Risperidone for Schizophrenia User Reviews (Page 4)

• Sch...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• February 16, 2018

"I started with four mg of Risperdal, it went up to 7 mg per day. With those seven pills, I don't feel like me anymore. None of the ideas or thoughts are there when I take them, but I also lack motivation. I'm just alive, but not living. It's been reduced over the past 2 years, now I take 3 mg of Risperdal with 2 antidepressants. I tried several antidepressants with them, but I still lack interest in life. I know it's not the same for everyone, but in my experience, for those with depression and or have tried to kill themselves, at least it will keep those thoughts as that, just thoughts."

• The...
• August 8, 2016

"This was the first AAP I was on. It worked really quickly (within a month). But it had serious side effects, worst of all being significant weight gain. I gained about 12 kg on it. It also made me sleep a lot more. If it weren't for the weight gain, it's a great AAP."

• Qui...
• June 11, 2019

"I have been on 4 mg of risperidone for about 10 years and have felt stable and normal for a long time. I also use alprazolam or Xanax for my anxiety disorder, which keeps my mood and thoughts happy and very social. Nothing else has worked. I've tried Zoloft, which was terrible for me. Now I am trying Abilify, I will tell you how it goes with that, but I always fall back to risperidone!"

• Siw...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 16, 2020

"I was on Risperidone/Risperdal for a little over a month, and it made me very lethargic, made my eyes roll, increased my appetite, and I gained a LOT of weight (close to 15 kg). It did make my auditory hallucinations go away and made me indifferent to the voices in my head, but it was not the best fit for me."

• Joa...
• July 28, 2021

"I was not psychotic when I was put on this medication. I had been hospitalized because an abusive person living in the same house as I was didn't want to admit what they had done to me. I was maybe mildly paranoid but only because I was actually enduring some strange kind of abuse that had my senses heightened. The people who embarrassingly held the title of doctor at this hospital were incredibly rude about my abuse claims and refused to let me out of the hospital until I took this medication. I did not have audible hallucinations whatsoever until after taking this medication, and in the months since starting it the voices have completely ruined my life. Before taking it, I was at a point where I might have been able to recover and improve my life, but now I'm devastated and can't get the voices to stop unless I can manage to distract myself from them. The voices are cruel and have lied a lot, but have also caused me to do things that got me in trouble and have driven me to self-harm."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• January 3, 2020

"A while back, I was prescribed risperidone 1 mg for psychosis and was forced on it. I developed extrapyramidal symptoms, Parkinsonism, from it. I saw a neurologist, he prescribed amantadine, which is helping. I was misdiagnosed anyway."

• Sco...
• April 15, 2022

"Before taking risperidone, I was taking olanzapine and Clopixol, which never did much for my mental health, and I gained so much weight. I was having delusions, could not control my behavior, and had paranoid thoughts all the time. Since I have been taking this medicine, 2 mg a day, I have been feeling like a new person. It's literally amazing, life is now feeling great. I still have an episode now and then, but it's a lot more rare and not as intense. I am able to handle it better, in a way, it has saved my life. No side effects, no weight gain."

• Fee...
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• April 29, 2022

"I’m on risperidone, and I don’t have emotions, and also I don’t have good night's sleep. My brain, sometimes I think, will stop working, and I feel foggy thoughts and tired. I feel like I can’t do much with my day as I feel brain dead. Horrible feeling."

• Ska...
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• June 18, 2019

"I am on this medication now for about 8 months. First, I experienced some bad side effects, like difficulty swallowing and some other side effects. Now, it's good. Not a major difference in my life, but stable."

• Ano...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• December 29, 2020

"I was first prescribed Risperidone to treat me hearing things and seeing things. I have been on and off of it for years. I try to take it, but feel it causes more side effects than any good. It made me gain weight, but the wrong kind of weight. I can't really tell after all these years if it really helped or not."

• AJW...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 15, 2023

"Risperidone works really great for controlling my schizophrenia. I have to take 4 mg twice a day. However, and this is big, I immediately gained 38 lbs, and my blood pressure went from normal to 168/98, and my testosterone bottomed out at 169. Now I take telmisartan for blood pressure and use patches for testosterone. I wouldn't take this if it were entirely up to me. My psychiatrist doesn't want to change my meds because of how well the risperidone controls my symptoms and the high dose I'm having to take since he doesn't feel that any other meds will work as well."

• ins...
• March 26, 2017

"So I took risperidone to help with my psychosis when I was 14. It worked wonders with helping me with my hallucinations. I did have a bad experience with one of the side effects. I am female, and my breast increased in size and started making and producing breast milk. I had to stop the medication because of it, and it was the only medication that I found that helped. I was only on the medication for 10 days, but it worked amazingly."

• Mon...
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• April 20, 2023

"I gained 28 kg on Risperidone and needed to switch medication and start a raw food diet to lose weight. Other side effects included extreme lethargy and high prolactin, amongst others. I am now on Paliperidone (a derivative of Risperidone) and have gained weight on an increased dose. Risperidone was worse for me than a low dose of Paliperidone."

• Ivy...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 11, 2021

"I took this for a short while in early 2017 when I was 15 for bipolar, schizophrenia, and irritability. They gave it to me at school, and I felt awful! It made me insanely sleepy, first of all. I would randomly fall asleep at the weirdest times, and even when I was walking, which was freaking dangerous. I gained 38 lbs, and my akathisia was so terrible on this that I would hyperventilate, scream, speak gibberish, couldn’t sit still, and my mind would race. They gave me Ativan to calm me down. I stopped cold turkey. 1/10"

• Nan...
• May 2, 2016

"2 mg very effective for psychotic symptoms - delusions and intrusive thoughts. Gained 40 pounds in 3 months. Came off, however, going back on. Hoping Metformin will reduce the weight gain. Would recommend."

• Cre...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• September 20, 2021

"My conditions are schizophrenia, chronic depression, autism, anxiety, BPD, HPD, Tourette’s. This medication made me extremely sick, and I could not get off it for weeks due to being too sick to go to the doctors. After finally getting off it, it took me about a month to stop feeling sick and for the other side effects to go away. Overall, it was not worth it."

• tyh...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• July 24, 2021

Risperidone "Took this for psychotic depression. It made me unnaturally tired, like I was fighting the effects of a sleep medication all the time! I also started overeating and was constantly hungry (like with Zyprexa). I did feel less anxious, but it wasn't worth it. Wouldn't recommend based on my experience. One note if you're autistic like me - some people report being more sensitive to side effects. It was complete news to me, but it makes sense with my history."

• Bsd...
• January 12, 2016

"I am on risperidone for 2.5 years. It seems to be okay for its main purpose - I haven't had any hallucinations since I started it. However, I have been leading a very balanced and calm life without any major stresses, which seemed to be the main triggers of my psychoepisodes in the past. But! I've gained 25 pounds in two years, and I have never been overweight in my life. Plus, over time, I developed a very disturbing hunger that never stops, even after I eat a lot. I feel full when my stomach is literally full and stretched. But after an hour, I feel hungry again. In addition to that, stomach pains - not too sure if it's caused by excessive eating or a side effect on its own. Other minor side effects are muscle pains, nightmares, and memory loss."

• Moo...
• March 23, 2016

"My brother is on this medication, 8 mg over 24 hours, he takes 5 mg in the morning and 3 mg at night. He has been taking risperidone for just over a year now. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia in January 2015. The doctors have prescribed different doses of this medication, however, it is not as effective as it first was. This dose was the highest he has been given compared to other doses throughout the year. He has become very depressed, cannot concentrate well, avoids any social interaction, has some delusions, and he feels like he has no emotion and his brain is blank. So, in conclusion, I think it's time that the doctor changes his medication because it doesn't seem to be working well."

• Vva...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• March 30, 2021

"I took this medicine for schizophrenia. Started with 1 mg, now taking 3 mg regularly for more than three months. It really helped me with the voices. I gained about 5 lbs in 3 months, which is probably this medicine's side effect. Also, I am now suffering from a condition called morning depression. Hope I come out of it soon!"

• Jps...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• October 28, 2022

"I feel like I’m back to myself when taking this medication. Please note, I’ve only been taking it for a week, but my head does not feel as busy with static and voices, which was my main issue. It also chills me out somewhat, even on a low dosage. I seriously hope the side effects aren’t as bad as what some people are suggesting, but as of now I feel back to baseline, and it has done the trick."

• Rav...
• February 9, 2016

"Was good when the voices were loud, as when they are quieted, they seem to echo at first. Noticed when taking it, though voices did remain very quietly, then, when you stop taking it, they stop completely. But I have done this before, and the bliss only lasts a month before they come back full-blown."

• You...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 6, 2018

"It was good to calm me down at first, but stopped working within a month, and I wake up during sleep many times from it. Your nose will get clogged heavily by this medication, so get a humidifier if you are planning to get on it."

• tuc...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 7, 2020

"DO NOT TAKE RISPERDAL. I was prescribed 3 mg of Risperdal after displaying psychotic symptoms induced by a weed addiction. I stayed on the medication for 4 months, my dose got as high as 5 mg for one month. It made me feel lethargic, emotionally unavailable, and in a fog. It did not help me with any of the symptoms it was prescribed for except sleep. I kept on a strict diet and didn't gain a single pound (I actually lost some weight). But despite not gaining a pound, this drug caused my face and cheeks to swell up with fat, and now I look like a squirrel. The fat just won't go away. I don't recognize myself in the mirror anymore. This drug does awful unnatural things to the body. My psychiatrist told me the weight gain isn't permanent, guess he's wrong. I'm living proof that some of the fat is inescapable and permanent. Wish it wasn't in my face."

• csh...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 24, 2020

"The drug risperidone treated my delusions and hallucinations well, however, the side effects are awful. My cognitive thoughts were impaired, making it hard to read and think straight (which can be induced by schizophrenia itself). It made me VERY constipated, where I'd have to take Miralax almost every day to have a normal bowel movement. It caused me to have blurry vision and made it harder for my eyes to focus on something. As a male, it caused me to grow breasts and lactate. I'm not fond of the side effects, but the drug did work well on treating my schizophrenia."