I am trying to get my dr to change my meds. I am on Olanzapine at night and Gabapintin 3x day.
He mentioned geodon or abilify. Do anyone have any experience with these meds? Meaning will it help me to want to leave the house and not feel flat?
I actually asked him if I could try what my son is on,which is colanzapine.
I’m on abilify. Clozapine is really only used if other meds haven’t worked.
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How is it working for you?
I don’t take prns
Maybe my dr needs to up my dose of zyprexa (olanzapine).
I meant to ask you how does it work for you?
I understand there others here that are worse off than me.
Does help with anxiety?
Getting out?
Feel what others say or think is"normal"?
The bad news is It doesn’t help with anxiety for me. Anxiety is increased in fact as a side effect.
The good news is I can just take a supplement called L-theanine which keeps the anxiety manageable.
Everybody reacts differently to meds though. Just because I experience anxiety from it doesn’t mean you will.
It gives you a lift. You don’t feel flat on the inside.
It did raise my blood sugar though. So make sure you get regular blood tests like every 6 months. I take metformin to keep my blood sugar normal.
The only way to see if it helps you is to try it.
This is important though: The minimum dose for schizophrenia is 10mg. Anything less than that won’t work. So make sure you talk to your doctor about the timetable for getting to at least the 10mg dose.
Sorry for the long post.
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I’m currently taking abilify 10 mg, and it’s the best AP I’ve been on. I need the dose to go up because I’ve been hearing voices again, but otherwise, it is very good for negative symptoms. That said, everyone is different.
I’ve been on both, Geodon made me feel like my old,prepsychotic self, but with Abilify, it made me sleep 20 hours a day and I felt like I never woke up.
Then again, I’m ‘upside down’ on my meds, meaning everything seems to have the opposite effect on me as the average person.
I am on geodon and I love it. I used to have flat affect before taking it, but I feel a full range of emotions now. I haven’t noticed any side effects, except that I sleep about nine hours a night instead of six. When I switched to Geodon from risperidone, I lost a ton of weight. That was nice. But I need to get an EKG every year, just to make sure my heart is healthy enough to handle Geodon.
But, of course, every brain is different. What works for me might not work for you.
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I am thinking about changing my med too. From Risperidone to Geodon. My challenge is that I am going on Medicare and they cover Risperidone at a much higher level than Geodon. Risperidone has kept me out of the hospital for over a year. However, I am still delusional and 15 pounds overweight. I may not have an option but to stay on Risperidone. I was actually on risperidone when I had my last psychotic break so I dunno if it’s keeping me out of the hospital or if it’s just luck??
It’s a big racket, lol.
Good luck with your potential med change!
i switched from olanzapine to geodon it works well for hallucinations but different meds for different people and it doesn’t work for controlling my mood as good as olanzapine did but considering the side effect difference it is worth it i will prob just have to take something in addition for mood
I’ve been on both. I’ve been on Geodon for over a decade. It has been a great med for me. I was on Abilify for about a year, I think. I actually got an increase in physical strength from Abilify. It got me a little too amp’ed up, though. They took me off it. It is a good med for the right person.
Thank you everyone for giving input about geodon and abilify.
It has helped me have some comfort knowing what to ask for. I will ask to try abilify.