Posted by SLS on January 16, 2001, at 9:03:08
In reply to Re: SCOTT Resperidone? » SLS, posted by judy1 on January 15, 2001, at 21:31:44
Dear Judy,
Thanks.
> I'm glad you are having success with risperdal
:-) Yeah, it' pretty cool. The improvement is mild at best, but significant because there is any steady improvement at all. Even if I am on the exactly right medications, my doctor reinforced the long period of time, 6 months or more, before I would truly feel well. He said that this is a function of the severity of my depression and the number of years my brain has been operating that way. Slow and gradual. Actually, I can be quite patient when I believe that I am on the right stuff at the right dosages.
I had no problem travelling to NYC on Saturday, and was feeling well enough and confident enough to enter a cafe in an unfamiliar neighborhood alone to wait for someone. I initiated spontaneously conversations with some of the patrons while I waited. It was an experience that I actually ENJOYED. (I almost forgot how to spell that word).
>- and I find it really interesting that it sedates you. I'm also taking 2mg/day- but in the AM, I find it a very energizing drug. But then if I took adderal I would and have gotten manic.
Thanks for writing this. I may try to split up my doses of Risperdal as morning/evening given your reaction to it. Perhaps it is the Risperal (risperidol) that has worsened my insomnia recently. I vaguely recall reading a few other posts where the authors described a similar energizing effect. I may try taking it all in the morning as do you.
> Why do I react in such an opposite way?
I think I have already beaten this word to death, but this is a manifestation of our "heterogeneity". We are all different in one way or another. A population is comprised of individuals with diverse characteristics and hidden traits.
Although these individuals might be almost exactly the same, it may be the relatively small differences between them that lead to the type of opposing effects that are seen between any two individuals taking the same drug. It is the goal of biomedical science to identify and understand the minute details that explain these individual biological differences.
I know you will be disappointed to hear this, Judy, but as unique as you surely are, I doubt you are unique regarding your reaction to Risperdal. At the moment, I am not in one of my explain-the-world-with-a-theory moods, so I'll have to set aside some time before I would offer any guesses for why Risperdal is sedating for some and energizing to others. I think Ativan has dulled my mind. I don't like that.
It sounds paradoxical, but some antipsychotic neuroleptics have demonstrated a potential to induce mania. Zyprexa (olanzapine) is one of them. I think I have seen this with Risperdal and Clozaril (clozapine) also, but my memory is vague on this. Zyprexa is one of the best drugs to control acute severe mania. Yet, it can infrequently cause mania as well. These observations help to demonstrate how different are our individual biologies and underscores the importance of treating them under the premise that they are. I think one of the most frustrating things that can occur is when a patient complains about a certain side effect that the doctor deems as being impossible simply because it is not listed in the PDR or package insert.
Thanks again, Judy. You may have saved me a real complication. I have just started taking Ativan (lorazepam) for sleep because my sleep has been disturbed enough to leave me sleep-deprived on a daily basis. Obviously, I would rather be without it. I'll let you know how things go as I try to change my dosing schedule.
I am sure that I must have asked you this stuff before, so please forgive my withered hippocampus. For what reasons are you taking Risperdal? In what ways does it help you? How did you come to use 2.0mg? What other drugs are you taking?
THANKS!
Sincerely,
Scott
poster:SLS
thread:50862
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010111/msgs/51782.html