Does risperidone act on GABA receptors?

[cowardescent]

The reason I ask is that I was prescribed risperidone last year in March and found it to have eased the agitation I experienced ever since getting addicted to benzos in July 2017 and forging scripts, consuming a total of (300 tablets of diazepam in the span of three weeks). The 1mg of risperidone calmed my agitation down but when I ran out last year, it came back and I started breaking things. Was put on it last month in Aug, nearly after being taken off from being on (March 2018 - July 2018). I've run out for a week and been experiencing the same things. Back to anger, and intense overstimulation of my skin.

My psychiatrist said it doesn't and the more likely reason is that abusing alcohol/benzos is known to deplete GABA neurons long term and increase the action of adrenaline/noradrenaline which risperidone cancels. Perhaps that's what's causing the agitation/skin sensitivity. What's the science behind this?

 

[polymath]

I don't think risperidone affects GABA receptors to any significant extent compared to other receptors. It may initially have a sedative effect because of the antihistamine and noradrenaline receptor blocking effect, but this is not anywhere near as strong as with quetiapine.

 

[Hodor]

GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter which is interconnected with all sorts of neural signaling pathways.

Give a benzo to a person on a noradrenergic/dopaminergic stimulant, and they'll be less stimulated.
Give a benzo to a person on a serotonergic psychedelic, and the psychedelic experience will be aborted.

So as you can see, a GABAergic downer can suppress the action of non-GABAergic substances. Likewise, risperidone's action as a monoamine receptor antagonist (it is particularly good at blocking 5HT2a receptors, and will block dopamine receptors much better than its binding affinity would suggest) can rein in a nervous system that is no longer properly regulated by GABA.

That said, this doesn't mean that all downers will substitute for each other equally. Many benzo-dependent patients do not find sufficient relief with antipsychotics (though gabapentinoids - which, despite the name, aren't actually GABAergic either - can often help), so consider yourself lucky that a low dose of risperidone works out for you.

 

[d1nach]

Completely different from gaba. If you can take risperdone 1 mg and it works for you i highly recommend you talk with your doctor about taking it daily in place of benzos and alcohol.

Ignoring all the science lets try to look at this as simply as possible

Consuming up to 300 diazepam in a week not sustainable
Using alcohol to cope with agitation
Not sustainable* (*yes im sure many people do drink in a sustainable long term safe way but this seems impossible here)
Risperdone 1 mg if you dont have side effects and it works
Pretty sustainable