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Suggest Treatment For Severe Depression
Mistakenly, my wife and I under the supervision of a psychiatrist, gradually removed Risperdone from her drug regime. She had started many years ago taking Risperdal Consta, 25 mg injections, every two weeks. She had been diagnosed with severe depression with psychotic features. Because of of these injections, her mental illness was in remission for over 10 years. (she also took effexor and cogentin during this period). However we mistakenly believed she was cured and the side effects of her meds were affecting her quality of life. So we ceased the injections and placed her on risperdone, which was gradually reduced to zero. Then she suffered a psychic event( delusions and mania.) She appears to now be stabilized now. She takes Risperdal Consta 25 mg injections every two weeks as well as 5mg of Abilify daily, 37.5mg of Effexor and 0.5mg of cogentin. MY QUESTION IS SIMPLY THIS: IS IT COMMON FOR PATIENTS TO TAKE TWO ANTI PSYCHOTIC DRUGS (Abilify and Risperdal Consta injections) at the same time? She gives every indication of having stabilized.
Mon, 9 Jan 2017
Hello,
Thanks for the elaborate history. The answer to your question is simple. Yes, there are circumstances where patients are kept under 2 or more anti-psychotics depending on their symptoms.
Abilify and Resperidone do not generally have a significant interaction therefore it's not contraindicated to be used together. Psychiatric symptoms in general are unpredictable as neither the patient nor us know the trigger that generally exacerbate their symptoms. Even though your wife appears stabilized it's good to have her on adequate or low doses of medication rather than to take it off completely.
I would advise you to continue with the regimen that she is already on. If you think dose reduction consult with your psychiatrist and try removing stressors and triggers, making her environment more peaceful that can be helpful in decreasing the intensity of the symptoms.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Manoj Pradeep
Thanks for the elaborate history. The answer to your question is simple. Yes, there are circumstances where patients are kept under 2 or more anti-psychotics depending on their symptoms.
Abilify and Resperidone do not generally have a significant interaction therefore it's not contraindicated to be used together. Psychiatric symptoms in general are unpredictable as neither the patient nor us know the trigger that generally exacerbate their symptoms. Even though your wife appears stabilized it's good to have her on adequate or low doses of medication rather than to take it off completely.
I would advise you to continue with the regimen that she is already on. If you think dose reduction consult with your psychiatrist and try removing stressors and triggers, making her environment more peaceful that can be helpful in decreasing the intensity of the symptoms.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Manoj Pradeep
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