Risperidone for anxiety

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My psychiatrist wants to put me on 0.25mg / day Risperidone to help me with panic attacks and agitation.
After a bad experience of SSRIs, I'm scared about the effects of risperidone.

Is anyone else taking it? What are your experiences with it?

i am on resperidone. it LETS me sleep. (i wanted to type that it helps me sleep but i cannot sleep without it)

Bad experience with SSRIs?

I was thinking of trying these.

Risperdal may very well help lessen your agitation. I think it's unlikely that it would lessen your panic attacks/anxiety, but since everybody's neurochemistry is different, anything's possible.

being hungry, which can cause weight gain, is a frequent side effect. you will be on a tiny dose, though, so side effects should be less. also, its a very expensive drug.

OMG, your Shrink is an IDIOT for even suggesting Risperdal. I hate how this is being prescribed willy-nilly to autistic people, it's a drug for psychotic disorders like Schizophrenia. A fellow Aspie who takes it is tired all the time because of it.

I'm on it. The only "bad" thing I experienced with it was weight gain, but that was easy to control.

I found that it deadens my motivation, but it is really good for anxiety, so I do not mind.

It's approved for "irritability" in autistic people--It is (according to their web site) "indicated for the treatment of irritability associated with autistic disorder in children and adolescents aged 5-16 years, including symptoms of aggression towards others, deliberate self-injuriousness, temper tantrums, and quickly changing moods...." but "....is not used to treat the core symptoms of autism."

Because it's the only drug approved specifically for autism, lots of psychiatrists love to prescribe it. I agree that it is over-prescribed. Antipsychotics like this one can be used as a tranquilizer, and may be part of the solution for some people; but they absolutely should not take the place of more environment-based and cognitive/behavioral approaches to managing meltdowns.

This is their web site:
http://www.risperdal.com/faqs_autisticdisorder.html

It might help with uncontrolled meltdowns... or it might just make you tired. There are serious side effects associated with it, as with all antipsychotics. It does help some autistic people, but when my psychiatrist recommended it for me, I absolutely refused. I've been on antipsychotics before, and they made me so tired I couldn't think and couldn't access a lot of my more high-level skills. Oh, sure, I was calmer; but most people are calmer when they're half-asleep. In the long run, it made anxiety worse because I was less able to do the fulfilling things that usually make my day brighter--learning things, participating in special interests, interacting with friends. It lowered my functioning level in general.

I can't say categorically that this won't help you. But I personally am very reluctant to resort to Risperdal, at least until other, less extreme methods have been tried.

Get your doctor to explain to you why s/he thinks this is the best choice, and why less chemically invasive methods are not useful. There are other treatments for anxiety, ranging from therapy to antidepressants. You could learn meditation, or obtain a psychiatric service animal or emotional support animal. You want to consider all the options, and your doctor has the responsibility to answer your questions and help you consider them. Sometimes one treatment really is the best option, but not always; and even then, the doctor needs to be prepared to explain exactly why it's the best option and what other options are available. If s/he doesn't do that, then it's time to find a new doctor. A doctor is an expert on medicine, but you're the expert on yourself.

Some years ago I was on, I think, 0.5mg at night for sleep, but like someone else mentioned it destroyed my motivation. Getting out of bed in the morning became an ordeal and getting work & college tasks accomplished, so I stopped it. If I had been less busy at the time I might've given it more of a chance.

Jeez. Those things are already an ordeal for me and I haven't had an antipsychotic of any sort in about eight years. What really irritates me is that I'm pretty sure I was better at the whole motivation thing before they over-medicated me for about six months; but there's no way of telling whether the medication is to blame, because I also had my worst depressive episode right before that. Depression saps your motivation like nobody's business, and if you're depressed long enough and repetitively enough, it can re-wire your brain. This is why you have to nip it in the bud when you start getting depression, instead of trying to pretend everything's okay and stupidly soldiering on for months. Like I did. Multiple times. Stupid me.

Well, whatever the case, I've got the brain I've got and I have to work with it. Can't very well cry over spilled milk, or frazzled neurons.

I'm on 2mg, although it's probably safe to say my motivation issues are my own, and not the result of medication.

Been on it for a few weeks now, same dose as your prescription. It really has worked wonders for me. I can do things like apply for jobs, plan for the future, fill out paperwork, all without anxiety. It's great.

I've not seen much in the way of side effects. I take it before bed, so the drowsiness doesn't get me. I haven't noticed an increase in appetite, but I'm also on ADHD meds, which lower appetite.

For full disclosure, I was prescribed it because I do get the occasional hallucination. But, it also does great things for my anxiety.

At such a low dose,go ahead and try it. If it doesn't work out for you, you can stop taking it.

Also, shop around when you're filling your script. I found it selling for everything from $12 to $180. Wall greens had the best price here in Seattle.

Edit: I meant to mention I also have had bad reactions to ssri meds. Up to and including one suicide attempt. The risperdal doesn't have that problem for me. I also doesn't have that emotional hazy feeling. I have my normal emotions. They aren't truncated like the ssri did. Mostly, it feels like a haze has cleared in my head.

Good way to tell if you have Schizophrenia or not if you take it.

(I.e., if the anxiety ain't the only thing that lessens/goes.)

Shrink says I don't have schizo, just moderate psychosis.

I've been on 8mg Risperidone for psychosis and I got some mild tiredness and put on a bit of weight. I was 15 at the time, before I got diagnosed with AS. Tbh it didn't help much.

Note: I take antipsychotics for schizophrenia, I have no pharmacololgical treatment directed specifically at my autism. I am on 15mg Olanzapine and 300mg Amisulpride yet I still have meltdowns, shutdowns and anxiety problems.