Most people complain of flu like symptoms when coming off Riserdal. I'm on it my self and end up feeling like crap after stopping. Once just depressed. and suicidal. Generally it does work for me. Although do hate the side effects.

yea it worked for me but i hated the side effect soo muchh...wen i stoppped that whole week after i went crazy and hurt myself so bad and then the next week i was insanely manic

I also know how irrational I was when I stopped.We had tried reducing all my meds because I was stable. I couldn't cope with it all so had just stooped taking them. Although I ended up breaking down and telling my local doctor all of the crap I had gone through the last ten years. Before starting up again. Still haven't recovered completely from it all. It can't be doing you any good.

i do like the balnce as much ethier but it keeps me ldoing the right thing and working and resposable i think that the trade off is ok i think it like losing the edge but for me it ok

wen i get depressed it always turns into suicidal. i really dont wanna to go to the hospital again so i gotta be careful of wat comes out of my mouth.

I think my meds turn on me after a long period of time. Like my Lithium really turned on me after a few years. Same with Paxil and Trazodone.

Hi,

I wish I had time to tell you everything I want to say but have to try and get caught up on 5 weeks of homework.

Please just know that being off your mood stabilizers or any of your meds for bipolar can and usually does increase the symptoms after so long of being off.

Several years ago I felt just like you. Hated the "depressed" state, I was never really happy but not really bipolar type depressed. On the meds I just felt like I was existing, going through the motions of life.

I decided to go off my meds. For the next 10 years my life was hell. I didn't really think about it at the time that my anger, hatefulness, anxiety, etc was due to not being medicated. All I knew was that manic meant happy, lots of energy and could drink the night away. Being depressed well that is when I always went back to the doctor. I continued to resist meds for the next 10 years.

About 5 years ago I had a very bad manic episode. Was out walking in front of cars on the busiest street in town during rush hour, just daring anybody to hit me, they weren't going to hurt me.

I was very verbally, emotionally abusive towards my three boys. I hated life, nothing could make me happy, I argued with anybody and everybody. I had a coworker at the time that we didn't get a long. Now never in my life had I been homicidal. In fact everytime I would hear on the news that someone that murdered had said they were bipolar.

I was always saying, "no way, you don't get homicidal when you are bipolar, you're happy." Well I found out totally different a few years ago. This coworker had finally just rubbed me the wrong way and I was seriously going ot kill her. Three of the other office girls had to hold me down and get me to my car.

They got me calmed down and I went home. Thank God they didn't call the cops on me. I had never been filled with so much hatred and rage in my life.

I was so bad I had to go into the hospital. Being in the state funded mental institution is NOT a piece of cake. I was petrified. But I also knew I was a threat to people.

My whole point is that not many bipolar meds let you really still be HAPPY like we bipolar people know. So, it seems like such a let down when we are stabilized because we aren't "high" anymore.

I again had to stop taking my medications last summer. I just couldn't afford them. Well last Christmas I got into a manic phase and have been ping ponging back and forth since then between up for days to sitting on my butt doing nothing. Crying one second and then talking my butt of buzzing around the house with 10 things started.

I crashed big time 3 weeks ago. Suicidal, refuse though to go back to the hospital. Being manic I have baked over 2000 cupcakes and cookies in the last 4 weeks. Being manic isn't fun anymore. I feel rushed, forced, talk 24/7 to myself if I have to, I hallucinate a lot more. The longer you stay off your meds the worse the episodes get.

You are running a good chance of going from manic happy to manic raged. Now you might think that it won't happen to you, maybe you have a great personality and think you could never get in a rage. Well, trust me, I am one of the nicest, sweetest people you will know, I thought the same thing. But that day that I was going to kill my coworker was scary.

I know what you mean though, it just sucks not having the highs. But please reconsider. Maybe have dr try something different. It takes a long time now. Heck I was dx'd over 25 years ago and have been on so many meds.

I hope that whatever you decide you make sure you have weighed both sides, especially if you are a mother, and then do what is best for you but most importantly your kids if you have them.

Take Care,
Kimmers

resperidol (2mg) saved my life. i hate to think of the withdrawl if i ever stop it. eeek! but there are definite side-effects on it.