What are the actual side effects of taking Resperdol (anti-psychotic med)?

Question

Please, informed answers only. Thanks!

Answer 1

My son developed a tic on Risperdal. He also had significant muscle soreness and sleeplessness. When he was on Risperdal he was also on Concerta, so it is hard to tell which of these, or if these two meds together, caused the side effects. Both meds were phased out and the side effects ceased.

Answer 2

Risperdal's Typical Side Effects: The usual for atypical antipsychotics - headache, nausea, dry mouth, sleepiness and lethargy or insomnia and way too much energy. Most everything but the sleepiness & lethargy or bouncing off the walls usually goes away within a couple of weeks.

Risperdal's Not So Common Side Effects: Loss of libido and other sexual dysfunctions, but those are mostly at the mid-to-higher dosages. You know, the amount you need to treat schizophrenia, psychosis and bipolar. A large Spanish study has Risperdal (risperidone), the standard antipsychotic Haldol (haloperidol) and Zyprexa (olanzapine) the worst offenders for sexual side effects. They all seem to be dosage-related, so the higher the dosage the worse the sexual dysfunction will be. Risperdal (risperidone) tends to mess with your hormones at those dosages, so you might get all sorts of hormonal stuff involving estrogen and prolactin, including wacky periods and lactation issues. It does mess with the girls more, but sexual side effects are prevalent at dosages required to treat schizophrenia or as the only medication to treat bipolar. Oh, and guys, you may learn more than you ever wanted to personally know about lactation.

Also heart palpitations, tachycardia and other cardiac weirdness that I honestly don't have a clue about what is scary and what is annoying. So you'll have to ask your non-head-shrinking doctor about the heart issues. Like other antipsychotics Risperdal (risperidone) can also mess with how you process sugars, but it's nowhere near as bad as Zyprexa (olanzapine) or Seroquel (quetiapine) in that regard.

Like any antipsychotic there is a slight, but real risk for extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS), tardive dyskenesia, and neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS). Please see the page on these risks. If you start twitching, kicking, jerking, or in any way any part of you moves and it wasn't your idea - and it happens more than once - it's time to call your doctor. Just don't freak out. Rather, you have reason to calm down. None of this stuff is permanent. I've now twice had mild symptoms of EPS, including TD with Risperdal (risperidone), and lowering the dosage took care of it at one point, but eventually I had to stop taking this med because the TD symptoms wouldn't go away. And that sucks. I don't have any hard numbers on this, but a lot of anecdotal evidence is pointing at Risperdal as being the worst of the popular novel / atypical antipsychotics when it comes to people getting EPS.

Restless Leg Syndrome - not to be confused with the twitching of the above, but only a doctor can determine the difference. Believe me, my doctor grilled me for an hour and a half when I started twitching. It turned out to be a pinched nerve, and not EPS. Only later at a much higher dosage of Risperdal (risperidone) did I start getting real EPS. But at a lower dosage the symptoms went away. No big deal that time! However Risperdal can start or aggravate RLS, so you may have to deal with that.

Answer 3

I took resperdol before and had some really weird side effects. It caused me to stop menstrating and my breasts started lactating. I took a pregnancy test and it was negative. I mentioned this to my P-Doc and he said that Resperdol could cause those side effects, but that it was unusual.

Answer 4

I believe it can cause tics. For my son (who has always been very slender) it caused weight gain, which is a fairly common side effect for this medication.
Another good resource is remedyfind.com

Answer 5

Dry mouth; impaired judgement.

Answer 6

go to:
www.crazymeds.org
This is a very helpful site. I have used it a lot!