Struggling - switching from olanzapine to risperidone

[Dominic1988]

Bit of background info might help: when I was 21 I had a psychotic episode due to excessive alcohol consumption. This was added to clinical depression and anxiety, which had developed following a mental breakdown when I was 19. I've since been on olanzapine at 10mg daily. A couple of months ago I tried to come off it, and I got down to 2.5mg before my psychotic symptoms returned. I went back up to 10mg, expecting things to return to normal. They did not.

My original psychotic symptoms are present (the sensation of hallucinating, without actually seeing or hearing what I think I'm experiencing), but I'd be happy to settle for those and have done with it. Unfortunately, new symptoms have manifested.

I keep getting bizarre paranoid thoughts, even though I know they're not true. Like when one of my co-workers makes the tea, I think he's going to hit me. Or that vans going by contain undercover MI5 officers. I must stress, I know they're not true. I have OCD, so it's difficult to distinguish between an actual psychotic thought and what is termed "intrusive thoughts", but I'm pretty sure this is the real deal.

Generally speaking, I just feel mentally sick. Like I can actually feel nausea in my brain. As if wanting to kill myself wasn't enough.

I went to see a mental health link worker a couple of days ago, after being referred from my doctor, and I'm going to try risperidone. Has anyone had any success with this drug? Should I just ask for my olanzapine dose to be increased?