so Anhedonia for those of who dont know is inability to feel pleasure in normally pleasurable activities., so im sure if you have been on an anti psychotic, you must be knowing that certain things you used to enjoy, you cant enjoy anymore, like sex for example, so i am going through the same…and i was put on risperidone, and it sucked the life out of me, it destroyed my sex drive, stopped me from getting high, stopped me from enjoying a drink, took away my emotions,numbed my feelings, so basically im really depressed about all this and i currently feel super suicidal, and i have so much anger with the doctor who prescribed me these meds and he did not even mention any of this would happen, which makes me more angry, so anyone with similar experience, just please tell me how to get over this depression and suicidal thoughts i have, dont tell me to talk to a suicide hotline cuz i tried and they did not reply, and plus i have severe anxiety, and the support network in my country is not that good, so please anyone with simialr experiecne please help me out to recover my life…
If you’re getting suicidal ideation on your current meds then you need to tell your doctor immediately. I hope he’ll put you on a different med.
I second what @everhopeful said. As someone who is still currently suicidal getting the help I needed was super important. I got in to see my doctor right away and I got my meds changed slightly. It was helpful to talk to him about what was going on. Please go in and see your doctor and say exactly what you’ve said on here. Only they can truly help
Vraylar did this to me very recently and my only option was to quit because I was already on medication for my mood, there was just nothing to be done unfortunately 
took 4 days off for my mood to be normal again.
If you are not on mood medication you can try that first if you really want to stay on your AP and see if it works.
I think anhedonia is often from the illness, not the meds.
If one treatment does not work, another treatment down the road may. A lot of doctors are trying to keep patients out of hospitals and jails. To them it may be trial and error to find a treatment and the correct dose.
no thats not true for me, before i took the meds i did not have anhedonia, only after taking these meds i got that, like before taking these meds my sex drive and everything was fully functional, i just feel bad that my doctor ruined my life, i mean at least he should have informed me that this would happen, i just feel super depressed right now.
Hey, there are people who were able to exit from the anhedonia tunnel after even two years of Invega injections, it takes time but it is possible. When you stop taking oral antipsychotics your body is full of drug’s “leftovers” that can have therapeutic effect even for months, after that your brain will slowly return to its previous state, dopamine will bind again and everything will return, emotions, pleasure, sex drive, etc. You just need to be patient.
Psychiatrists want us to think that anhedonia is caused by the illness, but fortunately people are starting to understand it is caused by medicines, it is just the consequence of the dopamine blockade.
sarcosine helped me with anhedonia
how long does it take for dopamine to bind again after quitting these anti psychotics? i still havent quit the anti psychotics , im on the process of tapering them off, i dont want to wait a long time for my body to return to normal, as im already too old, im 23 now…
hey i feel like you know about this stuff a lot, i remember you from one of my previous topics as well, i want to talk to you more about this stuff, cuz i feel like you can help me, is there any way to contact you? like an email maybe?
I tried to post my email but the site doesn’t allow it, anyway, nobody can tell you how long it will take to recover, it is different from person to person, but it will take a few months for sure.
so why would my doctor ruin my life like this and not even tell me of the side effects and risks of this medicine before taking the medicine? i just hate my life right now, i wish i were dead…
i mean if he would have told i would never have taken these medicine, but im not a doctor so how would i have known the damage these drugs would do to me…
When I was diagnosed, I was 26. I was in such bad state, and because I was paranoid, I refused to take meds, but they pushed them down my throat. I was so uncooperative, the doctor opted to give me shock treatments to get me to bounce back, and I did. I started complying by taking my meds. I lost pleasure, but I was so terrified of my breakdown that I took them. Some of us take a long time to recover from anhedonia.
You are very angry and you need to talk to your doctor, and if you feel he’s not going to help you change doctors, although this I wouldn’t recommend, because they’ll just start trying to figure out what meds work best for you and your back to square one.
What were your symptoms that you had that you needed to go on medication in the first place? Psychosis? Paranoia? Hearing voices? Let me explain something to you about pdocs. They want to control your symptoms. That is what is Most important to them. They will not mention things to you about side effects of the medication because it may make you not take it. That is exactly what they don’t want to happen. I think risperdal causes emotional flatness because it blocks dopamine which is responsible for producing emotions
Dopamine also makes you feel pleasure which can be taken away as well by blocking dopamine. Do not ever expect them to mention that glutamate is probably imbalanced in your brain. Glutamate imbalances have been linked to schiz since the 80s. Do not expect them to ever mention that there is no medication on the market to treat your glutamate system. Which may very well be a big part of your problem as to why you don’t feel well. Glutamate out of wack. Sarcosine may help with negative symptoms caused by problems with the glutamate system. Don’t ever look to your doctor to know anything about sarcosine. Look at what they say about it on this website. Sarcosine is the one thing that may help you. Coming down with schizophrenia is life changing. Medication can help take positive symptoms away but treatment is still far from perfect.
I have a good life right now and yet l am feeling periods of extreme depression no real joy like a heavyness in the brain l have had 2 infections of Invega and have gained 30 pounds since and not to mention the muscle pains and bladder control problems l would not recommend this drug did not have this with Abilfy
If you have any bipolar issues, a sunlight lamp can help as lomg as you use it correctly.
I too feel like risperidone ruined my life. I never had problems with depression and lack of interest in everything before it. I was told I could try Sam e and I’m also interested in selegiline.
I didnt like risperdal.
I would ask to switch APs if it were me.
There are APs that treat positive symptoms and help with depression.