I have had severe insomnia the last few weeks and it has escalated to where I ended up in the ER getting a Rx for Ambien (which isn’t helping). Only see my pdoc once every 6 weeks.
What happened was my doc added 40mg of Latuda to my 2mg Risperidone in an effort to wean me onto Latuda. It was WAY too much for my system! I was jumping out of my skin. But I still wanted to try so I backed down to 20mg of Latuda. That was too much so I went to 2mg Risperidone one day and then 20mg Latuda the next. I had insomnia and restlessness and was blaming the sheer volume of anti psychotics when I think it was the Latuda. I was so desperate, I ended up backing down to 1mg of Risperidone (from my original 2mg). I still have insomnia but I think (now) it may be due to Risperidone withdrawals. It’s different than the insomnia I had when I was jumping around with restlessness. I’m wired like I am on speed. I feel like I took Adderall. Probably from the increased dopamine I have been reading about people who had severe insomnia with Risperidone withdrawals. I don’t see my pdoc until August 3rd. I know it’s a cardinal sin to mess with your meds but I was literally jumping out of my skin on all the Latuda and Risperdione. Maybe I backed off too far? I don’t have any psychotic symptoms at all. Just the severe insomnia. I think I’m going to take 2mg tonight (my old dose) and see if it does anything. Latuda is the Devil and definitely out of the picture. This SUCKS. I used to be able to sleep on 2mg of Risperdal and 1200mg Trileptal. I’m scared to go back to that though. Afraid of the restlessness. I need my pdoc.
@Wave I didn’t realize that insomnia was a withdrawal symptom of Risperdal until I read some posts online. It can get pretty severe. I’m sorry your dealing with insomnia too. Are you switching meds? Or just coming off altogether? What does your pdoc think? Do you take anything to help you sleep?
I am currently on no meds - my pdoc is on board with me coming off of all Antipsychotics for a while to see how I will manage.
I see her in a few days and she won’t be happy with me, because she prescribed me Depakote and wants me to take it but I just feel too sick and dizzy to take it.
Besides I changed my mind and no longer want to take Depakote, it is a big weight gaining med and in the past has damaged my liver.
I might ask her to go on Tegretol or Trileptal instead.
They are more weight neutral.
I sometimes take Klonopin to help me relax so I can sleep a bit.
So now you’re telling me that the risperidone could cause the insomnia that I had. Does it happen immediately because I was weaned down from it for months.
I think it is Risperidone withdrawal. Sure seems that way. It’s hard to tell when the withdrawal started b/c I had insomnia due to restlessness with the high dose of combined meds as well. My best guess with the withdrawal insomnia is it kicked in as soon as I started dropping my dose. It hasn’t stabilized yet. In my case, I went up about a month ago and then started dropping 3 weeks ago. I’ve been on my current lower dose a week or so. From what I have read, withdrawal should only take 2-3 weeks but from what I hear people saying, it could be longer. I’m doing fine on my current dose except I literally can’t sleep. I dunno if I should tough it out or go back up in dose. My pdoc appointment can’t get here fast enough.
If I start feeling psychotic, I’m all over the crisis line and probably the mental ward. Taking no chances. So far just having a lot of insomnia but otherwise fine.
I have been off risperdal for three days straight. So far I feel sweaty, restless, my muscles are achy, and I can’t stay asleep. I feel physically tired all day and night, then when my regular bedtime comes, I lay down, and I feel half conscious all night. My doc gave me a new diagnosis, PTSD and major depression. She said the risperdal was making me gain weight on a very low dose (1 mg), plus I was hallucinating and paranoid. So she cut it off completely, and switched me to Latuda 40 mg. I anticipated the insomnia, as I have chosen to not take risperdal before, so she said melatonin will help me sleep. This has worked in the past, it’s a vitamin that you can get a the drug store.