As some of you know, my main problem is very deep rooted negative symptoms, hardly any positive, and now my psychiatrist wants to put me on clozapine.
I know from other patients it’s very sedating, I have seen some patients sleeping their day away on clozapine.
Have you any experiences with clozapine, side effects, negative symptoms?
Took me years to accept that drug
Nora’s bad as I feared and very helpful
Absolutely, give the meds time to work.
I don’t know if anyone would consider my life “satisfying” but clozapine is keeping me out of the hospital and I’m not constantly thinking of killing myself. I’m sleeping a lot on it and have put on some weight since they started it, but the benefits outweigh the risks in my opinion.
Yes I think so. I wish I would’ve started it and stuck to it years ago. It works best for all symptoms. Side effects are more tiredness especially hard to wake up in mornings and drooling overnight. My psych gave me a spray for drooling but it doesn’t work that well. Says there is another but it can upset the stomach more. I’m not sure if I wanna try that one. Uggh. Oh and the weekly labs.
I have tried clozapine. Going on it was a nightmare to start with. I had to go to a clinic for the day to be monitored whilst I moved onto it. I literally went to sleep on the floor because I was knocked out. Whilst on it I found the injections painful and I still suffered hallucinations. I also started to suffer extreme anxiety. I ended up moving onto zuclopenthixol which I love! I still have symptoms but they are manageable and nobody can tell whether I suffer mental health issues
Thank you @Mars @Mouse1977 @WhiteRaven @Joker @Bitty
I think i will take the chance. The evidence out there for negative symptoms and clozapine are mixed, but it’s worth a try. I think i will start tomorrow.
It was not the death sentence I expected
The drug has worked in ways no other has
I can actually sleep and stay calm
Great, and if i remember correctly, you are having a job while on clozapine, very promising.
I have yes
Work from home
Offices make my light sensitivity bad, the politics make me paranoid, too much noise and interruptions stress me as well
This job letting me be remote has changed my life as much as the clozapine
Always thought clozapine would be a jacked up version of Olanzapine and refused it for years because of this
It’s actually a regret not trying it sooner
Would have saved a lot of pain for everyone around me
Before clozapine I had a lot of meltdowns both and home and at work
The only thing not controlled enough now is anxiety
my life is good and I’ve been on clozapine for 18 years now. I am happy.
Glad to hear @nimeton and which dosage are you on @Joker ? It all sounds very promising even there is mixed data to back it up when it comes to the negatives.
I am also considering a middle dose of buprhenorphine (an opioid antagonist/agonist) since there is a meta analysis which concludes there is a big effect on negative symptoms
I take 600mg because I smoke a lot of tobacco
They should monitor you more than any other med
Smoking causes clozapine to be metabolized faster due to a cytochrome enzyme.
I’m planning on coming off clozapine.
When I was titration up to the therapeutic dose I felt like I was knocked out at night.
The drooling at night is awful.
Also makes me more tired during the day than Paliperidone.