Risperidone- mood stabiliser? Anxiety?
 

I've not been feeling too good recently. My mood swings have been more pronounced, and the lows are getting longer and deeper. When I'm depressed I'm also very agitated and irritable- I feel like screaming and ripping at my skin because I can't bear to exist. It all feels too much. I don't feel settled and the agitation is also internal.

My question is could risperidone help with these symptoms? I will of course ask my psychiatrist, I see her on tuesday. She knows me well and she listens to suggestions I make. I've been prescribed risperidone before by her, but honestly I cannot remember why. I've never experienced psychosis, so I think she prescribed it for similar agitation and urges to self harm. I can't remember if it helped or not.

It's not its primary use but I've known risperidone be prescribed for anxiety and agitation and it worked wonders, so it is a possibility. It's worth exploring with your psychiatrist for sure.

I know of some children with autism who are prescribed it, for symptoms of agitation. So it may well be indicated for what you're describing. Good luck with seeing your psychiatrist.

It made me more anxious and so tired my parents thought I was taking illegal drugs coz I was such a zombie.
But the anxiety was the worst on rispiridone. I had so many panic attacks.

Risperidone also increased my anxiety quite considerably, and made me awfully tired so I didn't feel I could shake it off. I've heard it work wonders for some though, so don't be put off.

Thanks for your opinions.

I tried olanzapine before and that made me a zombie. I think I functioned better on risperidone. I will see what she says on Tuesday!

Thanks Oly. I think I was on 5mg olanzapine but could not tolerate it.

Risperidone was mentioned for me to manage the bipolar cycles. It's meant to be a good mood stabiliser like olanzapine. It's meant to be quite good and managing the cycles and bring you to a more manageable mood.

I have psychosis including voices and paranoia but also rather bad anxiety and it completely knocks it on the head. You can take it throughout the day (I only take 2-3mg though I used to be on 6mg throughout the day), is not too sedating though can help with sleep, it also stops me disassociating, and having intrusive, obsessive or negative thoughts so I actually have more energy on it and have much better concentration. I found it started working within 3-5 days, and now will take within 2 hours to come to good effect. It also helped me with hyperfocusing and sensory problems with Aspergers. At the 6mg dose I had restlessness and agitation but at the small amount I don't really notice I'm taking it other then maybe a bit of weight gain. Overall it's saved me.

Thanks for your input dragon smoke!

I saw my psychiatrist and she didn't want to make any changes to my medication at this time. It's because we don't know if my symptoms are due to a worsening of my mental health, or the contraceptive pill I was on (and stopped to see if it was making me worse). So I need to wait a month to see if I feel better or not.