Stopped taking Risperdone for 6 months and feel normal. Will this lower my Cholesterol?
Posted , 2 users are following.
I’m 25 years old and it has been 6 months since my doctor told me to stop taking Risperdone. I’ve been on this drug for 15 years because I have Autism. It helped him as a child through school. But I started having some Cardiovascular issues. I started having high blood pressure at first and then my cholesterol started to rise 30 points up to Total: 225ml and LDL: 112ml. Total should be less than 200ml and LDL should be less than 100ml. The doctor told me that the Risperdone might be causing my cholesterol and blood pressure to rise. Risperdone is a type of drug use to treat Schizophrenia, Autism and many other neurological disorders, however, the drug has been known to cause Cardiovascular Disease increasing risk of Coronary Artery Disease leading Heart Attack by heart muscle death due to blocked coronary artery, and clogging brain arteries causing an Ischemic Stroke. And I have been put on Red Yeast Rice Statin and two blood pressure meds: Atenolol and Lisinopril. So I came off my Risperdone for 6 months. The first few weeks I did feel my side effects like weight loss, dizziness, a little headache and nausea. But then weeks later I felt normal again. I did have blood test in recently so I will see if being taken off my risperidone has help with lower my cholesterol. How many points could be taken off Total and LDL once the Risperidone is gone?
0 likes, 1 reply
Guest will86164
Edited
I'm a retired medical professional from the U.S. and will see if I can address your concerns.
The percentages associated with research studying the impact of Risperidone treatment upon the lipid profile of patients vary because normal genetic variations in people cause different levels of reaction. Your blood pressure regimen is in keeping with best practices through prescribing an ACE inhibitor, the Lisinopril, combined with a beta blocker, Atenolol. I admit that I'm surprised, however, by the use of red yeast rice as a reliable form of statin treatment. Red Yeast Rice is most often used by alternative medicine practitioners and the concern is that it is quite difficult to titrate the proper amount to obtain the desired result. Some persons react quite differently to red yeast rice preparations.
I would have expected a more common statin such as Atorvastatin or Rosuvastatin as the top two statin preferences or Pravastatin that is the weakest of the statin group and commonly used in patients intolerant to the more powerful statins mentioned. The largest portion of studies and data regarding statin treatment exist with both Atorvastatin and Rosuvastatin. I am not, however, questioning the judgment of your physician. It merely strikes me as unusual for an allopathic practitioner, if your doctor falls within that category, to utilize conventional antihypertensive medications with an alternative medicine product to address your cholesterol profile.
Your lipid profile is not all that far out of range so termination of the Risperidone could in of itself result in a reduction of the cholesterol to demonstrate a normal profile prior to administering statin treatment of any kind. Again, I'm not challenging your physician's decision but statin use may not be necessary. You mention that follow-up labs were performed and ample time has certainly passed for your lipid profile to have returned to normal as a consequence of termination of Risperidone treatment. In other words, statins typically are not initiated until such time that the most recent lipid profile would warrant it. It is more common in instances of mild elevation to attempt reduction in certain cholesterol fractions through dietary changes, to be followed by statin use in instances where dietary changes are unsuccessful. You're a relatively young fellow to be undergoing statin therapy based on the causal factor at hand.
I'll step aside at this point and leave you with my comments purely intended as informative in nature. Always adhere to the advice and treatment from your primary physician. The use of online resources for medical concerns should always be secondary and merely represent information only that you can decide whether to share with your own physician for discussion.
Best regards