|
|
|
Complementary Medicine
Complementary Medicine is the use of natural therapy and medicines to restore and maintain health in addition to conventional medicine. Dating back to 420 B.C., around the time of Hippocrates, complementary medicine is also considered a practice...
Natural Approaches to Menopause
This past July,a report raised serious new concerns for the six million women taking combination hormone replacement therapy. In the lastest and statistically most valid study of this subject ever done,it was found that the combination of ESTROGEN...
Top 10 Do's For Women With type II Diabetes
It has been observed that women who are diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes are overweight. The exact cause of this type of diabetes is unclear, but it does appear to be associated with weight gain. In fact, a sedentary lifestyle, along with poor dietary...
What Is A Home Remedy?
Copyright 2005 by Doug Smith Home Remedies - Facts or Quacks? Myths and legends often have their basis in a grain of truth. So I wondered if home remedies, alternative treatments, and folklore cures might also be based on truth. First, let’s try...
When Normal Isn't Natural
Many of us suffer from chronic symptoms and disease. It isn’t very often you hear someone say they feel great and there are no problems. Most people will complain of suffering from at least one of a whole range of symptoms -stress, headaches,...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
What is Risperdal®?
What is Risperdal?
How is Risperdal® different than other drugs?
How long does it take for Risperdal® to start working?
How long do I need to take Risperdal®?
Will Risperdal® improve how I feel?
What are the typical side effects of Risperdal®?
What other side effects exist?
Studies on the safety of Risperdal®
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What is Risperdal?
RISPERDAL®, generically known as risperidone, is an FDA approved medication for treatment of bipolar I disorder and is also approved or to treat acute to manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder. It is approved for use as therapy alone or in combination with drugs called mood stabilizers, such as lithium or valproate. Risperdal is also approved for bipolar mania.
The drug was released in 1994 and is prescribed worldwide. It is one of a family of “atypical antipsychotic medications” used to treat schizophrenia and psychotic disorders. Risperdal® improves schizophrenia's positive symptoms (e.g., visual and auditory hallucinations, delusions, and thought disturbances) and may also help treat the illness’ negative symptoms (e.g., social withdrawal, apathy, lack of motivation, and inability to experience pleasure).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How does Risperdal® work?
In order to treat chemical imbalances associated with bipolar mania, dopamine and serotonin levels are controlled using the drug. While the specific details of how Risperdal® does this are not known, testing shows that Risperdal® adjusts the balance of dopamine and serotonin thereby reducing the bipolar mania. It is important to note that the Risperdal® does not cure, but only helps to control the mania.
Risperdal®, like some other atypical antipsychotics, is designed as a serotonin/dopamine antagonist. Apparently, Risperdal blocks the serotonin and dopamine, two neurotransmitter chemicals in the brains.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How is Risperdal® different than other drugs?
Conventional antipsychotics seem to primarily affect only dopamine. Risperdal® affects both. Antipsychotics such as Haldol, Stelazine, and Prolixin have treated symptoms in many patients. However, these drugs do not satisfactorily affect the negative (depressive) symptoms, Risperdal® has been shown to be as effective as the conventional medications in treating positive symptoms.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How long does it take for Risperdal® to start working?
Improvement of symptoms may be noticed in some patients relatively quickly. It can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks for a patient taking Risperdal® to see benefits. Therefore, usually doctors inform their patients to not expect immediate results, but to give the drug time to take full effect. Some adjustments may be necessary to reach the optimal dose for each patient.
Typically, a patient will take Risperdal® for a trial period of at least four to six weeks at
the optimal dose before evaluating its effectiveness. It is now known that lower doses (3 or 4 mg/day) are often effective with lower risk for side effects.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How long do I need to take Risperdal®?
You should take Risperdal as indicated by your doctor. Do not self regulate. Rather, take this drug as prescribed. The FDA has approved Risperdal as safe and effective. It could be dangerous to stop taking medicines, especially abruptly. Patients should talk with their physicians to decide whether the benefits and risks of taking Risperdal® make the product the right choice. Therefore, keep on taking Risperdal® as prescribed by your healthcare professional.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Will Risperdal® improve how I feel?
Risperdal® showed a large improvement for those taking it, compared to those taking a placebo – according to the clinical trials.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What are the typical side effects of Risperdal®?
· muscle stiffness
· tremors
· body shakes
· low blood pressure
· dizziness
· heart palpitations
· sleepiness
· constipation
· weight gain
· sexual dysfunction
· fatigue
· Anxiety
· Headache
· Rhinitis
Read more about the commonly known risks and side effects of Risperdal®
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What are other Risperdal® side effects that exist?· hypotension
· syncope
· cardiac arrhythmias
· first degree AV-block
· seizure
· gynecomastia (breast growth in males)
· galactorrhea · amenorrhea
· menorrhagia
· ejaculatory and erectile dysfunction.
· photosensitivity
· hyperpigmentation
· urinary retention
There are also several case reports of patients who developed the neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) as a complication of risperidone use, as well as cases of irreversible tardive dyskinesia is a consideration with chronic risperidone therapy, as with all neuroleptics, although the risk is thought to be lower with risperidone due to its comparatively weak dopamine receptor affinity.
More about the lesser known risks and side effects of Risperdal®?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Studies on the safety of Risperdal®
There are also several case reports of patients who developed the neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) as a complication of risperidone use, as well as cases of irreversible tardive dyskinesia is a consideration with chronic risperidone therapy, as with all neuroleptics, although the risk is thought to be lower with risperidone due to its comparatively weak dopamine receptor affinity.
About the Author
Risperdal-Help.org is a site designed to provide parents of children with Gynecomastia and other side effects from Risperdal with resources that help them make informed decisions.
|
|
|
|
|
| National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health |
| Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine offers access to health information for consumer, patient, and physicians ... |
| www.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com |
| Doctor-produced health and medical information written for you to make informed decisions about your health concerns. |
| www.medicinenet.com |
|
| Medicine in the Yahoo! Directory |
| Collection of sites for health professionals, with sections on specific disciplines, organizations, continuing education, conferences, publications, ... |
| dir.yahoo.com |
|
| MedlinePlus Health Information from the National Library of Medicine |
| Health information from the National Library of Medicine. Easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications. |
| medlineplus.gov |
|
| Medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Medicine is a branch of health science and the sector of public life ... The practice of medicine combines both science as the evidence base and art in the ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Journal Home - Nature Medicine |
| Nature Medicine has a vacancy for a Locum Assistant Editor for six months. The position involves working in all aspects of the editorial process, ... |
| www.nature.com |
|
| The New England Journal of Medicine: Research & Review Articles on ... |
| The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial ... |
| content.nejm.org |
|
| eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base |
| eMedicine features up-to-date, searchable, peer-reviewed medical journals, online physician reference textbooks, and a full-text article database in 62 ... |
| www.emedicine.com |
|
| Open Directory - Health: Medicine |
| the entire directory, only in Health/Medicine. Top: Health: Medicine (11429). Description · Medical Specialties (4888); Surgery (2265) ... |
| dmoz.org |
|
| the www virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/ - Similar pages |
|
|
| Medicine - home |
| Bimonthly journal covering the latest results in clinical investigation relevant to hospital and office practice. |
| www.md-journal.com |
|
| Institute of Medicine |
| The Institute of Medicine serves as adviser to the nation to improve health. |
| www.iom.edu |
|
| ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News |
| Medical Research News. Health news on everything from cancer to nutrition. Full-text, images, updated daily. |
| www.sciencedaily.com |
|
| Google Directory - Health > Medicine |
| Search only in Medicine Search the Web. Medicine. Health > Medicine, Go to Directory Home. Categories. Alternative Medicine (6308) Basic Sciences (66) ... |
| www.google.com |
|
| the world wide web virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.mcb.harvard.edu/biopages/medicine.html - Similar pages |
|
|
| PLoS Medicine - A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal |
| PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed, international, open-access journal published ... Every issue of PLoS Medicine contains a selection of readers' responses. ... |
| medicine.plosjournals.org |
|
| Medicine On-Line - Medicine Online -The International Medical Journal |
| Medicine Online - independent and peer reviewed journal published by Priory Medical Journals - priory.com. |
| www.priory.com |
|
| Entrez PubMed |
| PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for ... |
| www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Stanford University School of Medicine |
| Home Page of the Stanford University School of Medicine. |
| med.stanford.edu |
|
| Medicine OnLine |
| Meds.com offers medical information and education on cancer (lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, leukemia) and HIV / AIDS for patients, ... |
| www.meds.com |
|
|