From the Wikipedia page about Saphris (asenapine):
In a 2013 study in a comparison of 15 antipsychotic drugs in effectivity in treating schizophrenic symptoms, asenapine demonstrated low-medium effectivity. […] Due to the low-quality and limited quantity of evidence, it remains difficult to recommend the use of asenapine for people with schizophrenia.[…] As for its efficacy in the treatment of acute mania, a recent meta-analysis showed that it produces comparatively small improvements in manic symptoms in patients with acute mania and mixed episodes than most other antipsychotic drugs. […] Drop-out rates (in clinical trials) were also unusually high with asenapine
If Saphris is so much not effective with anything at all, why is it working so well with me? I don’t understand. I feel like this drug has a powerful effect on me and has a lot of unwanted side effects. Saphris have succeeded in treating me on the long term while other drugs like Abilify and Zyprexa, which are supposed to be more effective according to Wikipedia, failed miserably.
@anubis Maybe you have a different bio-chemistry… I don’t know. The nurse who gives me the injection of Abilify said that not all drugs work the same on different people.
I understand why it seems I am the only one in this forum who takes Saphris. It doesn’t have a good reputation.
My psychiatrist is really a genius because she knew that Saphris was the right medication for me even if it has a bad reputation. She made me try it anyway.
It’s very individual. Suppose you are one of a fairly small number of people who metabolize it well and benefit from it. Maybe your pdoc is a genius. Everyone is different.
When I went to my new drug store after moving (last year), the pharmacist told me that they don’t have Saphris and that he has to order it for me. Some month later, the pharmacist told me that I was his only client who takes Saphris (and I don’t live in a small place). It was the same with my previous drug store.
I am very much interested in trying Saphris out.
There was a guy in the Hospital that was taking Saphris and he loved it.
My doctor mentioned that I try it once before but hasn’t mentioned it again.
I’m going to bring it up to her.
Saphris is known to have much less side effects than usually with the other antipsychotics. For example, I had really not so much a weight gain. Also, I don’t feel like I’m a zombie. I don’t have any problem with my cognition and my intellectual function, unlike with Zyprexa. I’m a software developer and I feel I have 100% of my habilities in making algorithms.
However, I still have many unwanted side effects like flat emotions and a low libido and many other one, but I must say that I’m very sensitive to antipsychotics.
Well I take it just before sleeping just because I want to take it at the same time as my other medications, it’s more practical. But I don’t feel sedated at all during the day! I’m feeling really awake and alert.
I never took Seroquel. But Saphris doesn’t knock me out at all, like I said. I’m not sure that Saphris is known for that. My psychiatrist never told me that and she didn’t say me that I have to take it before sleeping because of that.
Yeah, my psychiatrist also made me start Saphris with small samples. I really hope that it could be your best medication! You seem to have a good psychiatrist.
At the beginning I didn’t like it at all. I hated the taste. But yes, with time you get use to it and to the taste and it doesn’t disturb you anymore. Well that what happened with me. But I can’t say I wouldn’t prefer that it is a normal pill.