Clozapine decrease side affects?

As some of you may know from another post of mine my son got the go ahead to decrease his Clozapine from 300 to 200 and that was 7 days ago. The last time he did this, without Dr’s consent, things were pretty messed up with alcohol and marijuana so I didn’t notice the changes. This time I’m noticing. Says his dreams are more vivid and has said that his anxiety seems to be a little worse. He is hitting his bed and walls more. Walking harder/heavier. We just butted heads about him hitting the walls. He wouldn’t let me speak, kept interrupting me and said he didn’t know that he wasn’t supposed to hit the walls. I have been telling him not to for 8 months. It’s not a new request. Then it’s attitude how he doesn’t have to take this ■■■■ cause he’s an adult…

It’s it normal to go through big withdrawal/side affects when decreasing big amounts? I was concerned about decreasing by 100 mg. If it is normal does it usually even out after a couple of weeks?

I was on 800 mg of clozapine for a few years. I remember when we tapered down, I started feeling very anxious and irritable. My doc decreased it over the course of two weeks also, so I can imagine those feelings being more amplified in your son’s case of reducing in 7 days.

The good news is that the anxiety and irritability got much better in a little under a month for me.

So I hope it gets better for your son. If it doesn’t, he might need to talk to his doc about increasing his anti-anxiety med.

Blessings,

Anthony

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I hope your son feels better soon Barbie - wishing him well

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I am so sorry this is happening. It’s the cha cha. When my seroquel got cut, there was still something to take it’s place. It wasn’t just half of what i could function with. I hope he still goes to school despite this med set back. I hope this gets evened out soon and you all have some peace. Wishing all the best for your family.

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That is a tough situation to go through. Fingers crossed that things level out quickly for your son.

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I thought about it last night and I’m thinking it may be his ADHD that is causing this. What he is calling anxiety/energy I’m thinking is the hyperactivity. The Clozapine may have been masking these symptoms. When he’s like this he will sometimes hop/jump like a kid but he’s physically a man so it’s loud/hard on the floors. I’m going to try and talk to his main nurse today about Strattera today. She had spoken about Conserta but I didn’t like what I read about it. Strattera seems like it would be a good one try and not easily start another addiction.

Thank you for answering me. I feel better and things calmed down last night. I tend to worry when I see red flags. I will have to be careful to not trigger some of these types of responses from him but it’s hard to ask nicely for the 100th time please stop banging the walls… :wink:

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Why is his doc decreasing his meds? I know this is a stressful situation for you. Hope things have changed by the time you read this.

He has been stable for 6 months now and this is the second decrease. He wants to be down to a minimum dose. The first was about a month ago by 50. This one by 100.

He got a little high last night. Hopefully with the decrease in meds it doesn’t have a big impact on him. Other then that we are good.

His nurse wasn’t in yesterday so I will talk to her Monday.

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Hope all is well today****

Yesterday was another up and down day. I guess with only 200 Clozapine the marijuana has had it’s impact. I said no to McDonald’s as I had made dinner, well why am I being so rude and treating him so bad… Dinner was apparently disgusting. Spaghetti that my husband and I ate. He wants therefore needs a new computer chair as his back is sore. Solution: don’t spend so many hours straight playing computer games. Well that’s not it, it’s the chair… Refused to take him grocery shopping. Came home to attitude questions of did I get anything to eat because we have nothing. $200-300 a week on groceries and we have nothing to eat. Proof of that not all over my coffee table that I had to ask him to clean up. Called while we were shopping, he wanted an energy drink. Going through the groceries he pulls out the pizza bread I got him from the store that he likes, not our normal store (he doesn’t like it from there), no thank you, nothing… Apparently all I do is provide him with the bare necessities. He stayed up all night playing computer games. Then decided to watch a movie this morning. At 7 am I had to twice tell him to turn the volume down. Then he falls asleep on the couch which is a big no-no for me. Several slices of back bacon that I had bought for myself, on the counter uneaten, because he wanted bacon then didn’t like it. It doesn’t even look like bacon. My husband had told him last night to get a good night’s sleep as it’s supposed to be nice out today so we could maybe do something. Well he just went to bed…

Right now I just feel like crying. I get that it’s his psychosis however he is completely responsible for the words coming out of his mouth and telling me that I only provide him with the necessities and that I’m treating him like crap when he has unlimited internet and phone usage, lots of food to eat, laundry paid for, utilities paid for and doesn’t have to clean, cook meals or even wash a dish. We have gotten him a new bike, new boots, new jacket, NintendoDS, PSP4, top of the line laptop and pretty much anything else that he has asked for and really wanted. He is constantly getting treats of McDonald’s and Tim Horton’s. He got Subway for dinner a couple of nights ago and Chinese food last week.

When I suggested he find the money to pay for us to go to McDonald’s I got: Why should I pay for you guys… He knows that we just had to put out over $3000 for a car as our’s won’t past emissions testing. He just got some money from the government, HST rebate, into his account yesterday. Will he use this to buy an energy drink or McDonald’s? Of course not. It’s more computer games, even though he probably won’t have enough cigarettes to get him through til his next disability payment.

And of course the attitude of I’m an adult and you’re treating me like a child. Sorry but you’re acting like a self-absorbed child. I guess I needed to vent :smile: I think I need some time out of this apartment as between all this I’m trying to make sure everything is covered and taken care of for the car and for over 4 hours yesterday I got to listen to my downstairs neighbor’s music vibrate her walls as well as the night before. Then when her music stopped it was my son’s friend across the hall until 9:30 last night.

I will certainly have something to say about his next decrease being by 100 mg.

This is NOT going well at all for him or you or your husband. I’m so sorry for the attitude set back.

Are you on wireless internet? When my sis has to kid sit and the kids she sitting want to play video games all night. She’ll unplug the router at 10:30 p.m. and lock it in her room. No router, no internet.

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Yes he uses wireless. He losses it for swearing at me or banging doors. I try not to add new rules or conditions without warning. Although that may have to be a next step if this keeps up. My husband and I will probably be going out soon to visit his sister who is in a health care unit, she has cancer. I will let him sleep, leave him a note with his Gabapentin… no arguments, just a couple of hours of me and hubby time.

Oh no… when you say his sister… do mean your husband’s sister or your son’s sister aka your daughter? Either one, I’m sorry this is happening to your family.
:cry:

My husband’s sister. She will be 72 next month. Last year they didn’t think she was going to make it to her 71st birthday. I think her cancer is now in remission but she can’t life on her own.

Hi Barbie -

My son’s psychiatrists have always made it clear to us that with psychiatric meds it’s better to decrease very slowly. An overnight 100mg decrease is a lot. Sometimes in hospitals they will rush to increase or decrease the dose if they are making adjustments, because of their insurance concerns. When that happens, they are not doing what is best for their patients.

My son has recently decreased his dose of clozapine by 25mg every two weeks.So it took him two months to decrease from 600mg to 500mg. I have been told that the body needs to take time to get used to each new dose.

It wouldn’t surprise me that the behaviors you are now seeing with your son are because of the overnight 100mg reduction. It might be responsible for his agitation.

Perhaps you would want to talk with your son’s doctor about this.

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Good to see you posting Cefe.

I agree, the jump from 300 to 200 at one time was not a good idea. I think the pdoc was acting on the knowledge that my son has done it before but it wasn’t a sanctioned decrease and things were so hectic at the time.

I talked to his main nurse yesterday and she thinks what I’m seeing is behavior not psychosis. I agree that it is behavior however the behavior/negative attitude is being caused by something. He doesn’t out of the blue get like this unless his stability is in question for whatever reason. I had to push this thought somewhat with his nurse to get her to understand that there is more going on then my son just wanting to push my buttons. It’s like he needs the tension between us so that he can find a release for his anxiety/hypertension. I asked if the Clozapine could have been helping to mask this and she said no. According to her Clozapine doesn’t have a mood stabilizing quality. Yes, yes it does lol. Frustrating when I seem to have more knowledge of the med then they do. Either way she eventually acknowledged that what I’m seeing could be symptoms. Personally I think it’s ADHD causing these problems and now my son is back to saying no to ADHD meds, perhaps because I told him I was recommending a non-stimulant.

We talked last night and I told my son we need to get this under control. We are going downhill when we should be going uphill and I won’t let that happen without a fight. Because he has been smoking a little weed then his insight into it affecting him is going down again. I told him I wish that he could go smoke every now and then without it having such an affect on him but unfortunately that is not the case. Upping weed and decreasing AP’s is not a good idea. Each break does cause damage so it is really worth it? For him the answer is yes because now with insight going out the window he disavows having breaks, he just gets really high which would make anyone loss it and think odd things.

that sounds terrible, my son is the same way he eats up all the food in the house and thinks about himself only and not any one else, it’s irritating! And with his SSI check he just wants to eat out, he doesn’t seem to like my cooking and thinks it will last all month long, not to mention cigarettes. I feel for you says the same thing about me spending his money to buy my other son take out Also absorbed into his laptop and mp3 player which he breaks and then time to buy a new one I think he has me figured out. Is there a way you can become his payee with his disability?

I looked into being a payee for his disability once and apparently no. I have made it very clear though that if he doesn’t pay me a certain amount that I will report him and he will get cut off for fraud so that helps a lot. Once he is done paying me back for cigarettes etc and buying games he usually doesn’t have much left.

I’m trying to quietly withdraw because trying to explain my actions will just cause more arguing so now when he is asking for Tim Horton’s it’s just no. Eating everything at once is irritating. We did shopping on Saturday and my husband has started buying two of certain things. One for him for work and one for my son. Sometimes my hubby’s stuff is half gone within 2 days or less with a lot of waste. I think if he was on his own he would starve for 2-3 weeks every month. I keep thinking that this month I will stay firm and let him go without cigarettes when he runs out but my heart keeps getting in the way lol Maybe this month since my hubby and I aren’t smoking so I won’t feel so guilty about it. My son is already talking about over clocking his new laptop. Nothing is every good enough. Top of the line gaming laptop and he wants it to be better. He can’t see all the details on shadows in games which apparently no computer can. I told him to go outside in the sun if he wants to see more detailed shadows :smile:

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