Posted by jjj on May 18, 2005, at 10:40:35
In reply to Re: risperdal withdrawl causing more symptoms » jjj, posted by SLS on May 18, 2005, at 8:28:58
Hey SLS,
hmmm. I'm not sure what I'm diagnosed with. I guess it could be considered psychotic depression, although I don't feel especially depressed anymore, yet the psychosis is still happening. I've had one hypomanic episode in the past, but I believe it was induced by medication. It only happened once and hasn't happened again. Not sure if that rules out bipolar, but if I am bipolar, it is a very slight case. I don't experience drastic changes in mood. My pdoc has concentrated on treating my symptoms and hasn't provided a definitive "diagnosis".
I'm extremely self critical, although with treatment I've been learning to accept my faults and generally let things go instead of mulling over them and making myself upset about something I didn't do, or something I don't like about myself.
I have hallucinations, generally when going to sleep or waking up, that my neighbor in the next room is screaming, muttering, generally talking bad about me. He apparently is tracking all my movements (apartment has pretty thin walls), and is upset about how I spend my time. The voices are extremely critical of me and my decisions.
I have not experienced other hallucinations. They have been pretty contained and only happen in my apartment. When they were really severe, I'd hear the neighbor all the time, but it still was this one voice. Because of how limited these hallucinations are, I've grown accustomed to them. When it happens I can say to myself, "this isn't really happening". I think if the experiences were more diverse, it would be much more difficult.
When this all started I was totally convinced that my neighbor was really pissed at me. It took me a long time to discount the experience. I listened against the wall with a glass, ran a tape recorder, invited a friend over to listen, etc... Even after confirmation, it was hard to determine the validity of the experience. It is very life-like.
I've recently started trying a sleep aid, to help avoid the hallucinations. Seems to work pretty well. I still have some when I'm laying down to get to sleep, but the sleep medicine keeps that time period pretty short. I slept through the night and didn't have any problems where the hallucinations would wake me up at 4:00am like what would usually happen. (last night was the first try at this, so hopefully things will go well.)
Thanks for the additional information about the backlash symptoms. It is good to hear confirmation about that aspect of risperdal withdrawl. I will stick things out and see what happens.
jjj
poster:jjj
thread:499279
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/wdrawl/20050424/msgs/499398.html