Posted by RobinWren on May 13, 2011, at 12:41:33
Two weeks ago I had a severe psychotic break, despite taking both Abilify and Geodon for schizophrenia and Lamictal for bipolar symptoms.
To avoid a hospitalization, my doctor and I usually add Zyprexa, but I refused it this time, hating the rapid weight gain and overwhelming sedation, though it is otherwise a wonderful drug for me. This time, though somewhat dubious, I agreed to try Latuda.
Well, within about 5 days the voices screaming at me were gone, my thoughts were much clearer, my energy higher, my mood brighter. Overall Latuda seems the medication I have long been looking for: Zyprexa-without-adverse-side-effects, which is to say, no weight gain and no extreme sedation (in fact the opposite) although I sleep fine at night.
Moreover, I wake in the morning eager to rise and meet whatever the day brings. To me, as an artist, poet and author this is so important! In short, I haven't felt so much better or as hopeful as this in a very long while.
I wanted to report this here because it is so important for people taking anti-psychotic drugs, with so many having such terrible side effects, to know that there may be one out there to try that might work for them with less devastating ones...This is no promise as we all know. Ones that work for a certain person, might wreak havoc with another person's system. Some people for instance swear by Risperdal, and it only and consistently puts me into complete catatonia...But I love both Abilify and Latuda for keeping my mind alert and alive, allowing me to be creative not drugged up, as well as for being more than weight neutral, for in fact helping me lose the Zyprexa-induced weight gain. The one problem with Abilify is that it made me very, very irritable, even angry, until we combined it by chance with Geodon. THat combo calmed me right down, yet without putting me to sleep. Now I never take the one without the other. Latuda, on the other hand, at least when ADDED to the mix, seems not to cause any additional problems, it just corrected in a big way the psychosis, which the other 2 meds did not cover.
Hope this helps others who are considering taking Latuda/lurasidone. If I can assist in any other way by sharing my experiences, let me know. I will be getting email updates if anyone responds to this post.
poster:RobinWren
thread:985237
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20110502/msgs/985237.html