General Information on Risperdal Consta
Risperdal Consta or Risperdal is used for treatment of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder who require long-term medication treatment. The generic name of this drug is Risperidone.
This drug is a long-acting injectable from a newer class of medicines called as atypical antipsychotics. This is a proven medicine with a novel delivery system.
You can only buy Risperdal Consta as per a doctor’s prescription.
Side effects of Risperdal Consta
You should not buy Risperdal Consta online if you have:
- Dementia related psychosis
- Excess weight
- History of diabetes
Before you buy Risperdal Consta, inform your doctor if you have any of the following:
- Allergy to Risperidone
- Blood problem
- Seizures
- Alcohol
- History of breast cancer
- Diabetes
- History of heart attack
- Liver or kidney disease
- Parkinsonism
- Memory problems
- Difficulty swallowing
Some of the common mild side effects of this drug are:
- Headache or dizziness
- Tremors
- Weight gain
- Pain in the limbs
- Sleepiness
You should consult your doctor immediately if your experience any of the following severe side effects:
- Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome
- Shaking, confusion, stiff muscles, or changes in pulses
- Uncontrollable movements of face, tongue and other parts of body
- Low numbers of white blood cells
Pregnant women should take their doctor’s advice before taking this drug, since the effect of Risperdal Consta during pregnancy is not known. However, women should not breast-feed during treatment with Risperdal Consta for at least 3 months after the last injection.
Dosage of Risperdal Consta
Risperdal Consta is available in dosage strengths of Risperidone 12.5mg, Risperidone 25mg, Risperidone 37.5mg and Risperidone 50mg.
If a patient has never taken Risperidone, then a doctor will perform a test dose of an oral version to check whether a patient can tolerate the medicine. However, if patient has taken Risperidone before, he or she can get first injection of Risperdal Consta right away.
After the first injection of Risperdal Consta, patient has to take oral Risperidone for three weeks to give the injection a chance to start working. After that, patient has to come back to doctor every 15 days for his or her next dose.
A patient has to get an injection of Risperdal Consta either in the upper arm or upper buttock. This injection is given by a nurse or doctor every 15 days since schizophrenia and bipolar I disease are lifelong illnesses. A patient may take several weeks to show improvements. If patient’s symptoms do not improve, he or she has to talk to doctor.
The recommended dose for treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder is 25mg Risperdal Consta every 2 weeks. Those patients not responding to this dose may benefit from higher dose of 37.5mg Risperdal Consta or 50 mg Risperdal Consta every 2 weeks.
Interactions
Risperdal Consta can interact with other drugs like carbamazepine and other CYP 3A4 enzyme inducers such as rifampin, Phenobarbital, phenytoin. The detailed drug interaction data is however provided on basis of studies with oral Risperdal.
- Centrally-acting drugs and alcohol
- Drugs with hypotensive effects
- Dopamine and Levodopa agonists
- Amitriptyline
- Cimetidine and ranitidine
- Clozapine
- Lithium
- Valproate
- Digoxin
- Topiramate
