I have been on Seroquel, Zyprexa, Risperdal, Abilify, and now Latuda, and it finally dawned on me that you should take these second generation antipsychotics (SGA) AT DINNER TIME OR BEFORE BED!
For 4.5 years I have been trying so hard to combat the drowsiness, feelings of wanting to lie down and nap and nap and nap some more, then sleep, wake up … then take another nap, it drove me nuts. Finally it dawned on me that these SGA are also called Major Tranquilizers (Benzodiazepines are minor tranquilizers) and so instead of taking Latuda with breakfast meal and having to drink 3 glasses of coffee just to barely stay awake, I can now decrease caffeine intake and hopefully live like a normal daytime awake/night time asleep human being. Not drinking coffee will also increase the Lithium absorption since caffeine decreases blood levels of Lithium.
Side note: Light roast coffee = highest caffeine content and darkest roast = lowest caffeine content
Just remember that if you “roast the coffee more, you roast the caffeine out of it”
I used to take respirdal in morning and night but it made me highly drowsy so now I take it all at night, helps me sleep but I sleep for about 11 hours now
When I took abilify, I was sluggish all day, it is a partial agonist at D2 receptors meaning is might activate the receptor at sub-agonist levels but still made me tired. I thought Latuda would be non drowsy since there are negligible antihistamine and anticholinergic side effects, but everyone reacts to drugs differently. Hope the abilify works out for you!
Today is my first day trying Latuda at night time, will give update later this coming week. I would sleep during day, and then be awake at night until 2-3am and I cannot do that and be a functioning adult in society. So night time SGA it is!
Certain APs can be taken in the morning; for example, Invega.
I will only take a Clozaril at night, though, as it knocks me out for a solid 13-14hrs.
Ultimately, though, it depends on the individual. Even taking Clozaril at night, I still feel really tired during the day
I think nothing will make me sleep better. I take my abilify (10mg) and doxipen(20mg) at night, and I still don’t sleep the full night. It is better than it was, though. Now I sometimes sleep till morning instead of always waking up at 4am and can’t get back to sleep.
