Anyone have experience with Haldol?

DDD

Well-Known Member
As you know difficult child#2 has lived with his biomom for the last few years. He has been off his medications for close to a year. I received a text from him saying "hooray, Mama, my Mom acknowledges I am BiPolar (BP) and need medications."

For years he got along well with Risperdone, Trazadone and a stimulant. Now..yikes!..GFGmom tells me he is on Haldol. He went to the Dr. alone and since his thinking is a bit weird I'm wondering why they amped up the medication. Some side effects sound scarey. Anyone have experience? Thanks. DDD
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
wow that is a leap! I believe GoingNorth is on that one. I am surprised they would even put a young adult on something like that without failing at all the other newer ones first.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Yes, l have been on a low dose of Haldol for three years now. l pretty much had to go on it after developing horrible neurological side effects from the modern APs such as inability to swallow and being unable to keep my balance.

l am well aware of the possible side-effects of Haldol but so far have had no problems and hope to continue without as l need an AP as part of my protocol for bi-polar.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
l am hanging in there. sweating my rear end off in a sweltering trailer during this heat wave but managing. l do post occasionally, mostly in Watercooler.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
GN I, too, am happy to read an update from you. My best wishes always come your way.

difficult child#2 called me this afternoon and he did experience radical side effects. I encouraged him to reach back to the psychiatrist that we all love and find out for sure which medication combo worked for him. Truly the MH "professionals" in our community are the bottom of the barrell. I absolutely can NOT allow them to misdirect our little difficult child. He is so trusting and :( needs his Mama to advocate for him. I've got the energy to do that. DDD
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
DDD, Haldol is given in much lower dosages for bipolar than it is for schizoaffective or schizophrenia. l only take 10mg at bedtime. Do you know what difficult child's diagnosis is and how much Haldol was prescribed for him?
 

svengandhi

Well-Known Member
My then boyfriend was put on Haldol when his bipolar first manifested back in the late 70's. He became very sleepy and was developing signs of tardive dyskinesia so he was moved to Lithium, which worked very well for him with no side effects.

Recently, the doctor prescribed a dose one tenth of an adult dose for my 90 year old aunt to treat her anxiety as I wanted her off Xanax. The Haldol made her very tired, even at that low dose. The neuro doctor changed her to Lexapro and it has been a godsend, though I don't know how effective it would be for BiPolar (BP). My aunt has some depression.

Good luck with your grandson. I hope he gets the right medications. When the medications are right, life can be good for the person and their family.
 

DDD

Well-Known Member
He had immedicate reactions to the one dosage...ticks, muscle lock, extreme uneasiness etc. I "think" he understands that he needs to use an MD we trust. Thanks, as always, for your responses. DDD
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
Sounds like he should not take Haldol and needs to be very careful with other older APs in that class. l'm still curious about the dosage as the reaction you describe after one dose sounds like an overdose.

NO ONE should take the older APs, in my opinion unless they have failed trials with the modern atypicals as l did.
 

witzend

Well-Known Member
l am hanging in there. sweating my rear end off in a sweltering trailer during this heat wave but managing. l do post occasionally, mostly in Watercooler.

You do know that you have to change your sig from "da frozen northwoods" now, right? ;)
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
l wish it was winter. l cope with the cold a lot better than l do with the heat. l am gonna be spending later today and the next two days in a hotel as it will be in the 90s and with one 5k btu ac unit in the kitchen in a trailer it isn't going to be do-able. l hope the whole summer isn't going to be like this.

l can't put an a/c in my bedroom because l don't have the right kind of windows, so l've got fans running but it isn't enough.
 
Top