So I’m currently on 100mg of Clozapine in the daytime and 325mg at night.
I recently increased the daytime amount from 75mg.
Trying to be positive about this, I’m really hopeful that the voices will eventually disappear,
or at least melt away into a muffled quiet.
I had a good day yesterday when the voices barely talked to me, it was wonderful. Gave me a glimpse of what life was like before being diagnosed.
Anyone successfully stop voices with clozapine?
My son is on Clozapine and currently symptom free however I don’t know if it can all be attributed to the Clozapine as he is also not chronically smoking marijuana anymore. Overall I have heard good results however some people do not get the results expected. My understanding is that around 450 mg is considered the medicinal amount.
Wishing you all the best and I hope that yesterday continues to be an every day occurrence for you.
I was up to 775mg of clozapine when I was in the hospital last fall. I also take 80mg latuda and was on 8mg Haldol.
Now, I’m down to 550mg clozapine and 80mg latuda and 4mg Haldol. Still, no voices. I’m not sure how low I will be able to go and keep the voices away.
I have been on clozapine for 11 years and the voices really have been gone with the occasional breakthrough. The lowest I have been on is 425mg. But, even when I was on 425mg of clozapine I also was on 32mg trilafon… I never have been on JUST clozapine.
Brooke
I was on clozapine for about 3 years. It took up to 300 mg before I started to feel some improvement. However, this improvement was very modest.
I required escalating doses up to 800 mg before I finally was free of auditory hallucinations. This isn’t typical though. Most patients require much lower dosages. I was just particularly treatment-resistant.
I have to say, though, that clozapine was a wonder drug for me. So be patient with it. You might need to increase your dosage, but it’s worth it.
Hoping the best for you!
Blessings,
Anthony
@BarbieBF,
I read about your son in the other clozapine post, I’m so glad to hear he’s no longer experiencing symptoms. I used to smoke weed too but stopped after I was diagnosed. I don’t know if my sickness was brought on by that but I hate what I put my Mom through when she found out. Thank you so much for the uplifting wishes, it’s much appreciated.
@Shaka3,
Good to know, it must have been a sweet moment to finally find the right balance of meds and be voices free. How long did that take? I’m looking forward to having that moment with each 25mg increase.
@radmedtech,
I hear you, I seem to be quite treatment resistant. I would say I experience only modest improvement as well, on my total 425mg dose right now. I was on a dose of around 450mg at night a year ago and I had a bad bout of colitis! So my doc is kinda wary of any increases but I’m hoping it was a one off thing.
All in all, I’m glad I even got any replies and you all gave me something tangible to hope for,
Thank you for your replies everyone!
Just to clarify. I know I said that 450 mg is medicinal. I should have said that is what they say is the start of being medicinal. However this is different for everyone. Once my son was on 100 and his pdoc did a blood test to test for medicinal levels and his pdoc said his levels were significant. I’m guessing from that he meant medicinal. He did maintain on this until he went overboard with the weed again and had a break. He was on 450 mg in September of last year. We have now worked him down to 200 and looking at the next reduction. He is also on 1 mg Risperidone and 600 mg Lithium (for white blood cell count). As long as he keeps the weed and alcohol to a minimum, he can do this.
I’ve been on clozapine for around 5 years now and it’s the only antipsychotic that’s ever done anything for me, however it still hasn’t done anything for the voices. A month or so ago while i was experimenting with the supplement ProFrontal (Sarcosine + NAC) I took a stiff dose and it actually reduced the voices and made them quieter, I couldn’t believe it! I’ve been hearing voices 24/7 for 12 years straight. Unfortuately I haven’t been able to get it to do it again, but I think I’m on to something and the ProFrontal is working better and better the more I take it.
I think he shouldnt do them at all. Just sayin
Thanks for the input dmdar. How much clozapine are you on?
I’m on 600mg of clozapine just temporarily, I normally only need 150mg but for some reason it’s stopped working except for being on the higher dose, once I snap out of it I should be able to go back down again, this has happened before.
I’ve been taking clazopine for 3 months now and I’m experiencing less voices and having less episodes.
Thanks for the reply Jake.
Are you comfortable with the voices a bit quieter or do you want to silence them altogether?
Things have been a bit quieter for me lately, I can’t tell if its the voices giving me a break or if its my new dose kicking in.
Hello everyone,
My son Sky is 25-years old and has been diagnosed since the age of ten. I came to this forum many, many years ago when everything was so new and rec’d so much support:) Today I am here because I am looking for an adjunct medication to add to my son’s clozapine and couldn’t think of a better place to look for advice.
The quick story…over the years, of course, we tried everything and he would only get minimal relief from Voices, etc. For whatever reason, I had avoided clozapine all that time but now it was all that was left. When I finally did give in to it - about six or seven years ago - it changed our lives for the better and he’s been on it ever since. But then we had a problem and I wonder if anyone here has had or heard of this happening.
About four years ago, when he had been at 700mg/day for about a year or so, he started having twitches. The twitches led to drop attacks and then the horror - grand mal seizures. It was the most awful thing. After the first big one where I thought he was going to die, Sky was admitted to the hospital for a week and I was told very matter-of-fact that he now also had epilepsy which, of course, required three new meds. Quietly, I refused to accept this diagnosis but we came home, took the meds (along with the 700mg clozapine) and a month later another grand mal out of the blue. Horrible. Back to the hospital, arguing with the neuro doc that it HAD to be connected with the schizophrenia but he said no - epilepsy! So, I hit the books myself and, sure enough, discovered a zillion reports on clozapine-induced seizures at high doses. This made me sick because clozapine had made life bearable for Sky - the only thing that had ever worked. However, it appeared it was dose related so, on our own, we slowly lowered the dose from 700mg to 100mg and its been 4 years since any sign of seizure.
Now, the new problem is that over the past few years, we’ve slowly moved back up to 400mg and he’s begun to hear Voices daily. Chattering. Although his coping skills are amazing, I feel we can do better but am afraid to go up on the clozapine any more for fear of seizures. Was thinking of an adjunct maybe and came here to see if anyone had tried that. IU’m not really up on the newest meds although I’m back to studying. But now that I’m here in the forum, has anyone experienced seizure activity at all with clozapine? I’m so curious about that. I’d be so appreciative to hear about your experiences either way.
Sorry for the long post…Thank you for you time and for listening…
Zari 
That’s very interesting to me. I have felt that too with my son’s doses…to go up a bit when needed and then slowly go back down when the crisis has passed. How far do you feel you can lower your dose without having symptoms return?
Thank you…
Welcome back @Zari52
My son is on Clozapine however he has never been above 450 mg so I have not had to deal with seizures. When stable and doing good he weans down to 100 or currently now at 150. He is also on 1 mg Risperidone. Has there been a medication in the past that helped him with voices even a little bit? If yes then maybe that could be added so that you don’t need to up the Clozapine.
Good for you on not accepting an epilepsy diagnoses. Sometimes we need to be our own researchers
I’m taking 300mg of clazopine. So far the voices have gotten less frequent. They haven’t totally disappeared. I’m having more intrusive thoughts. I’m just waiting to see if the medicine will work more over time.
I want the voices to completely stop. I have hope that that is possible.
Zari,
I was on about 500mg clozapine, 32g trilafon, and had just added 1mg Haldol when I had my first seizure. I was 32. I had been on clozapine and trilafon for 9 years! I’m not sure what kind of seizure the first one was, I was in the shower and I fell and hit my head and lost consciousness for a few minutes. SInce then I was admitted to the hospital and had the workup and like your son, was diagnosed with epilepsy. For me, it was temporal lobe epilepsy. I was having complex partial seizures about once every 1-2 weeks. The thing is, for my schizophrenia, I Really NEED clozapine. I have tried everything else and I was at the point of being in a long term state hospital for the rest of my life before I got on clozapine. So, whether I have epilepsy or not doesn’t really matter, I need to stay on clozapine. So, we lowered the dose as much as possible, and I now also take latuda and Haldol. I also take 2 anticonvulsants. I have seizures about every month. I cannot drive, but I live in the city and it is not a huge deal. I am doing great. I am in school earning my doctorate in nursing, I am a nurse practitioner (In psych!).
also, trilafon worked very well for me in combination with clozaril but I developed a parkinsonian side effect called PISA syndrome. I leaned to the side uncontrollably.
good luck
Brooke
I hear ya! 550Mg here
I gained a lot of weight on clozapine. I still take it. I used to b pretty.