Wednesday.. Is it normal for her to be so dopey, drowsy and not with it?

She is on it because the doctors think she is suffering from Schizophrenia.

From my experience risperidone is a pretty sedating drug...dizziness, drowsiness and tiredness are common side effects. When I first took it (only 1mg!) it knocked me out for 12 hours...I never continued with risperidone (I was switched to aripiprazole because I couldn't tolerate risperidone), but then everyone reacts differently...please talk to her doctor if the side effects do not wear off after 4-6 weeks, and please remember never stop taking the medication without medical advice.

Again, I'm no expert here, but I was on placement in a community mental health unit, and Risperidone is a really common medication we used to prescribe to people with schizophrenia. If she's not been on it for too long, she's likely still experiencing the side effects, which unfortunately do include drowsiness and confusion at times. From my experience, all of those who did suffer side effects, found they lessened with time, but if she's still finding the side effects are quite prominent after 4-5 weeks ish, the GP may decide to switch her to something else, as LaurieR said :)

I understand she's only been on it since last week? If so, then the side effects will be more pronounced. They should reduce over the next couple of weeks.

Yeah, risperdone made me very drowsy when i first took it. Even 1/2mg knocked me out for a bit. But yeah, the side effects should ease off after a few weeks as said by control freak.

When I first took Risperidone the first few days were awful. After that I was fine. I'm on a high dose now with no sedation. If the effects don't lessen soon, I'd ask for a lower dose and try that before you change onto something else.

Well she is on 4mg and she is pretending to take it in hospital, she is being given it and putting it under her tongue and pretending to take it just so she doesn't get drowsy. She was on 2mg initially, but they increased it because her Schizophrenia got worst. So she is on 4mg now. But I will now encourage her to take it and remind her it will actually get better after a few weeks.

I never and dont really get tired on resipirdone, but then i went from olanzapiene to respiridone and olanzapine is a more sedating drug i think. i did lactate a bit but that went away in a few weeks so just try and tell her it will get better
x

When my best friend was on it she was so sleepy and didhave bad side effects for the first few weeks and then it wore off.