Trying to get off of clozapine

I’ve been trying to get off of clozapine for almost a year now. I am down to 200mg. I’m not sure Abilify alone will be enough to keep me functioning. Turns out I’ve been on most APs besides Rexulti, Vraylar, and Caplyta. I’m worried my insurance won’t cover any of those. Does anyone have experience with getting insurance to cover newer meds that don’t have a generic available yet?

Why do you get off clozapine?
I’m on it, and i have no problem.

1 Like

I have awful side effects, it’s not very effective for me, and I’m sick of the blood draws even tho I only get them done every other week

You’ll need to up your Abilify dose and for me Abilify 20+ mg is sedating.

1 Like

That’s how it is for me. I’m at 15mg rn and it’s helping me enough, but when I get to 20 I can’t really function well due to the sedation. I think the Abilify alone will be enough but my pdoc isn’t so sure

1 Like

I switched from clozapine (200 mg) and 9 mg Invega to 12 mg Invega 3 years ago. It went relatively smoothly but I had sleep issues. That’s why I now take 12.5 mg clozapine for sleep.

1 Like

Hi. New here. SZA, bipolar type.

I was able to get my insurance to cover Caplyta. My pdoc’s office did whatever they had to do to get the pre-approval. That brought it down to about $150 (instead of $1500). Then I used the pharmaceutical company’s prescription card and that brought my prescription down to $15 a month.

Caplyta wasn’t quite enough to block out my positive symptoms, so my pdoc added a tiny dose of Navane (!st gen), which makes the negative symptoms challenging, but I’m working on them. The combo is really helping my positive symptoms, though.

2 Likes

Its not available here in Canada but yeah its supposed to be good for negative symptoms. Vraylar is good too but not available here either. Abilify Latuda had severe side effects. Zyprexa never worked. I am on 6mg Risperdal but soon will be on Clozapine as Dr said its better for negative symptoms.

1 Like

I never tried Latuda. I tried Vraylar and it just made me feel weird. Can’t describe, but didn’t like it.

I read about your negative symptoms in another thread. I’m so sorry that you’re going through that. I just went through months of it, that feeling of knowing you should get up but CAN’T (though I believe depression contributed). I hope Caplyta gets approved in Canada soon and that it works for you.

2 Likes

Aziz I wish you good luck with the Clozapine and hope that it will do the trick.

1 Like

In my country we don’t need health insurance cause that’s state sponsored. If you don’t responded to the generic atypically antipsychotics then you get put on the new expansive brands.