Risperidone side effects & behaviour - help please!

[Martin099]

My mum (69) has been prescribed respiridone to help control her erratic mood swings, hallucinations and general confusion. Mum has vascular dementia.
She was on a very mild dosage of the drug for 3 weeks which seemed to help, then we had a week without any and she started showing signs of panicking and worrying excessively. We went to the GP and are now back on the respiridone having re-commenced 5 days ago.
Every day this week mum has been trying to phone me because she is feeling un-settled, is panicking and worrying. I phone her 3 times a day anyway, I go in every day after work and she has a carer visiting 4 days a week to prepare a meal etc.
Yesterday she couldn't get hold of me, because she is now unable to dial my number. She ended up leaving the house in her slippers, left the house unlocked and went round to a neighbours house. They didn't have a clue what she was trying to say but they were able to call me and I went round to sort things out.
I'm just worried that some of these symptoms might be caused by the respiridone, rather than the respiridone acting to control the symptoms?...not sure if I should leave it a couple of weeks on the drug to see if things settle?
Has anyone else experienced any similar side effects of behavioural changes resulting from this drug?
Comments much appreciated!
Martin

 

[snedds57]

sorry I can't help you with this. suggest you phone and have a chat with GP/consultant sooner rather than later. Hopefully someone else will come along with experience. In the meantime, I have always found Netdoctor handy as it is in plain speak...here is the link! http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/brain-and-nervous-system/medicines/risperdal.html

It actually says it shouldn't be given to people with vascular dementia (I suppose because of the higher risk of stroke !) Not that I want to worry you at all!

 

[jan.s]

Hi

Sorry to hear about your mum. My husband takes a very low dose of Respiradol and it has worked wonders. He has been on it for about 10 months; I spoke with the consultant about stopping it, but he said no, leave well alone. He
If it were me, I would certainly talk to the GP/consultant and explain your concerns. It did take a couple of weeks for it to work with my husband, so persevere if you can, and they consider it safe to do so.

Take care

 

[Sue J]

http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?48421-Risperidone&highlight=respiridone

This thread may help Martin
Best wishes
Sue