How long does it take to work?

[Trace2012]

Hi all, my mam started risperidone yesterday, only a small dose and no side effects over night thank god, just wondering if it takes a long time to take effect? I dont mean today or tmoro haha just wondering if anyone on here has any doings with it if they noticed how long it took?


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[marionq]

I have been talking with someone recently Trace whose Dad was given Risperidon for the kinds of paranoid behaviour like your Mother. It has calmed him down quite a bit and stopped him behaving badly towards the neighbours. Not a total cure but within a few weeks you should see an improvement.

 

[LadyA]

My husband has been on Risperidone for a few years now. He had been having very extreme paranoid delusions and hallucinations. He was started on a very small dose of the drug, and it was gradually increased until they were brought under sufficient control. He's now on 150mg per day, and I very rarely hear anything about "them" - the invisible men who haunted him. From what I remember, it didn't take that long for it to start showing an effect. For him, it was in fact, as if someone had flipped a switch! There was an almost immediate very marked decrease in the delusions & hallucinations, and when the dose was increased, they stopped. After a while, the consultant tried to reduce the dose by a tiny amount, and the hallucinations and paranoia returned immediately. So the dose was reinstated. And my husband has never suffered any side effects from the medication, that I can see. I hope your mum will be as fortunate, and that it will have as good an effect. Anti psychotics are not to be recommended for the elderly at all, but when they are needed, they can be a god-send.

ps. If you don't start seeing any improvement, then do get back to the prescribing doctor. There are other medications that can be tried! Risperidone was the second one tried on my husband - the first one had no affect at all.

 

[Trace2012]

Thank u both, its only 2 days in and yesterday was the same as anyother, "them" were running around the house banging doors, doin things in the garden, soon as i came in from work i got the same, but she was shocked wen i sed theres noway they could have done anything as there both at work and dont finish till later, so she changed the story to it wasnt now i meant wen u were at work it happened!!!! Okkk no reasoning so its pointless, i just said i dont wanna talk about "them" anymore, i want to talk to my mam about everyday stuff and have a conversation that dosent involve the neighbours at all, so she sed she wont talk to me again haha xx oooohhhhh if sometimes i didnt laugh? i would cry!!!


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[Brucie]

From my experience, i wouldn't expect to see stabilised change after taking the medication until at least a week has passed, and in some people, 2-3 weeks. Not only the medication may not ultimately be the right one, but also the dosage, and the time(s) of day it is taken, may need to be tweaked.

Frequently there is a cocktail of meds being taken at different times, and they won't all necessarily work together.

Worth checking as well that the medication is actually taken: we have had instances where the person put it in their mouth and drank and then rather expertly removed it from their cheek after a few seconds, when we had thought it had been swallowed.

Side effects we have noted are reduction in mobility, and conjunctivitis-like eye problems. Essentially, we believe they are a small price to pay for the person to be more at ease, and in their own home. Reduction in mobility means she can't 'escape', or at least do so quickly, and she can't kick her husband as effectively without his spotting the foot coming.

 

[Trace2012]

Thankyou, mam isnt violent at all "yet" but she dosent do much housework anymore, folds the washing up after its been in the drier, she tries to potter in the garden which makes her worse, if theres a leaf that wasnt there the day before it was "them" that put it there, this illness is terrible, strips a person of who they are and makes them a shell, she pops bak in the shell now and then, but other than that just obsessed with neighbours and people coming in the house changing the telly, and reading the post, its horrible to watch xx


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[LadyA]

From my experience, i wouldn't expect to see stabilised change after taking the medication until at least a week has passed, and in some people, 2-3 weeks. Not only the medication may not ultimately be the right one, but also the dosage, and the time(s) of day it is taken, may need to be tweaked.

Frequently there is a cocktail of meds being taken at different times, and they won't all necessarily work together.

Worth checking as well that the medication is actually taken: we have had instances where the person put it in their mouth and drank and then rather expertly removed it from their cheek after a few seconds, when we had thought it had been swallowed.

Side effects we have noted are reduction in mobility, and conjunctivitis-like eye problems. Essentially, we believe they are a small price to pay for the person to be more at ease, and in their own home. Reduction in mobility means she can't 'escape', or at least do so quickly, and she can't kick her husband as effectively without his spotting the foot coming.

My husband could give lessons in not taking meds! Everything has to be hidden in food. He has been known to hold things in his mouth for 20 minutes, then spit it out!

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[Trace2012]

She sed her eyes are goin funny after takin it, she sed there was beetles runnin allove the floor las nite, but am not sure if its the meds or jus her bein her usual self xx


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