Hi,
I am looking for some answers or advice or opinions. Just a little background I have been DXD BP for 12 years. I have spent the past five months in an extreme hypomanic phase charaterized my anger, racing thoughts and chronic insominia. I have tried everything and anything and after meeeting with my pdoc this coming Thursday I might be on nothng at all.

Here is my dilemna I am currently on lithium 1350 mg and 4 mg ( well i am taking 2 mg) of Risperdol. I have put on 11 pounds and that is not acceptable to me. A brief background, as a former sufferer of an eating disorder weight gain is a trigger for me. But, I dont think anyone would be happy with the weight gain.

What have people's experience been on Risperdol. So far everyone I know has gained weight and therfore, they have gotten off it. I am not sure about the lithium though.

I want to go in and see my pdoc on Thursday and be informed. It is my understanding that lithium can make you gain weight as well so then I need to get off that too.

While I am sleeping, my mood is horrendous. I am angry though not like before I have been hit with a terrible depression. I tried to not take any risperdol last night but I couldnt fall asleep so I broke down and took 1/2 my prescribed dosage. I dont want to take it at all

Any advice, thoughts, opinions etc would be gratefully apppreciated

I've been taking 1200 mg/day of Lithium since 1985.
I'm 5'3", weigh 125 lbs, and am 50 yrs old.
Not a weight issue for me anyway... (unless I wanted to be 110 lb and manic/depressed again!)
:angel:

Thanks, Ruth I guess that is where I fall down gaining 11 pounds isnt worth it to me. Call it about my eating disorder I am not sure. It is just been a huge trigger for me to put the pounds on and not know when it is going to stop. And yes, while I am sleeping I dont feel great. There has to be a better or different combination of meds out there - who knows where I have tried so much stuff these past 6 months

I guess that the hard thing is figuring out if the weight gain is:
1) Really a side effect of the medication
or
2) Part of the eating disorder
or
3) A little of both!

I don't have the eating disorder part so its easy for me to say that I'd rather weigh a bit more and be balanced, than be thin and actively manic/depressed...
Have you thought about getting help for the eating disorder so that you can be a little on the high side of your weight category and take your meds??
Hang in there,
:angel:

hey belly button.. i have had the same issue as you.. i was diagnosed with anorexia inthe 9th grade i am now a freshman in high school and fully recovered.. but i still have weight and food issues.. it hink the lithium has had a huge effect on my weight.. and now i see that it can break out my face?! do you have that side effect too? if you do let me kno !

Hi there, just to add my experiances, I've been taking Lithium for 6 years now. Currently on 1.2grms daily. I'm ex special forces, so I was 'Superman' fit, I found the Lithium slowed my metabolism down so much I put on thirty six pounds before I got it under control. No one warned me of this before I started... Sounds like Docs in the US are the same as Docs over here in England... I also dealt with severe nausea for years before that settled down. However, right now I'm stable and HAPPY. Stick with it, it's worth the wait.

... gotta stick my two scents in here, as opinions often resemble anal orifices - in that everyone's got one, but unchecked ~ they too often stink ...

(incidentally, the above is SELF-CRITICISM, directed only at myself)...


I was already curious about Risperdol. Thanks for the posting. Despite my general avoidance of meds and consequences, ANYTHING that might help me sleep more than a couple of hours is under consideration...

That was scent number one...

Scent number two (as opposed to OF number 2, so to speak...)...

It IS curious how we hypomanics metabolize "stuff". When I was abusing my body daily with about 2 gallons of Diet Pepsi (yes, I get a kickback for that) - I was able to keep my weight about where I wanted it (so long as I had a toilet next to the bed)...

Now, since I'm a year OLDER than Ruth (by-the-way Ruth, you tricked me when you indicated eons ago that you were obese and beyond), my general physical health has gone south, no doubt in part due to whatever poisons are in that Pepsi. A couple of sizeable cysts in each kidney... Gums receeding faster than the California Coastline... Blood pressure above the stratosphere (I must have some hecka-thick cerebral arteries to still BE HERE)...

I finally "ditched" the Pepsi. Now, my body seeks an excuse to continue its trauma, and has decided it's time to get into Santa shape... That's another gene I inherited, from the spouse of my hecka-Bi-Polar paternal Grandma...

So... While I can sympathize with the weight gain and the feelings evoked, I am more in the camp of "hedgehog", in that THIRTY pounds is a traumatic gain (but then again, Hedgehog and I are probably GUYS, who don't get the same level of rejection over lesser weight gains)...

I hope I didn't stray too far with this !!!

hi...i tried lithium w/ no success...too many side effects....i'm now on risperdal which knocks me out cold so i take it at bedtime...i have put on weight which i feel is unacceptable so doc has added wellbutrin both to combat the morning tiredness from the risperdal and hopefully to help the weight issue....it also helps with the lingering depression that the risperdal doesnt completely control...so far this combo is working...weight seems to be under control...one more thing about the risperdal though...it has raised my prolactin level to the point that i havent had my period in 6 months...not sure if this is a problem other than the monthly pregnancy tests i must take...will they ever find a med that doesnt have baggage of its own???
PPP~~~

Yo' Polly !!!

Thanks for the additional info about risperdal...

You didn't mention the AMOUNT you are taking that had those "effects"...

Yo back at ya...lol....
i'm on a small dose of risperdal, 1 mg each night....we tried going up to 2 mgs but it was way too sedating for me...it can also be used as needed, so if i'm feelin' a wee bit psychotic during the day, i'll take an additional 1/2 mg but even that amt. sends me to sleep unless i take it w/ a pot of coffee...
happy thanksgiving everyone!
PPP~~~

Thanks Polly (and Happy Thanksgiving ~ please note my other thread to that effect)...

Sounds like Risperdol is some serious "stuff" (notice my unusual use of euphemism - it's obvious THIS boy hasn't had his morning caffeine, yet)...

I'm compiling all the practical data I can, before doing a "ten to the hundredth" search (still iffy about mentioning search engines by name)...

I trust pharmaceutical propaganda about as far as I could throw this computer monitor, so it's great to hear from those who've sampled the cornucopea and still have enough neural function left to read and write...

Have a Great Day !!! ;)