Mum has been prescribed Risperidone

[fionajane]

Hi there,
Mum was diagnosed with Az a year ago. Although she's been fairly settled on Aricept, she does experience the odd terrible bout of psychosis - imagining men in her house, becoming horribly distressed and barricading herself in house. She had a really bad episode over Christmas and her psychiatrist has now prescribed Risperidone.

Am just a bit worried about this, reading about side effects, increased risk of strokes, etc. Am also not sure Mum can take her meds reliably (I think her episodes might be connected to forgetting her Aricept) and don't want her to start taking it until we have some home care in place to supervise this. She lives alone.

Just wondered if anyone has experience of caring for someone who's been prescribed this drug, and if there's anything I should be aware of when Mum starts taking it?

Many thanks

 

[CJinUSA]

Hello. I'm not a professional by any means, but having taken care of my mother and monitored her drugs for 7 years, 6 of them with pretty powerful drugs, I just wondered this, based on what you have said in your message -

If you conceive it possible that the erratic behavior might result from your mother's not taking the Aricept regularly, might it be possible to hold off on the new drug til the carer is in place and can see to the proper regular taking of Aricept? This might be a useful option for you to consider?

Just a thought.

 

[lulubel]

Sorry, fionajane, no experience with this drug, but I know someone will be along soon that does. Very best wishes....xx

 

[FifiMo]

My mother was on risperidone. We called it the miracle drug in our house. She went from an anxious, agitated, hallucinating individual, to a sweet little old lady. I believe that it was also much more acceptable to her also as it cannot be pleasant being under stress of all the agitation before.

Only thing we noticed was a mild slowing of her verbal communications. Not sure if this was the drug or whether it was noticeable because she had been so loud and verbally aggressive before.

Fiona

 

[Saffie]

My husband was prescribed Risperidone for hallucinations and aggression. It was a low dose and he was on it for about 4 months or so in hospital. It made hime very sleepy to start with but it did calm him down and seemed to help a lot. You just have to balance out the advantages versus the risks.

 

[Callieflower]

Hi, My Mam has been on this drug for a couple of weeks while in hospital. She was terribly anxious and aggressive as she always felt threatened. So far she is certainly calmer yet she is only on a low dose. The only down side has been slight tremors and occasional shaking. She had little quality of life before starting this medication so although we've been very worried she is certainly doing a little better. Hope this helps you. x

 

[fionajane]

That's really helpful, thank you so much for posting - you know what it's like, you start Googling and read all this horrifying stuff. And CJinUSA that's a very good idea - if she's taking her Aricept reliably, then perhaps we can hold off on the new drug, at least for a few months.

I think Mum might have been drinking at home over Christmas (she used to, then tapered it right off, but I think there was a little lapse in Dec - and am pretty sure her meds go all haywire when that's happening because she forgets or falls asleep).

I know these drugs are powerful and can have side effects, but it's really heartening to hear that this one can have positive effects. Mum isn't at all agitated at the moment, and doesn't seem to need anything new.... but then, when she's really upset and delusional, I think, help, she really does!

 

[fionajane]

Also, FifiMo - I've noticed my mum's verbal skills slowing too, even before she's started this new drug. She seems to struggle to find words, or uses the wrong ones - it's as if her vocabulary is shrinking. But she can rally herself if she meets a neighbour, or if the GP etc is chatting to her.

Btw, she's been prescribed a low dose.

 

[ardine1]

Hi my Mum was prescribed this and I was very worried about the consequences. She was on a low dose to start with and then as it worked so well in stopping her getting agitated with people in her hallucinations, it was increased to try and get a bit more relief in stopping them altogether.

Within a week we noticed the increased side effects. Her mobility was affected, she was drugged, drooling had her head on one side and spent 3 days in bed as she couldn't walk. She had no appetite, was constipated and we couldn't get her downstairs. The consultant took her off it and prescribed Olanzapine. These made the hallucinations return so tonight we have started on Aripprazole. Still the same side effects and risks as Respiridone but as the consultant said if we go back to Respiridone we have nowhere else to go apart from the lower dose. If we can try something else and it has a better effect on Mum can make the hallucinations better and her calmer, we should explore all possibilities

So although the drugs do list awful side effects they can really help as well as others have shown.
I wish you luck.

 

[Dikimiki]

My experience

If you look up my previous posts you will see I have commented on the Az drugs on several occasions. In summary what I discovered was the Aricept created aggression, the Namenda to reduce violence created hallucinations and the Risperidone turned my wife into a Zombie with all the side effects of drooling, shaking, passing out, poor vocal facility, agitation, non stop aimless walking, etc.
In my opinion none of the drugs had any positive effects and all were indeed harmful. Take care.

 

[Ann Mac]

Hi fionajane,

My Mil has mixed vasc and alzheimers, and several months ago, we were really struggling to cope with the hallucinations, delusions, paranoia and verbal aggression. It wasn't just that dealing with all this was exhausting, there was the fear of this behavior putting Mil at risk. We had instances of her wandering out of the house in the wee small hours, in the rain and cold and inappropriately dressed, with no idea of where she actually was. We had her knocking on complete strangers doors. And we were so worried about the agitation being so extreme that it might cause an angina attack, or similar

She was prescribed lorazepan, originally, but this had little impact after just a couple of days. So, we were persuaded to try resperidone - with the proviso that she would be carefully monitored. And as with Fifimo, in Mils case, its turned out to be something of a miracle drug - Mil hasn't turned into a sweet little old lady, she still hallucinates and has delusions, but its just not so extreme. She is now more amenable to being distracted, the paranoia has virtually gone, and the verbal aggression is about 95% less. She still wakes - usually around 4.30 - 5 a.m. - but tends to settle after and hour or so, and go back to sleep.

I was initially so guilt filled over agreeing to Mil having a medication that I had read horror stories about, but a friend of mine gave me some very straight talking advice that helped She said if she was in her right mind and was told that in the future, she would have the choice between being constantly agitated, afraid, seeing scary hallucinations, being angry and aggressive, and putting herself at risk from injury or a heart attack because of this, OR being 'Blissed off her t***s' on some nice medication, even if it also carried the risk or heart attack or stroke, she knew which door she would go through. When it was put like that, I knew which choice I would make too xxxxx