Haloperidol PRN
 

Apologies if this has been asked previously.

Does anyone have experince of use haloperidol PRN for severe anxiety and how long does it take to have an effect?

25 views and no response!

I've never had it for anxiety,I've only ever had it in hospital as prn in injection form,it was pretty fast acting and sedating from whatvim remember. It did calm me down,which i guess is a little related to anxiety.x

I've not had it but as above we use it in hospitals for PRN for very agitated patients. It is very quick acting and effective.

Thanks for the above posters for your comments

Same, Ive had it in hospital but i tablet form. I have had injections but I dont think it was Haloperidol?

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In answer to your question I've found haloperidol to be very fast acting. When feeling agitated it calmed me down, more so than diazepam which wasn't working at the time.

Thanks Rhuben, I wasn't aware of the fact the counter is linked to external search engines and anonymous readers.

I had it in injection form when I was very distressed and agitated and it worked very quickly. It also knocked me out for almost 24 hours but not sure what kind of dose they gave me.

I had it and found it worked okay if I had additional PRN with it but on it's own, I struggled with it.

I was given this in hospital. I found that it calmed me down outwardly, but inside my mind and body were still doing flip flops.

I had this and it pretty much knocked me out physically. I had it with 2mg lorazepam and had to lie on my bed for hours. My mind was still going like mad but my body was dead!!

I used to take 10mg of this prn, for some reason it didn't knock me out physically as other people have said, it did help my voices though. I tried it as a regular med but couldn't stand the side effects

Antipsychotics are generally third-line for anxiety due to their side-effects. For PRN benzodiazepines are generally used, depending on how often they are taken. However I have a friend with depression and anxiety who used to take PRN 5mg Olanzapine for severe anxiety. If your anxiety is really severe then I think it is justified to use antipsychotics. I was given Haloperidol as injected form (rapid tranquilisation) when I was severely psychotic and agitated, and I've been on 20mg/day Haloperidol for a year for treating my psychosis. It did reduce my anxiety but I felt rather stiff and drowsy on it. However it was very effective and if it wasn't a first-generation antipsychotic with high propensity for extrapyramidal side-effects and tardive dyskinesia, I would go back on it.

Best to discuss going on it with your psychiatrist as there are other medications out there that can be used for PRN but might have less risk.