I've been on Risperdal for 1.5 years ,and still having it by injection .
but I hate the sleeping disorder I have from that med .
I sleep alot and when I wake up I feel like didn't sleep enough.
I also gained weight and trying very hard to loose it, since the med increases appetite.
I also have skin problems ,due to that med.
I feel ugly and hate the way I look in the mirror.
But my doctors say I'm responding very well to the meds, and they are optimistic that in a few years I will be healed. and stop the meds.
I feel like I lost 4 years from my age spent ill and hopeless .
i am not a schizophrenic however my fiance has just out of no where developed the disorder and is taking 6mg a day of respirdal, he too sleeps constantly, its very frustrating for both of us. the docs say that he will adjust to the meds and not be so sleepy, i am hopeful
just to tell you a schizophrenic will need help and company for the rest of his/her life , but also can be better with time , I wish I can go back and be normal again , but still hopeful as you are.
If you need to ask any question or need help don't hesitate to ask any one in this group, including me.
good luck .
thank you for your support, I get on here almost daily and just now noticed your comment for some reason. Yes I am realizing more and more that he will need alot of care. I feel like a private nurse more and more. He will take his meds, but the doc who prescribed them made him promise that he will let me be in charge of them as he will forget if he even took them or not just 5 min after taking them.Our relationship is nothing like it was before and I miss it alot. I am still hopeful though. Scared but hopeful. Do you have problems with anxiety? He has enormous anxiety, is that just part of it? He chooses to sleep alot just so he doesn't get worked up. Too much anxiety causes him to hallucinate.But he does take resperdal, I was mistaken before, he is on 4 mg a day not 6, but he goes in the morning to a new psychiatrist to see about meds so that might change.
I do have anxiety , but it decreased with time .
Try to ask the psychiatrist your fiancée visits about giving Resperdal by Injection ,it helps a lot , he will take the med at the right time then.
sleeping will be near to normal but it needs time, a year may be , I used to sleep for 10 - 12 hours a day at the beginning but now I sleep for 8 hours which I guess is good.
hallucinations occur due to brain chemicals disturbance not to anxiety .
You make a valid point. I have just so far linked to the anxiety to the hallucinations, when in all probabilty it is the chemicals in the brain causing the anxiety and the hallucinations, not the other way around.So far though we are finding that keeping the anxiety to a minimum, seems to be helping. Which is sometimes hard to do. He was just yesterday switched to the new drug Invega, which is basically Reperdal in a time release form, and he only has to take it once a day. And they added Buspar for anxiety, it is one that has a reduced effect of sleepiness. He can easily sleep 12 hours a night and another 3 to 4 hour during the day.But I heat that Resperdal and Invega cause less sleepiness than things like Seroquel. I will ask about the injection, although I don't know if they have the Invega in an injection yet.
I used to take Risperdal and Risperidone but the price skyrocked me back to Navane which is quite a bit cheaper because i don't have insurance anymore. I wish i could get it for my wife though at least.
I don't really remember what risperdal did to me but I don't think i was tired with it , I am tired with Navane so I take more at night none during the day. I think risperdal was fine to take during the day. i was never too tired to work really unless I became confused also. Some days I started off to work and turned around and went back home because i was so confused about how i would get through the day or why I was going to work.
Does anybody know what happened to schizophrenia.com ?