My psychiatrist and I have decided to switch my risperdal to haldol. We did this for several reasons, most notable doing it because of the growing inefficiency of risperdal. And then, if we did increase risperdal, it would likely cause more weight gain. We also considered this as an experiment for caplyta, since it helps a great deal with the negative symptoms. So we’re kind of hoping that caplyta can nullify the side effects of haldol.
This brings me up to my question: is there any advice from anyone about haldol that could prove beneficial?
I did not get any weight gain on Haldol - I lost weight
This would be a good move as the side effects from Haldol can be harsh to say the least.
Here now they don’t prescribe Haldol unless you’re in hospital. They made an exception for me when I was on it for 8 months, as they were running out of options.
Yes it can be very effective - even at a low dose. However I had significant movement problems, and it made me a very weird kinda sedate.
That said, you’ll need to look at your own personal circumstances, and decide what you want to do, also whether the relief you get from it outweighs the negative impact of the drug
Yeah, don’t take it. Haldol is a first generation “typical” antipsychotic with a higher risk profile for tardive dyskensia.
I was forced onto it. A pdoc gave me a choice between haldol and clozapine and I thought haldol was the lesser of two evils. I eventually got a new psychiatrist and switched to Lurasidone (Latuda).
I tried it and it gave me a horrible case of restless leg syndrome plus it made me dizzy/vertigo. I couldn’t stand still without feeling like I was going to fall over, very disorienting.
I’m on a similarly 1 gen meds to haldol. And I must say that after getting added two Cogentin like pills for side effects there’s been no problems. And let me tell you that 1. Gen meds cause much less weight gain than 2. Gen meds.I’ve used Clopixol for 26 years now and I haven’t got TD or diabetes
I’d rather gain weight (which I did on Olanzapine) than develop TD. TD is usually permanent, weight can always be lost, in fact I’ve lost 80lbs and am now a healthy weight. I refuse to use any of the first gen APs because of their higher TD risk profile. The only reason I tried Haldol was that I had no choice at that time, it was either that or remain trapped in the psych ward. I didn’t like the psychiatrist I was assigned.
Lurasidone allowed me to lose all the weight I gained on Olanzapine and has a low risk profile for TD so it’s the best of both worlds. Plus it works 100%, I haven’t had any hallucinations or delusions since I started, and no side effects either other than the akathisia I recently developed. Akathisia sucks but I found a solution to it.
I gained almost 20 lbs. very quickly on Haldol, without eating that much. My weight stays steady on gen 2 med’s. Almost all gen 1 med’s make it very hard for me to sit still. I have to get up and pace back and forth. One time they had taken me to an assisted living facility, and they put me in this room with about 25 other people. Everyone was sitting down watching a western on tv, but I absolutely could not sit still because I was on Prolixin at the time. I had to get up and pace back and forth. There was this girl there who acted like she had some kind of authority over me, and she kept telling me to sit down. I pretty much ignored her. After that movie they served supper. I ate supper there and then walked out on the highway and headed home. That was one of the rougher road trips I took, because the Prolixin cut into my endurance so bad.
I take benztropine for the side effects from Haldol. I lost 100 pounds while on Haldol. I take oral Haldol, 15mg per day. It makes me very tired but I force myself to do stuff
I’ve read various stats on TD, not just the drugs risk themselves, but how long you have been on them increases the chance too. Out of all the side effects I’ve read about TD is the one the freaks me out the most. I want to lower my risk as much as possible. Lurasidone has a low TD risk profile which is one of the reasons why I agreed to try it and get off Haldol as soon as I could.
I almost got TD when I was on Risperdone 16 mg. I have used the conventional antipsychotics Clopixol depo for 26 years in various doses from 300 mg weekly to now 500 mg every 3 weeks. I must say that it’s the most side effect free medication I’ve ever used and the only meds that really handles my psychosis
I’m on 5mg haldol along with other meds and I like it because it relaxes me and calms me well. I feel a little stiff and restless on it but it’s better than when I first started it.
I don’t want to offend anybody even though I think I did. I have tried all kind of meds in parallel with Clopixol. Switched from on atypical to another because I wasn’t satisfied with the result but I kept my depo as a safe heaven. The only meds that worked better than my depo was Clozapine. But that comes with it’s own kind of troubles. I just want to say to the young folks that you shouldn’t let anybody scare you away from Haldol if that’s the only one that works for you