My med doctor is starting me on clozapine, because I don’t respond to most antipsychotics. I go to get my finger pricked tomorrow and I will start the clozapine.
For those of you who are on it/been on it, does it work ok? What are the side effects?
It works fine for me. For me, the side effects were lots of sedation, dizziness when standing up, weight gain and lots of salivation. The dizziness and the salivation lightens up over the course of treatment though.
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It worked well for me for a couple of weeks, but the fatigue was epic. Don’t skip the blood tests as I’m one of the ones who got agranulocytosis from it. Horrible pneumonia after it wiped out my white blood cells. This is very rare but you should be okay from that.
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Are you still able to work? And do things? Does it manage all or only some of your symptoms?
Unfortunately, by the time I got out on clozapine, it was already 4 years since I last had a job so I can’t comment on this.
I can still go out and use public transport and stuff.
I can concentrate well on it and it is better at treating negative symptoms than risperidone.
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When i was on clozapine it really helped my psychotic symptoms and suicidal ideation. I experienced drooling on it, which atropine drops under the tongue cured, and constipation, which weekly doses of magnesium citrate cured. I slept about 10 hours a day on it. I had to go off of it because it caused QTc-prolongation in my heart, which caused me to keep passing out and can cause sudden ventricular fibrillation and death. This is rare with clozapine. I regret having to go off of it, cuz it was the best med for me.
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Thanks for the input. I hope something else will work for you. I wish you didn’t get those side effects. How long were you on it before getting the qtr prolongation?
Does it work for both delusions and hallucinations? So you get visual hallucinations and did it help with this?
I was on it 3 years. But don’t let my story discourage you, cuz it’s a rare side effect. I have 2 friends also on it who have been on it 30 and 17 years, respectively, and it’s done wonders for them. It MAY also cause you tachycardia but that’s easy to fix with beta blockers.
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I don’t get hallucinations or delusions anymore. So far it is the best medicine for me.
It’s my med for life.
Tried others at max 6 months,but always got back to Clozapine …
24 yrs on it.
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