Antipsychotic Risperidone Raises Risk of Male Breast Enlargement

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Taking the antipsychotic medication risperidone significantly increases men’s chances of developing gynecomastia, or breast enlargement, according to a study by University of British Columbia medical researchers reported in a letter in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology. The researchers examined health records for over 82,000 men aged 40 to 85 years between 2001 and 2011, and found that 27 of 174 of the men taking risperidone developed gynecomastia within 60 days. “We found an increase in risk of gynecomastia in men with risperidone when compared to both non-users of atypical antipsychotics and a trend toward an increase when compared to other atypical antipsychotics,” wrote the researchers.

Risperidone is a strong antagonist of the dopamine-2 receptor, the researchers explained, which may increase prolactin release leading to gynecomastia. “Our study is the first large epidemiologic study that has quantified the risk for gynecomastia with risperidone,” they wrote. “These results are consistent with the number of reported cases of gynecomastia with atypical antipsychotic drugs to the Food and Drug Administration, with risperidone having had the highest number of reported cases.”


Risperidone Use and Risk for Gynecomastia in Men
(Letters to the Editor, Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology Volume 34, Number 5, October 2014. July 29, 2014: Publish Ahead of Print doi: 10.1097/JCP.0000000000000182)

7 COMMENTS

  1. “National Alliance For The Mentally Ill” marketing Risperdal to children off label

    http://www.madinamerica.com/forums/topic/nami-marketing-risperdal-to-children-off-label/

    From the NAMI webpage “ADHD and Co-existing Conditions” 2014

    “Antipsychotic medications and mood stabilizers have been proven to be effective in treating oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder.”

    Call them and ask “proven to be effective by who ??” 1 (800) 950-NAMI (6264)

    Joseph Biederman was the recipient of the 1998 NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist award.

    Dr. Biederman was the lead author of a trial published concluding that treatment with Risperidone improved symptoms of attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder in bipolar children… Biederman earned at least $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to 2007 but failed to report all but about $200,000 of this income to university officials.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/us/20psych.html?_r=0

    Here is the “apology” letter he wrote after him and his pals got busted that doesn’t say “sorry” at all likely on the way to the bank with the $ 1,600,000.00

    http://web.archive.org/web/20110708110602/http://freepdfhosting.com/ce3f1b1ea1.pdf

    Hey look the drug companies gave NAMI $ 1,005,000.00 Q2 2014 Grants and Contributions to put statments like anti-psychotics are “effective” for that phony child disorder “oppositional defiance” on the NAMI website to peddle these chemical restraint drugs on children.

    http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Major_Foundation_and_Corporate_Support&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=169636

    That’s it from mental health mafia news today folks !

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    • P.S pharma gives lots more money to NAMI state chapters.

      “Antipsychotic medications and mood stabilizers have been proven to be effective in treating oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder.” – NAMI

      Translation: Anti-psychotic medications and mood stabilizers have been proven to be effective in turning “defiant” children into lifetime mental patients for the NAMI sponsors.

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      • Tremendous info Copy Cat.

        Further translation –

        Anti-psychotic medications and mood stabilizers have been proven to be effective in shutting down and shutting up lively children, treating defiance by removing the will to live and causing a cavalcade of appalling effects, er sorry, definitely not causing any adverse effects. No sir. Any new problems are obviously symptoms of the child’s mystery disorder NOS and must be treated with more meds and stabilizers.

        Actually, it’s quite an interesting idea; perhaps the conversation in the Janssen Pharmaceuticals boardroom went like this

        ‘How are we going to get these angry, energetic boys to calm down a bit ?’

        ‘I know, let’s give them breasts – I bet that will shut them up’

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    • The late Abram Hoffer also found Risperdal to be addictive. Evil orthomolecular practitioner that he was, he always tried to get his patients off their antipsychotics if he could, but he could never get them completely off Risperdal without them having flareups, mentioning this in an orthomolecular journal he edited.

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  2. I have to say, having taking antipsychotics for several years but tapered off risperidone my weight loss goals never including reducing breast size. Come to think of it I’ve started wearing undershirts. Still I’m no Pamela Anderson.

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