Hello, everyone! I hope all of you are well!
As some of y’all may know, I have started taking geodon yesterday. It turns out my doctor actually prescribed me 40mg in the morning and 40mg in the evening. When I first took it I was slightly tired but didn’t need to sleep. I will say that I didn’t feel like doing anything and I was slightly confused so I slept on it, woke up in the evening and took my next round and slept some more. Right now it is 2am (I sometimes wake up at this time because I need to take my bf to work by 7am) and I actually feel like I have had the best quality sleep in a year!! With the last med I was on, Invega, I would sleep this much and still feel tired.
Also, another plus is there are no voices! Holy crap! This awesome!
And my depression is a bit better. Yay!
Now I’m just having a few cognitive side effects such as slow reaction and difficult to recall certain things but everything else I can remember.
Oh! I also was able to have REM sleep and remember my dream fully for the first time in a year!
I’m keeping this in mind though… this could be a placebo effect as many antipsychotics I have taken have done. This med may stop working in the next two weeks like all the others I have taken. I hope not.
I will keep in touch though!
Thank all of you for your knowledge, experience and support through my life and yours so far!
If you’re feeling too sleepy from your AM dose, you can switch it. I take 20 mg in the AM and 60 mg in the evening. It makes me much less sleepy. Make sure you’re eating at least 500 calories with every dose.
yeah, I am less tired now. Unfortunately, I don’t see my doctor until 10 days from now, but I will take your advice and ask him for 20mg in am and 60 in pm. It may be easier on me.
Well, this is my third day on Geodon. I started having withdrawal symptoms in the middle of the day yesterday so I had to take cogentin. But in all, I am very less depressed! My negative symptoms are still there but not as badly. I even have the motivation and execution to reply on here. I hope this keeps up without the withdrawal.
Well, half the day is gone and I am doing well on this medication. I am not as tired as I usually am when I take it in the morning and my depression is slowly being lifted, finally! I helped my mom out with some gardening and her pool. I will finish the rest of the garden tomorrow. We need to get it ready for Thanksgiving. Oh! And no withdrawal effects today since I ate some toast with spreadable hazelnut chocolate. Yay!
In all, I am tempted to make a doctor’s appointment and ask if I can be put back on Wellbutrin xr, just to try it out because my lethargy is still there.
Did you switch from Invega to Geodon? I’m on 117mg Invega Sustenna monthly and 1.5 daily pills. I want to switch to something else because I’m having problems with my mouth quivering which is a sign of tardive dyskinesia. I’m afraid of having withdrawal symptoms from Invega.
Thank you for your concern but I am fine. I’ve just been dealing with depression since I was 14, but I am able to tolerate it and force myself to do things these days.
As for your question, yes I switched from Invega to Geodon, though if you are schizo-affective depressive type, there are a few other medications that help with both schizophrenia and depression. Four that I can think of are Fluphenazine, Latuda, Vraylar and Geodon. Fluphenazine may make some people sleepy but that goes away most of the time. Latuda has mixed results, but if you increase the dose to the max and it isnt effective then you have become tolerant to it which is common. Geodon is very sweating for the most part, but look at me… This is My 4th day taking it in the morning and night and it doesnt make me sleepy anymore. Then there is vraylar which is very new, very expensive. There are mixed results with that one too from people going manic-psychosis to being able to have no voices and be productive with executive functioning which is what I lack to a degree.
The first thing I would recommend you doing is get a DNA test to see which antipsychotic, antidepressant and anticonvulsant you will have the least amount of side effects on. From there it should be easier for you to follow through. But I will temper you, even if a DNA test shows any drugs with the least amount of side effects, there WILL be side effects on them still. It just depends on how you can tolerate them.
Oh! Also, this is the second time I took geodon in the morning and forgot to eat food with it. The first time I had withdrawals and today… None. Weird? Ya?
I can’t take Fanapt because my DNA test says I would have bad side effects.
Also, I got a letter back from my blood test. I have high cholesterol… I think it is from the Invega.
Well, it is past week 1! I am still lethargic, but I have been applying to different jobs the past 3 days, surprisingly. I am no longer having withdrawals even if I dont eat anything and the medication still lasts a good amount of time. The only downfall, which I will be asking my doctor, is that I need to have a higher dose and add an antidepressant to the mix. I need the energy if things are going to get better.
On a side note, I read a thread about Amyloban 3399. I still had some Lion’s Mane extract, which has never fully helped me because I did not use a higher dose, so I tried it again.
It worked. The effects dont last long and my depth perception felt slightly off, but it worked.
For about 3 hours the voices were very muffled and few, the derealization was nearly gone, the strange pressures in my head were going away, my memory was slightly coming back, and executive functioning came back somewhat.
Downside is My delusions were still there along with depression. So… I ordered more. I will see if this brand is more effective.
I see my doctor on Friday and plan on telling him everything. Until then, I need to work for Uber/ Lyft unless I want to have no internet, lights shut off and spoiled food, among other things. Wish meh luck!
Oh! And thanks for reading. This site is helping me vent out a few things that I have bottled up for years.