My journey with risperidone

During my manic phases, I smoke a lot, but I don't smoke at all during depressive phases.

So my kid was switched to some different meds, and honestly? They seem to be doing the trick for him. He's on Olanzapine and Lorazepam now.

Yeah, all those anti-psychotics come wiht their own set of side effects, and honestly? I'd rather skip them altogether if I could. Like, olanzapine in particular-it's got some pretty hefty downsides, mainly around weight gain. Some folks put on a ton of pounds from it, which can really mess up your blood lipids and sugar levels too. It's not exactly fun stuff to deal with long-term becuase it could end up leding to diabetes-I mean, my dad has it, so I'm kind of predisposed anyway.

Interesting! In my experience, when I get manic episodes, lack of sleep turns everything into this weird blend where my conscious and subconscious blur together (btw, after a manic episode in the past, there were actually monhts where things felt normal again. Now though, it's more like right after a depressive phase, if I start feeling okay, that's usually when I know a new manic episode is on its way-I've learned to recognize those early signs).

Someone shared a story about this guy named Dan who was also dealing with mental health stuff, but differently from me. He had something called schizophreniform disorder, which basiclaly means the symptoms come and go instead of being constant (his parents really struggled when he first got sick-someone spiked his drink at a party with PCP, and it set off all srots of wild hallucinations for him).

Dan was in the hospital for about eight months after that scary incidet to stabilize. When they let him out, he wasn't fully "normal," but he had learned how to live with it. He said one of his toughest moments was when he saw the devil instead of himself in a mirror-he freaked out big time until this angel appeared and told him to close his eyes.

Fifteen years later, Dan still talked about that episode calmly and even found some humor in it-pretty amazing how far someone can come. His treatment plan included avoiding stress, spotting early signs of an episode, reminding himself that things would get better eventually, and figuring out ways to explain time off from work due to his episodes.

One thing he said was really helpful: employers needed to know about these absences so they wouldn't freak out when it happened again. His team knew what was going on, but sometimes other bosses weren't as understanding.

It's wild how different our experiences can be even with similar conditions!

So yeah, besides the whole cigarette habit thing, I got this other issue where when I'm in a manic phase, my wallet takes a serious beating. Anyway, one time it was Christmas and I just walked into some random pawn shop-next thing you knoow, I've left with a laptop, two tablets, and even grabbed myself a wristwatch. None of that stuff really served any purpose though, I mean-I don't need all that junk, but there's something about being in that state where everything seems like scuh a good idea at the time.

Everyone reacts differently. Try other meds if issues come up. I was 26 when on Risperidone, now 30. Hospital put me on it but it messed with me. They switched it back. Don't google stuff, talk to your team instead. Saves worrying. Never took it again after that