Risperdal has been prescribed.

[angiebails]

We have returned from anglesey and returned to the consultant and was brave enough to tell him how my OH had attacked me. He has now prescribed risperdal to try and calm him. Does anyone have any experience if this drug. Also his only comment about his MRI scan was that it showed brain shrinkage, which was not very conclusive as we don't get a definate diagnosis. He just said this was a symptom of dementia.


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[loveahug]

Hi angie

good luck with the medication, I do hope it helps your situation. As to the diagnosis, mum's consultant said the brain shrinkage together with her other symptoms made Alzheimers much more likely than anything else and that is what she has been treated for during the last 12 months.

Best wishes x

 

[angiebails]

Thanks loveahug. Does your mother have problems with speech reading and writing. And does she become aggressive verbally and physically at all. Sorry for asking.


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[loveahug]

Hi angie, well mum is 90 and quite frail now but she can still stand her ground verbally, but she is not aggressive. Her speech is fine though writing is very difficult for her. Although her reading is ok she can concentrate for only a very short period and her comprehension is severely limited.

Every person with dementia gets to different stages at different times. Aggression is quite common but not everyone goes through that phase.

I know this is a difficult time for you and send you my very best wishes x

 

[Lilibet1]

Hi Angie, my OH was prescribed Risperidone (which i believe is the same as Risperidal) and it has most certainly calmed him down. He did have to go to a specialist hospital for a month to get it but it has worked. He is now in a care home but they have said that he's now like a different person. One down side is that it can bring on parkinson like symptoms i.e. shaking hands.
I wish you and your OH all the best, make the most of him. xx

 

[angiebails]

Thanks lilibet1 it's like Russian roulette I want him to calm down and stop this in ( domestic abuse to the extreme.) but I do worry as to the side effects. I see the consultant worries about my safety and I suppose the ultimate may happen if he takes no action but the side effects do seem quite severe.


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[LadyA]

Angie, my husband is on Risperdal for the last 4 years. He was prescribed it for horrific delusions/hallucinations (it's an anti-psychotic). It's a strong drug, and never prescribed lightly for people with dementia as it can (apart from other side affects) cause strokes. However, when it's needed and it works, it can be a god-send. It was for us. It was literally like someone turned a switch off, as regards the delusions etc., and my husband as a result was a lot calmer and he had 3 more good years at home, before the natural progression of the disease took its toll, so he has just had to go into full time care. Once he started on Risperdal, he went from being in a constant state of high anxiety, running around the house looking for people who werent there, terrified of what he was hearing & seeing, to being calm and relaxed, sleeping through the night, able to enjoy outings etc.

Hope things improve for you. Blessings to you. xx
PS. My husband has never shown any side effects at all from the Risperdal - not everyone does.

 

[angiebails]

Thanks ladyA from reading your blogs and your replys you seem to have been through similar incidents as me. I do hope these pills will calm him as at the moment apart from his head he is physically able to carry on a normal life.


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[angiebails]

Is it too good to be true I have been so busy renovating my old house and I have not had a single problem with my OH. He started on the tablets on Tuesday and it seems to have changed him overnight. The consultant only gave him 2 weeks of pills so I do hope they can keep him on them as he seemed to be a changed man. Does anyone have this experience as I know ladyA says they worked for her OH.


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[LadyA]

Is it too good to be true I have been so busy renovating my old house and I have not had a single problem with my OH. He started on the tablets on Tuesday and it seems to have changed him overnight. The consultant only gave him 2 weeks of pills so I do hope they can keep him on them as he seemed to be a changed man. Does anyone have this experience as I know ladyA says they worked for her OH.


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So glad they seem to be working - do let the consultant know. I'm sure if it's found to be working, he will keep him on them, because you sure couldn't have gone on the way things were. And I'm sure your husband is happier too.

 

[angiebails]

Ok I'm now confused. The tablets he had lasted 2 weeks and I heard nothing from the clinic so I phoned up and asked for more tablets and they did a prescription for 14 days. They said I could then get them from the gp. Does this mean I have to make an appointment every 2 weeks to get more tablets. Surely they can give him more if he is too stay on them. Why does everything have to be so complicated and long winded when you have enough to deal with. I have had to sort out my house after the tenant left and it has taken me 2 weeks of hard slog which was fine but the stress of coping with my OH has finished me off. He only tries to help but to be honest it was easier having 3 children under 5 at home whilst decorating than it was him. Stress levels hit maximum and you can imagine the result. Ready for a holiday but if it turned out like my last break in anglesey I would rather go into hospital for major surgery, ( joking apart I do need a break.)


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[LadyA]

Ok I'm now confused. The tablets he had lasted 2 weeks and I heard nothing from the clinic so I phoned up and asked for more tablets and they did a prescription for 14 days. They said I could then get them from the gp. Does this mean I have to make an appointment every 2 weeks to get more tablets. Surely they can give him more if he is too stay on them. Why does everything have to be so complicated and long winded when you have enough to deal with. I have had to sort out my house after the tenant left and it has taken me 2 weeks of hard slog which was fine but the stress of coping with my OH has finished me off. He only tries to help but to be honest it was easier having 3 children under 5 at home whilst decorating than it was him. Stress levels hit maximum and you can imagine the result. Ready for a holiday but if it turned out like my last break in anglesey I would rather go into hospital for major surgery, ( joking apart I do need a break.)


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I don't know how the system works over there, but here, when William was prescribed tablets by the Consultant at the clinic, I then took that to his GP's surgery and they did up a follow-up prescription - and put it on his "repeat" prescriptions, so I just had to collect the prescriptions every month, and then take him in to have his medications reviewed every six months if he hadn't seen the doctor in the meantime. In fact, I realise I had it really cushy - my pharmacy is in the same building as the GP, so they used to send the prescriptions accross, and all I'd have to do was go to the pharmacy and collect the tablets every month!

Why don't you now phone the GP and explain that he was prescribed risperidone, it's working well, and the Clinic said that from now on he's to get the tablets from the GP, and how do you go about that?