If a patient wants to stop taking Risperdal®, he or she should discuss the steps with his or her treating psychiatrist and adhere strictly to the withdrawal plan. Since Risperdal® is an atypical neuroleptic drug which can be used for various diseases such as psychosis and is very potent, the dose of Risperdal® should be reduced in small steps to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
Causes
There are various reasons why a patient may wish to discontinue the drug Risperdal®. For one thing, it may be because the patient feels very stable and would like to be able to get by without further medication. It is also possible that the drug Risperdal® is not sufficiently effective or that Risperdal® has too many side effects and the patient must therefore discontinue the drug.
Since Risperdal® is an atypical neuroleptic, it should have fewer side effects than the old neuroleptics, but side effects may still occur which may make it necessary to discontinue Risperdal®. For example, the patient may gain a lot of weight and even develop diabetes as a result of taking Risperdal®. In this case it is possible that the patient’s health may be impaired and endangered, which is why further use should be considered.
Because of this risk of side effects, Risperdal® is rarely administered to children. However, there is a target group of children in whom the drug is prescribed: These are usually severely mentally handicapped children who are at least 5 years old and show severe behavioural disorders (often with self-inflicted or extraneous risks). However, it is important to know that Risperdal® should be discontinued in children after 6 weeks at the latest.
It is therefore only for short-term treatment. Otherwise, taking Risperdal® for a longer period of time may lead to far-reaching problems (habituation, increased side effects). In general, psychotropic drugs such as Risperdal® should be given to children as a last resort and should be discontinued after 6 weeks of treatment at the latest.