So I haven’t been going a little nuts. I’ve been posting about med vacations and whining about pills… Turns out my instincts were kind of right! My pdoc agreed that the Saphris was no longer doing its job as a mood stabilizer.
We had recently added on Trifalon PRN for anxiety and depression but that didn’t seem to do any good. My mood has been very depressed, sad, and angry. I’m tearful everyday again and anxious most of the day. So the pdoc and I decided a change in AP/mood stabilizer was needed. I just had my first dose of Latuda last night, am titrating up the next few nights to 80mgs. Then once I’m up to 80mg, I’ll go down to 10mg of the Saphris and then eventually off of it. Apparently Saphris comes with withdrawals if you suddenly stop it. I’m very hopeful for the Latuda for BP depression given what I’ve read. Still on the fence whether I’ve got BP depression or just a case of sza depression that the pdoc wants to treat with a mood stabilizer. When I bring it up with the pdoc he says he doesn’t want to put labels on me.
Sad and fearful to let the Saphris go. It was very good to me for the 2.5-3 years I was on it. Very anxious yet hopeful as to what the Latuda will bring.
Sad and fearful to let the Saphris go. It was very good to me for the 2.5-3 years I was on it.
Yeah, that’s my big worry, that abilify will stop working for me. I’m going to be screwed if that happens as it was the only thing that worked of the ones I tried.
I think I’ve got the hallucinations licked, they were temporary and linked to the depression and ptsd stuff. I worry that if the Latuda doesn’t work I’ll become suicidally depressed and end up in the hospital again.
Latuda 80mg has been good for me. voices, hallucinations controlled. paranoid delusions still around though. I forgot to take it one night and woke with a massive headache so don’t stop it suddenly. lol. wishing you luck.
I fired my social worker, at last. We were just not a good fit, I signed the paper work and everything. We hashed it out this time at my last session why it wasn’t working. It felt good to clear the air. I asked my pdoc who would be a good fit he said he had a few in mind but then didn’t tell me who they were ?!? aggravating!
I read that depression is the repression of emotion. I think that is true. Whenever I let myself feel I’m so overwhelmed by my emotions.
How do you find a good therapist? How do you know its a good fit? I slogged away with the past 2, who were a wrong fit, for 4 years with nothing to show for it, still in the same spot. I just don’t know how to vet a therapist and then feel like I’m doing something wrong when there is no connection so I have to continue to see them because I’m broken.
I think a good connection is made on the first interview, you should make sure is a two way interview, you’re interviewing them for the job of helping you, and they’re interviewing you to make sure they can handle the situation. That should be clear from the start. It’s also a good way to see their reaction, the ones that just want money or think too highly of themselves show surprise when you say this, the ones that are cool just probably smile and agree with you.
If it’s a good fit you can only tell after a few appointments, generally of course, with my therapist I knew immediately. There’s always something we don’t like about them after we get to know them better, but we’ve gotta remember everyone has flaws, even therapists! It’s good to clear the air and talk about stuff you’re uncomfortable.
When you start doing real work, you want to bolt the sessions Just resist that urge and fight it, and continue with it, you’ll see if it’s worth it after a while.
So far the med change has been tough. Upset stomach the first 3 days only to find out that I need to eat a meal of at least 400 calories with the latuda, not take it at bedtime. Now I’m up to 80mg but am nauseus for about 4hours after taking it even with the food. Keeping a puke bucket by the bed just in case. Maybe it is Saphris withdrawals as I have reduced that from 20mg to 10mg. So far no difference in mood but also not irritable (yet) so thats a plus. I’m going to wait it out to see if it gets any better. My next pdoc appt got rescheduled from today to the 16th.
I ended up telling my bf that I made another med change because he wanted to know why I wasn’t feeling good. I wasn’t going to tell him. I wanted to see if he noticed a difference in me without knowing about the change. But I had to tell him.
Does anyone know if I can take anything for my upset stomach with the Latuda to calm it? It happened again last night. I ate a large dinner (at least 400 calories). Then felt like vomiting for about 3 hours. Finally I started belching it out of my system until I felt better and could go to sleep. Since Latuda is absorbed in the GI tract, is it okay to take gas-x or pepto bismo? I was also dizzy and had a headache not long after taking it…
My general practitioner gave me a medicine for nausea, I puked in her office and explained the situation. I don’t have the name of the med with me. The pdoc just keeps saying to take it with lots of food.
I feel dizzy after taking it to so I take it with my evening meal.
I’m on day 12 I think now. Still @ 80mg. Haven’t moved off the couch in days. At least before I was doing things, now I’m pretty incapacitated and still crying a lot. Good news is figured out the more I eat at dinner the less sick I feel. So a 600 calorie dinner is better than say 400. Its a struggle to eat so much at one time.e
So I’ve been on Latuda for about a month and half now. If anything I’ve gotten worse. Its awful. The stomache upset seems to have lessened at least. I’m pretty suicidal everyday all daylong right now. I thought Latuda was supposed to be some miracle drug but its brought nothing but suffering.
I see the pdoc next Tuesday. Where do I go from here? He may increase the dose. Or scrap it and want to try another AP?
What other AP’s are prescribed for bipolar depression?
I’m at the point right now where I want to put my foot down and say NO more AP’s. They ruined my life. I mean, the 2nd AP he put me on was Clozapine and it totally ruined my life. I think I would be a totally different person right now if I never took that drug. It really messed me up. Right now I hate my pdoc, why did he do that to me? It was just cruel.
I’m on latuda and it keeps me out of the hospital but yea it has some rugged side effects that make life unbearable. I don’t know if there’s anything better out there though, they all suck. If it’s only bipolar depression you’re trying to treat I would say take lamictal and that would be that. No need to take an antipsychotic unless you absolutely have to
Just resist that urge and fight it, and continue with it, you’ll see if it’s worth it after a while.