Risperdal Consta is a prescription medication used to treat schizophrenia. It is also used to treat manic or mixed episodes associated with Bipolar I Disorder. Risperdal Consta belongs to a group of drugs called atypical antipsychotics. It is not fully known how it works, but it is believed to work by changing the activity of natural substances in the brain.
Risperdal Consta comes as a long-acting injectable and is given into the muscle once every two weeks. It is injected into the upper arm or buttock by a healthcare provider.
Common side effects of Risperdal Consta are headache, weight gain, restlessness, dry mouth, and tremors.
Risperdal Consta can cause headache, dizziness, and make you feel tired. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery until you know how Risperdal Consta affects you.
WARNING: INCREASED MORTALITY IN ELDERLY PATIENTS WITH DEMENTIA-RELATED PSYCHOSIS
Elderly patients with dementia-related psychosis treated with antipsychotic drugs are at an increased risk of death. Analyses of 17 placebo-controlled trials (modal duration of 10 weeks), largely in patients taking atypical antipsychotic drugs, revealed a risk of death in drug-treated patients of between 1.6 to 1.7 times the risk of death in placebo-treated patients. Over the course of a typical 10-week controlled trial, the rate of death in drug-treated patients was about 4.5%, compared to a rate of about 2.6% in the placebo group. Although the causes of death were varied, most of the deaths appeared to be either cardiovascular (e.g., heart failure, sudden death) or infectious (e.g., pneumonia) in nature. Observational studies suggest that, similar to atypical antipsychotic drugs, treatment with conventional antipsychotic drugs may increase mortality. The extent to which the findings of increased mortality in observational studies may be attributed to the antipsychotic drug as opposed to some characteristic(s) of the patients is not clear. Risperdal Consta is not approved for the treatment of patients with dementia-related psychosis.
