These comments are made for the purpose of discussion and should NOT be used as recommendations for or against therapies or other treatments. An individual patient is always advised to consult their own physician.
Risperidone
Question: My mother recently had her dosage of risperidone increased from 1/2 mg a day
to 2 mg a day. Since this has happened, my mother has gone from a posture of
fairly upright to bent over. Her blood pressure has gone down, and the family
doctor won’t give her a diuretic to take the fluid that she is retaining in her
right foot. It is swollen up to twice the size. My mother, who is 81, has a very
low tolerance to these kind of drugs. Her eyes look haunted and she doesn’t
have the energy she used to have. It doesn’t seem like she cares about herself anymore. I
don’t like what I see. Does risperidone cause these side effects. She has been
calmer, which is what the Assisted Living place wanted, but is it worth the
change? Please advise.
Answer: Titrating sedative drugs in older patients takes a lot of care and observation. The goal is to minimize agitation, not gork them out. I’d discuss this with the ordering physician. It sounds like she is being overmedicated.
