I went off my Saphris for a week and was completely suicidal. Stopping the medication wasn’t completely by choice and although I’m taking it again and feeling better, the experience has left me terrified. I just completely lost all ability to cope.
I have been taking samples from the Dr., how much is this medication? Has anyone else ever felt this way when abruptly stopping a medication?
I can’t live thru an experience like that again. I hate this illness. I want it to go away.
I think Saphris is still patented and brand name…don’t worry, you will get what you need or I will personally mutilate the people who have it.
Nah Obama will have your back I’ll just send death threats
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Stopping medication suddenly is always a bad idea. If a medications isn’t working - or if you have to change for some other reason - then talk with your doctor / psychiatrist and work together to move to something else.
There are a lot of different medications out there - so if Sapharis isn’t covered by insurance, or you can’t afford it - there is a very good chance that another medication will work well for you.
Keep on, keeping on…
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It’s bad to stop medicin cold turkey. I have Abilify and it’s expensive as hell. I don’t know if I can afford to pick up my medicine next month. One month Abilify is 150€ here in Sweden. That is 300€ /month for me. Lucky me we have an insurance system kicking in when I have payed 220 €. But I still have to pay 220€ 
I will try to talk to the pharmasist and see if I can pay 10-20€ /month instead.
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Regardless of negative effects of the drugs, stopping cold turkey is the worst. You can have seizures, hypertension, generally feel like crap stuff that is terrifying. Plus you get rebound symptoms. It’s not a gauge of whether or not it’s an effective drug to stop suddenly. Discontinuing or switching drugs isn’t pleasant either. It helps if you have a good doc helping out. I spent 5 months discontinuing Latuda and I think even that may have been a little fast.
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sorry Love, you really need to stay on medication, its for your own good but you probably know that anyway, i hope this doesnt happen again and at least you got some, get some more and keep a supply, that what i do, suicide sucks
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Abilify has gone generic and the generic version is dirt cheap.
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Saphris is really expensive without insurance. When I wasn’t covered the pharmacy told me a month supply of my 30mg dose would be about $1200! I was able to get samples from the pdoc until I spent down and got Medicaid. Even with the Medicaid I have trouble filling it because the will only fill 90 pills in a month and not a day before. So it makes it tricky getting refills because you have to time it right, plus it’s a speciAl order for my pharmacy so they don’t keep it in stock and they’ve had problems backordering it from the warehouse.
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Also when I miss more than a days dose I feel like I’m going to die. My body goes through hell. Doesn’t stop me from being willful every once in a while and not take them. Then I say to myself why did I do that to myself again.
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As many times as this question has been asked with vote buttons or otherwise just discussed, I’d have to say that the majority of people on this forum are like the majority of sz, bipolar and paranoid/delusional pts period: If we stop taking our meds, we get really uncomfortable.
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Yeah if I stopped taking Abilify regularly I would eventually start having symptoms: ear ringing, depression, anger, denial…if I take it regularly I remain balanced and it’s very important to continue taking it. Abilify has helped me over the years, but with Bipolar sometimes I’d feel so well I didn’t think I needed it. People would say that because of my shyness or spaciness, that I shouldn’t take anti-psychotics. You can’t let people judge you or your illness without being you yourself, unless it is a doctor who is paid to help you recover and maintain wellness.
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I get a ringing in my ear just before I have an auditory hallucination; usually I hear music.
My pdoc said the medication is treating the illness and that it’s possible that I won’t need medication one day. I hope that’s true.
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Yup. I don’t put a lot of emphasis on opinions expressed by people who’ve never had a serious mental illness and have never dealt with all the upshots thereof. I prefer mental health pros (social workers, psychiatrists and therapists) who are not just “school trained.”
You think that is bad? My meds were recently spiked with chrystal meth in a attempt to push me over the edge…well im still here and if you keep your wits about you then you will make it also.
God Bless
I hear buzzing or doorbell, cellphone ring tones before auditory hallucinations. Saphris has completely stopped all those noises for me, the silence is blissful. But I resent having to take daily meds.
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The first time my hallucinations were controlled and I had peace in my head, I was unsure what to do. I almost wanted the noise back, in some sick way, because I had gotten used to it. Now my worst problem is agitation control.