Finding the right medication

Medications
22

I was taking a low dose of geodon, only 60mg a day. it wasnt working well and 80mg made me tired and constipated. Now im on 60mg morning and night, and it just causes akathisia

23

What do you mean when you say it wasnā€™t working well?

24

I was delusional and I hallucinated a little. also was full of energy which is a bad sign for me. Agitation was one of my primary schizophrenic symptoms, and now im kinda doped up and not agitated and maybe too doped up if anything

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25

It took me a few years to find the right medication (clozapine), I tried every modern antipsychotic there is and also Haldol and I was a non-responder to all of them. I tried each of them for at least a few weeks, maybe more and I switched after getting some bad side effects and no improvement in my symptoms. Finally I tried clozapine and it was the only med that ever did anything for me, some of my symptoms are still there but thereā€™s been a big improvement. Apparently clozapine is good for non-responders to the other medications.

26

What symptoms did you have?

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27

Still trying to find the right medicine after 7 years.

I used to be considered a person who just had depression, so naturally I took SSRI antidepressants, like Paxil, Citalopram, Lexapro, etc. These eventually stopped working. Then I started hearing voices and became delusional and paranoid and received the diagnosis of schizophrenia.

I have been taking Risperidone for a few years now, and although it has contributed to general mental stability, it has not helped one bit with my voices. I have also tried quetiapine, Zyprexa, Zisprasidone, Abilify (hated this med), and just recently Haldol. Haldol was a real sugar pill for me, had no effect whatsoever. I am actually told that just 5% of people who take Haldol experience any real benefits.

Since I am still hearing distressing voices I am starting clozapine next week. This past week Iā€™ve been busy getting screened: blood tests, ECGā€™s, chest xrays. It is a complicated process but worth doing as a last ditch effort to get rid of voices.

I like what I hear about clozapine on the net. It is said that 60% of people get benefit from this drugā€¦as opposed to 40% of people getting benefit from other antipsychotics. I like the 60% odds.