Haloperidol and other super potent typical AP’s in my opinion should be used in acute psychosis, like in heavy ward units to stabilize and not for maintenance after a discharge. My pdoc said if I had stayed any longer on haloperidol, it would have made me into a vegetable
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Oh gosh that’s scary. I will def keep that in mind with med changes.
I had a parminsonism on haloperidol and did not suspect it, I didn’t have stiff musclee, but had a total loss of emotions, which are a symptoms of parkinsonism
I am a psych nurse. Typically if a patient is on an older gen AP like that it is either because a) they have been put on every other AP and that was just what worked for them or b) they don’t have the insurance or funds to cover anything but the old stuff. Which is so sad because it literally means if you’re not as financially blessed you get worse medications and treatment for your disorder than are currently available which is just so wrong.
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Well Im not sure in the USA, not cheapest generic risleridone is not hard to cover or generic quetiapine. Sure typicsls are effective to some extent, but usually does not affect mood disorder associated with disorder and usually requires anti parkinson’s agents to reduce the side effects of typical aps, which paradoxically creates even more side effects.
Im living in Europe and I dont know why I was put on haloperidol after one of my relapses on lower dose of Invega while my meds cost 0€
I’m on Haldol. I take 15 mg per day. I’m not a vegetable. I think it’s different for everyone
Oh yeah I can’t speak for Europe 
that’s a shame
it’s flat-out dangerous. it was initially banned in the 1950’s when it first came out. i was on it for a few months when i was first diagnosed in 1998. i tried to hurt myself just from the side effects of constantly having to move my arms and legs during my waking hours, and trouble urinating. the staff in my local psych unit use it as a default typical antipsychotic, which i found 11 years later when i had to go back-even using the exact phrasing before trying to administer. at that point, i had to be a little “forcefully articulate” about pharmacology, and was given trilafon.
I have been on 1 mg Haldol for 42 years. I worked enough to earn a pension.
(I also take Seroquel the last 18 years for sleep.)
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I’ve been on haloperidol depot for about 2 years - started off on 100mg then dropped to 80, now i’m on 75. I can’t say i’m happy with this med. It has caused me to have a flat mood and loss of sex drive. It gave me hyperprolactinemia, so now i’m on aripiprazole on top of haldol. It’s worked wonders. I feel brighter and have my sex drive back. Blood tests show my prolactin levels have come down and i’ve only been on it a month.
Hdol is my least favourite of common medications still in use. It gave me Parkinsonism also. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone but also everything has its place. Acute or maintenance I don’t think makes a difference.
I think heavily sedating aps that hit the histamine receptor strongly and cause problematic metabolic effects should be swapped out for things that have more favorable metabolic profiles after the initial acute phase. But that is contingent on stability and good recovery trajectory. Some might require more potent stuff and some people get good results from hdol. Despite the fact that I don’t think it’s a best agent it is not something I would want removed from the market
Current practice is newer atypicals and risperdal seems a good first acting antipsychotic. We are all different and 20% roughly have problems even on the meds so there’s that. Still. You’ll find people around here still who are on haldol and it works for them…Yeah. There’s way better options but for some it helps…and the other thing is price. It’s so much cheaper to use than other drugs that haven’t come off of patent yet…mental health care inpatient is notoriously expensive.