Posted by delna on October 10, 2009, at 2:37:58
In reply to how do you feel about geodon?, posted by obsidian on October 9, 2009, at 21:33:13
Hi Sid,
I loved this drug. It was the BEST thing ever!
What are you thinking of taking it for?
I was put on it for pretty resistant, suicidal bipolar depression.
Unfortunately I developed a 'nerve pain' thing (on Geodon) which I still can't confirm but sounds like 'tardive pain syndrome' ( very very rare) so I had to (reluctantly) stop :(
Anyway, took it for nearly 2 years. It changed my life- I have never been so 'normal'. I even held down a really high stress job with long hours ( I'm 35 and have never managed to keep a job for more than a few weeks/ 2-3 months in my life because of some overwhelming symptom or other)
In a nutshell, yes it helps with anxiety, agitation, irritability and lots more
Anyway some points based mainly on personal experience (and confirmed from whatever basic stuff I have read)
- Dose is VERY important:
At 40mg REALLY stimulating. Incredible anti-depressant effect. If you are bipolar and taking it for the depression it may make you a tiny bit 'high'. A nice high ;-)
I think this was the minimum dose for me personally60mg.Acts as Stimulant and AD too but is more stabilizing.
60mg was my optimal dose but I have also been all the way up to 160mg (to try to understand the pain).
I think it gets more stabilizing as you increase the dose but frankly I think most people take (and doctors give) too high a dose and you just end up with all the side effects. It sort of zombified me at doses above 80mg.
-Anxiety
Worked for my anxiety at all doses even 40mg. I hardly took Klonopin anymore. Before adding Geodon I was popping upto 8mg a day (despite being on a low dose SSRI)-Aggitation
Reduced agitation. Kept me calm and not-irritable and very rational (especially at 60mg)I found that it had good mood-stabilizing effects yet I was charged and motivated and not 'blah' like with some mood stabilizers. Incidentally I have been on Lamictal 200mg for 5-6 years for BP (which is fantastic for agitation) and stayed on it even while on Geodon. I noticed further stabilization with Geodon and I was never agitated and particularly steady as a person. Speaking purely of irritability I wasn't even slightly irritable before my period and usually I am a monster! :)- Concentration and memory. I found that I regained my pre-illness cognitive status. My brain fog lifted totally.
- I also came out of my 'fantasy world' after years (or was it a decade)
- Timing of dose: I always took all mine at night because it is extremely sedating. I couldn't even tolerate 5mg in the day. I know it's supposed to be divided into 2 doses but my pdoc said it was fine to take it all at night. If you take it in the day you will never be able to function IMHO. Many people give Geodon up because of it's sedation (even though it is supposed to be less sedating than others)because they take some in the day. Incidentally, I found that the sedation never wore off or became better even after a year and a half.
- Augmentation.
I had to augment with 300-400mg Provigil (which I need anyway, just to stay awake- am a very sleepy person.) But what was unique with Geodon was that i needed to take Provigil 200mg just to wake up (yes, it's that sedating!) So someone would wake me up a full hour before i needed to be awake to take the Provigil, otherwise i would never have woken up. But once i was up I was like dynamite ;-)
NB: I was recently taking 400mg Provigil, Wellbutrin 300mg and 200mg caffeine (just as stimulants) minus the geodon and was/ am still zonked.)
My point is that Geodon is very activating (even though it is sedating).Sounds weird right?! I don't know how that works. Maybe it is just such an amazing anti-depressant and that's what makes you feel 'activated', alert and awake. (once you are up)
Negatives:
Hmm, none that can't be dealt with.I guess its not good if you are one of those people who needs to be shaken up in the morning due to sedation because it means that you can't live all alone. But here I speak from my own experience (a very, very sleepy person from a very young age)
Weight gain.
I have been on Zyprexia so I know how bad weight gain with anti-psychotics can be. Even though its supposed to be weight neutral, I gained a fair amount weight on Geodon. Like 5kgs and very rapidly. But then again I gain weight on most psych drugs. But some people lose weight on Geodon(?!). Lucky!
However I found that the weight COULD be lost (not very easily, though) with diet/ exercise which I cannot say for a drug like Lithium.Other disorders
Didn't help my OCD which my pdoc thought it would so he initially withdrew me from my low dose SSRI which was controlling the symptoms. Anyway I had to reinstate the SSRI which was not a big deal.
Just to say that I was really not keen to take an antipsychotic and thought my pdoc was an idiot for prescribing it but I took it because my sister convinced me to give it a try ( i was suicidal so she said I had nothing to lose).
In the past I have tried Seroquil,Zyprexia (both which made me a zombie) and Abilify for a short time. None worked like Geodon. I don't think it can be replaced for me. I am trying Parnate now....fingers crossed.
But If I ever figure the pain thing out, I will go back on it for sure despite the fact that anti-psychotics have so many potential risks.
Sorry for the long post. I just loved this drug so much- it really changed my life.Take care
D> does it work for anxiety, irritability, agitation?
> good things?
> bad things?
>
> any experiences to offer would be greatly appreciated!
> thanks,
> sid :-)
poster:delna
thread:920329
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091001/msgs/920353.html