He should not alter his medication in any way without the consent of his psychiatrist. He was prescribed that dosage for a reason. Cutting back may bring his symptoms back. If he is experiencing side-effects, he needs to talk to his doctor about it. But self-dosing is very dangerous. I don't know how bad his condition is, but people who reduce or go off their medication can have psychotic breaks, which makes treatment very difficult.

Please, tell your son to see his doctor before he changes how much medication he takes.

Well lesson learned for him as of today. He has a.d.d. and developmental delays to some degree..also depression and various other symptoms to a small degree. He did speak with his psychiatrist about removing the dose of risperadal and he was given the okay do it and see how he felt afterward. It took just a few days for him to notice that his focus was off today and his mood dropped noticeably. As of 4:00 pm he took the dose once again and now knows that he indeed still needs it, I for one am glad. Thank you for your response.

Hi just a question about Risperdal. My son was prescribed this and even though it stopped some of the psychotic episodes he was having it turned his mentality into that of a 4 year old. I told the doctor but he didn't believe me. I took my son to another doctor and they changed the medication and within a week you could see the change in him. He was again his age or almost. He still takes medication for his mental illness but he will never use Risperdal again. I am not sure what one he is on at the moment. Just wondering if your son has had a similar problem on this Risperdal? My son is now 29 years old and doing very well but will most likely always have to take his medication.

My son takes Risperdal also. He is autistic and developmentally delayed. The medication has calmed him down considerably and helped with his obsessions, but it also affects his powers of speech. Sometimes he struggles to get his words out and it frustrates him terribly. It is quite upsetting to watch him struggle to talk. When we forget to give him dose the speech improves, but the behaviour goes off. It is really a balancing act. Behaviour control or speech? The doctors don't seem to have any other answer so we are stuck with the Risperdal. So I guess this medication affects different people in different ways.

For my son,he's run the gammit on a.d.d medications and they didn't seem to help much as he grew older. It really is hit and miss with people, it does seem that individuals have very different reactions to this drug. For example, some people swear by Adderall and yet my son had a psychotic episode after being on it. So it's all careful monitoring on what ever medication people happen to take. One thing I found is that a lot of psychiatrists tend to give to high a dose of any given medication at first. I always halfed that medication when possible and that seemed to work out better. At the moment my son is doing well on 10 m of Celxa..0.5 m of risperadal at noon..and at night 1 mg of risperadal. I think he's doing rather well for someone who is 6ft. 3 in. and about 190 lbs. So yes everyone has a different reaction to this drug depending on the dosage to I believe.

You know, the really good thing about this site is not just that we can sometimes get answers to our medical questions, but that we are able to share our experiences with each other. Sometimes one feels really alone with what often seems like insurmountable problems, but hearing about others who are facing similar difficulties really helps to remove that isolation factor. We can see that we are not Robinson Crusoe after all. While this obviously does not make our problems any less, it does give some comfort. So, I'd like to say a deeply felt thank-you to everyone who comes on this forum and shares their knowledge, wisdom and experience. Your words can mean a lot to people you will never see. Best wishes to all!

You're right Lisa it is definitely nice to know you're not alone. I've also joined another helpful site called "Daily Strength" there are many groups there as well for any disorder you could name. It doesn't hurt to let people know where they can find help and also friends who can relate. Although I don't take risperadal nor do I know what it feels like to have my sons problems, I can go into an A.D.D. group of people there who are always great at answering my questions or giving their opinions. That group has also been great to help conquer my anxiety, it showed me that people from all walks of life suffer from this, especially those of us with children or adults who have a mental illness or are challenged.

I will certainly check out that site. It sounds quite positive. Thanks for posting about it firelightglow.