Here is a letter from V. about her son and Invega- also previosly known as extended release Risperdal.<\/p>\n
Julie,<\/p>\n
My son has been treated for bi-polar with a mix of medications which includes Invega.\u00a0 This is a newer version of risperdal which is supposed to have fewer side effects.\u00a0 I think my son is suffering from reduced cognitive functioning, like he is in a fog.\u00a0 It is hard to tell because he definitely had a real drop in IQ testing (about 20 points) which the doctors thought were due to his anxiety and depression at the time of the testing, but I think it might be the meds too.<\/p>\n
He seems “dumber” than ever and complains about it.\u00a0 He used to be very sharp, although he had other emotional problems which are better controlled now.\u00a0 Do you have any experience with invega or has anyone heard of this?\u00a0 He also seems to have significantly thinning hair and I suspect the 2000 mg of depakote he takes.\u00a0 Any ideas?<\/p>\n
Hi V,<\/p>\n
First of all, I am not a doctor! I always say that because I truly believe a medications specialist is our best friend in managing this illness.<\/p>\n
To answer your question, there is no doubt that Risperdal\u00a0 (Risperidone) can cause fuzziness! All anti psychotics are known for this, though Abilify is supposed to have less. A friend of mine is on Zyprexa and always says it dulls her. And yet it keeps her out of the hospital and able to work part time!\u00a0 There is a side effect called anhedonia that is described a lack of feeling- the official definition is without emotion. I definitely get it when my meds are off. It can definitely come with depression as well.\u00a0 There are quite a few meds that can cause thinning hair and some cause hair to fall out in clumps. Remember, bipolar meds are chemo therapy!<\/p>\n
Having said this, it\u2019s wonderful that his emotions are more under control.\u00a0 They can cause more trouble than being dull from medications. Anxiety and depression cause memory and focus problems- they can also make you feel emotionally dull, but the \u2018dumb\u2019 feeling sounds like meds.<\/p>\n
I suggest you talk with the medications doctor and explain that you know the meds are helping and that it\u2019s great for your son, but he feels dulled intellectually. At least it will start a discussion. It\u2019s important that your son knows that what he\u2019s going through may be a normal side effect of the meds and it\u2019s not permanent. Once he is more stable, it may be he can reduce meds with the help of his HCP.\u00a0 Treatment of the illness comes first- when it is more managed- it\u2019s a good time to work on side effects. It\u2019s a trade off!<\/p>\n
Say hi to your son for me. It\u2019s great that he takes his meds!<\/p>\n
Julie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here is a letter from V. about her son and Invega- also previosly known as extended release Risperdal.<\/p>\n
Julie,<\/p>\n
My son has been treated for bi-polar with a mix of medications which includes Invega. This is a newer version of risperdal which is supposed to have fewer side effects. I think my son is suffering from reduced cognitive functioning, like he is in a fog. It is hard to tell because he definitely had a real drop in IQ testing (about 20 points) which the doctors thought were due to his anxiety and depression at the time of the testing, but I think it might be the meds too.<\/p>\n
He seems “dumber” than ever and complains about it. He used to be very sharp, although he had other emotional problems which are better controlled now. Do you have any experience with invega or has anyone heard of this? He also seems to have significantly thinning [ Read More ]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12065,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions\/12065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}