Risperidone vs Jekyll and Hyde.

Buggsroo

I was at the end of my rope and called my husband’s primary physician for help. My husband has taken to waking me up at 7:45 am saying it is time to get up. The problem is that I am a night owl and treasure my peace at night, so not willing to forgo that time.

The doctor put him on .25 risperidone twice a day. When it kicks in he is lovely but when it wears off look out. He starts yelling and screaming, smashing the newspaper on things, he bangs on my door to get me up yelling that I am a lazy bitch if I don’t. I was treated to that this morning, then remembered his pills and got him to take them. Hey presto, I was able to get more sleep. 

So I am going to phone the doctor tomorrow to get the dose upped and maybe three times a day. It also seems to keep him in bed longer and he isn’t wandering as much. I have been reading all your posts about risperidone and seroquel and that has helped a lot.

Paris20

«Jekyll and Hyde» could not be a more perfect description of daily life with a spouse who has Alzheimer’s Disease. I’m never sure which one is waking up in the morning or who is asking me to take him home at night (We ARE home). 

It was on these boards that I learned about Seroquel. It truly saved me, if not my husband. I could no longer deal with the escalating outbursts. I honestly thought he was going to physically attack his aide. The other night he had one of his less-frequent meltdowns, ostensibly because his aide had already let the dog out. He cursed, yelled, screamed and hit the kitchen cabinet, where he proceeded to hurt himself. He then screamed louder and gave the cabinet a second whack. More Seroquel, please, doctor.

Jo C.

Hello Buggs . . . Risperdal was a blessing for my LO who was over the moon in dreadful behaviors.  It took a bit of tweaking.  Start low and go slow . . . . see how it does and then if significant problems continue, the physician can adjust.  Eventually, a regime will be found that works and carries through the full day; that is what happened with my LO.

When my LO was on this med for some time, peace became the every day scenario.  This was not only a benefit for those around; it was a huge benefit for my LO by restoring a much better quality of life.  That counts for a lot not having to have the uber delusions and shouting and flailing about.  Imagine -  if they are driving us to distraction with such behaviors; imagine what it must be like living inside their heads not only thinking all those negative delusions but also feeling them . . . horrible and truly not a good place to leave our LO if there is a way we can help them.

At one point, it was decided we could probably taper the med down and perhaps even discontinue it - well; that was NOT a good dynamic.  As soon as the med was nearly off, it was like in the blink of an eye that the dread behaviors returned in full flare which had my LO reeling and acting out and not able to cope or relax; it was just awful to see the difference.  Restored the Risperdal and once again, my LO ever so much better and that is how it was kept.

So hope all will go well with a bit of med adjustment; let us know how it goes and how you are doing.

J.

ImMaggieMae

My DH was put on Risperidone twice daily when he spent a week in the hospital about 4 months ago. He was never aggressive or threatening and rarely raises his voice, before or after diagnosis. He was just highly agitated and with several repeated behaviors throughout the day, and in the days before a trip to ER. He would brush his teeth, clean his glasses, sometimes change clothes hundreds of times a day. It was an obsessive behavior. Just before calling ER he had been in an out of bed all night, every 3 to 5 minutes doing the glasses and tooth brushing thing and no amount of arguing or discussion would distract him. The hospital tried several different medications. He had been on aricept and namenda for a couple years and his GP had started him on Seraquel a few weeks before, upping the dosage a couple times. It would partially work for a weekly two and then fail. The hospital discontinued it.

The Risperadone made him seem like a normal person again. He was calm, slept through the night and the obsessive behaviors disappeared. He still had memory issues but was much closer to normal. His geriatric GP wanted to taper his dosage from .5 twice a day to .25 twice a day because of the black box warnings for people with dementia and over 65. Symptoms didn’t totally come back, but sleeping was more of a problem and he seemed more agitated. Back to the original dose brought back the better sleeping and calm. The hospital discontinued the aricept because they said it could cause other problems combining it with the Risperadone. He memory seems to be getting worse but don’t know if this is medication related. I wish I had a better understanding of these drugs.

abc123

Hey Bugs! You gotta do what you gotta do! I am a firm believer in medication. Jo made a point that hits home with me. If our LO is behaving badly, I realize what it must be like for them, inside their head. That’s why I believe in using the meds, black box warnings or not! 

I hope we all have a good day today!

Buggsroo

Thank you all, I appreciate this. It is a tough road we are travelling. Oh well, better living through chemistry.