Medication: Risperidone

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I went to the doctor today about my anxiety and panic attacks relating to studying at uni and in social situations.
I gave him a copy of my Asperger's diagnosis as I believe these issues are related and told him about the discussions I have had with the uni counsellor about treatment, specifically the possibility of medication.

He prescribed me 0.5mg Risperidone daily and said I should come back in two weeks and if I felt it was successful he would up the dosage.

I have previously been put on SSRI's (a derivative of Prozac) when I was about 14 for depression but I was taken off them when research came out that suggested that prescribing them to under-18's may have severely negative effects, actually increasing depression and tendency/susceptibility to self-injury/suicide. Personally I believe I was probably at my worst while taking them.

After some research into Risperidone I have found it is an anti-psychotic (dopamine antagonist) commonly used for the treatment of schizophrenia. It has also been used "off-label" for the treatment of anxiety disorders, OCD, depression, Tourette's, eating disorders, and disruptive behaviour in children.
Apparently it has been approved in America by the FDA for treatment of 'irritability' in children and adolescents with autism.

I have also discovered it has a wide range of unpleasant side-effects, such as "akathisia, anxiety, insomnia, low blood pressure, muscle stiffness, muscle pain, sedation, tremors, increased salivation, stuffy nose and lactation in both sexes (!)"
as well as risking such disturbing medical conditions such as tardive dyskinesia (TD), extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS), and neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS).

As this seems like quite a big deal to be putting my brain through, I was wondering if any of you have any opinions or experience on its usage in treatment of the symptoms of autism, whether you have heard of any alternative medications that have been of positive result, and additionally any knowledge on the likelihood of these side-effects as they sounded pretty off-putting when I read about them - but I suppose I am willing to take these risks if it is effective as a treatment as I feel I am at a point where I don't think I can manage much longer without some kind of help.

I appreciate any responses you might have,
Thanks

Really you should not be just taking the anti anxiety drugs, or even so stuck on them for long term, meant to go along with theraphy or other methods, kind of getting you hooked on a drug & depending on it is what I call it..

I ended up throwing away the drug thing since that's all they seem to want to do, & took up meditation & anxiety releaving techniques

http://www.psychiatrix.com/anxiety_reli ... niques.htm

Just an option to think about, since they not just meant to give you the drug...


heres All About Anxiety Medications & also applys to other types of problems

http://ezinearticles.com/?All-About-Anx ... &id=912689

& depression is normally better to find out what is coursing it sorry about anxiety bit but just incase

Risperdal is not approved by the FDA for autism treatment in anyone, regardless of what a psych. will tell you.

It also has potentially awful side effects which I would not want to end up with.

Thank you for your replies.
When talking with the doctor about my discussions with the counsellor I mentioned that cognitive behavioural therapy had been brought up and that I was interested in pursuing it, sorry for leaving that out.

But, I feel that therapy on its own will not be sufficient as I definitely feel imbalanced, to the point where rationalising and self-analysis can do only so much good. I can appreciate skepticism of the typical medical approach to mental health that prescribes pharmaceuticals for every woe of mankind and promises an instant fix, particularly with the experience of the failure of the SSRI's that I was given.

I'm not expecting any miracles, and I'm quite hesitant to take this medication in particular due to the side-effects. When I went in I was expecting the more typical class of anti-anxiety medications known as benzodiazepines (you may have heard of Valium, or Xanax). Now I understand these too have their own associated risks, especially since they are known as habit forming substances, but I would feel more comfortable with these as they are specific to anxiety as opposed to these new anti-psychotics which are given to treat everything from schizophrenia to Tourette's.

If anyone has had results with the benzodiazepines I would be interested to know.

I self admitted to the local mental institution recently and was not on any medications. I was initially given a 2 mg dose of risperdal and allergy meds as anxiety meds. I told the staff after 2 days that I felt more anxious than usual. They upped the risperdal to 3 mg.

After 4 days, my insurance kicked me out because I wasn't a danger to myself or others. (I told them I dumped a chunk of repressed memory and was having to relive the experiences over and re-order them in sequential order and that got me in : ))

I stopped taking the stuff about a month later, it was making me act too weird and causing strange dreams.

mojo123

risperdone is a nasty little med, i took it in the mental hospital and had some kindof psycotic panic attack with numbing of the face, back of the head and a rash!
i'll never take ani-psycotic medications again, it was terribe

I would never take anti-psychotics even if they are approved for autism. I think a study showed they cause brain damage. They can also cause serious permanent side-effects. I take magnesium for my anxiety and it works well enough without any side effects (although if you take too much magnesium it causes diarrhea).

Serious side-effects of anti-psychotics including brain damage:

There are safer alternatives to Big Pharma's dangerous drugs. The dark secret that Big Pharma doesn't want you to know is that therapeutic doses of simple vitamins may be more effective and much safer than their dangerous drugs that don't even work that well anyway.

Here's a quote from one site showing high doses of vitamin B-complex can treat anxiety as well as schizophrenia, depression, autism, and hyperactivity:

Risperidone is an evil medication. I don't advise anyone to take it.

I was taking this when I was 14 for anxiety and all it did was induce depression and "psychotic-like" symptoms which lead me to over-dose.
Aswell as the physical side effects I had which were weight gain [10kgs!], persistant drowsiness, headaches, fainting spells and my menstrual periods stopped.
As soon as I stopped taking this medication...all of these physical and mental side effects went away. My anxiety did return...but I was 100 times better than I was than when I was on Risperidone.