DH started on Respiradone night before last...

SDianeL

The Neurologist started my DH stage 5 on Risperidone for agitation. He started .25 night before last. Slept better the first night and yesterday was OK but today was hell. He has ranted and raved almost all day. Does it take awhile to work? The Neurologist referred him to a Neuro Psychologist to monitor and adjust his meds but have no idea when we can get an appointment. They scheduled one for 10:30am which won't work for him and when I called to change it they just cancelled it and said they would call back. That was over a week ago.

ButterflyWings

I would call the afterhours line for the doc. They likely have an answering service, and can get the on-call coverage to phone you back to discuss. It could be, there is a small tweak to be made already.

I am not familiar with this med, as my DH has been taking Seroquel for some time. We started at a low level that did nothing at all, though, and I did not wait for appointments, to call to get it tweaked. Did this a couple of times at the beginning. If you need assistance now, then that's what you need. I say call until you reach someone.

It could be he didn't swallow the medicine? This happened to us a few times until I learned to watch him take it, without him knowing I was watching him like a hawk. Also, ask your doc if maybe he can be given a small dose of melatonin to help him sleep or at least chill...while the meds kick in.

harshedbuzz

Risperdal is an atypical antipsychotic. A dose of .25mg is very low; there's plenty of room to adjust it up if needed.

That said, dad took Seroquel which is from the same class. We noted that the initial improvement is something of a "side effect" as dad got used to the medication. It did improve his fractured sleep with continued use, but it was more like normal sleep rather than "sleeping like the dead" if you know what I mean.

For us the medication kicked in fairly quickly; within about 10 days we saw real improvement in mood, but it was about a month before we saw the full effect. A doc at dad's rehab didn't transfer the prescription when he was discharged; dad became unglued with about 48 hours and it took about a week to sort out that he wasn't getting his correct meds. Once it was restarted, it was the same few nights of really amazing sleep followed by daytime improvement that was gradual after about 10 days.

Call his doctor if you have questions. We switched dad to a geriatric psychiatrist for med; he was more proactive about medication and added a second low dose in the am.

HB