[peaceboy23]

So i've been on Geodon for about a month, on 80 mg for a few weeks. I had that little wihtdrawel episode last week...well now i'm feeling like it again, my muscles feel twitchy and i feel a bit hot like feverish and my head feels funny. I'm freaking out that this is some delayed potentially fatal reaction...is there a possiblility that reactions can happen thsi delayed into taking the medicine? It could just be that i'm obsessing over it and that's making it wose. now my neck feels stiff...so i'm sure I have Meningitis. Sigh.

 

[sleepingbeauty]

its been 4 months since ive been completely off meds, and i still have horrible ticks and restless leg syndrome. i got this after taking a combo of Abilify and Namenda, along with my normal dosage of Wellbutrin, and it never went away. of course it was much worse when i first started taking it to the point where i couldnt even stand up, so the doc took me off it. they symptoms are not as bad as they were, but i still have a hard time sitting still for too long i feel like there are bugs crawling all over my bones in my legs. and if im not mindful of it my legs start bouncing all over the place. its horrid. :?

 

[Homeskooled]

Oh my gosh sleepingbeauty.....who the heck put you on Namenda? Thats the newest Alzheimer's medicine....My god thats incompetent. Wow....thats the weirdest combo I've ever heard of. Lets see : Ablilify reduces your norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine, then he puts you on Wellbutrin to INCREASE your norepinephrine and dopamine, and then gives you an Alzheimer's drug to increase your acetylcholine. I think thats the first time I've heard of those drugs being used for DP. Guess we can say that they definitely dont help....Get some GABA from the health food store. Might get rid of some of the restless leg. How's your blood sugar doing?

Peace
Homeskooled

 

[jake]

peaceboy ask your doctor tomorrow about those ticks and stuff, it may help ease your mind. I hope you feel better soon. On the other posts I was just curious if anybody knows what causes that restless leg thing; I was diagnosed at a sleep lab in 1994 but refused the meds (levidopa/carbidopa) b/cuz they just seemed kinda outlandish to me. I just had general anesthesia Thursday morn for an operation and when they put the mask over my face my legs started goin to town! A lady said do you have restless legs syndrome and the last thing I recall is just saying mmm hmmm..

it was Wicked Bad in recovery room as well--- just comin outta my freakin skin. I don't know what the hell they used but it didnt agree with me to say the very least. I got home Friday and still feel withdrawl but I know I had alot on board even the whole time I was in my room that day and overnite etc...so glad to be home.

 

[Homeskooled]

Dear Peaceboy,
I dont think its anything serious. Call your doctor and let him know, but you probably need it lowered. Every single antipsychotic out there, of which Geodon is one, causes restlessness, shakiness, and muscle twitches. They all shut off dopamine receptors, which control our movements. Just ask to have it lowered.

Peace
Homeskooled

 

[Tom Servo]

Hey, P.B.

First off, sorry about the Astros.

Secondly, and this is pretty much just a reiteration of what Homeskooled wrote,

Common side effects of Geodon include the following:

feeling unusually tired or sleepy
nausea or upset stomach
constipation
dizziness
restlessness
abnormal muscle movements, including tremor, shuffling, and uncontrolled involuntary movements
diarrhea
rash
increased cough / runny nose

They won't kill you, though.

Basically, all anti-psychotics tend to make people feel like sh*t. Lowering the dosage will help. Apparently taking the stuff when you go to bed helps, as well. If you're still miserable, meds for Parkinson's Syndrome help with the twitching and all that. They also redue the effectivenss of the med, though.

Re: meningitis - can you bend your neck down and put your chin on your collar bone? If so, you almost definitely don't have meningitis.

So - is Geodon helping you at all with DP, or is it just making you want to writhe out of your skin?

 

[sleepingbeauty]

They won't kill you, though.

i disagree with this. seriously, when my RLS was at its worse, i thought i was going to have a heart attack or go into a coma it was so bad. it was so bad that i contemplated killing MYSELF just to make it stop. its maddening.

i really sympathize with anyone who experiences this. give me DP anyday of the week. i can handle that much better then having my muscles spaz out and bugs crawling on me.

i dont want to hijack peaceboys post, but to answer your question homie, yes my doctor is retarded. like ive said before she thinks meds are tictacs. shes a nice lady but she has no clue. she perscribed me the Abilify to treat my ADD. and supposedly the Namenda was supposed to help my concentration. The Wellbutrin i was already on was to treat depression and panics. i didnt get perscribed anything to treat DP/DR specifically because they told me it was a side effect of my other laundry list of stuff and would go away on its own.

 

[peacedove]

I'm really freaked out about this RLS now. Can it be cured? I forget to take my klonopin for a day and I start twitching. My god, I can't imagine what I'll be like off meds. I used to go on and off meds all the time with no prob... I guess they have finally taken their toll.

 

[sleepingbeauty]

ok before anyone jumps on me for freaking people out, im just saying my own experience. everyone is different. but yes peacedove, rls sucks. but its something that is usually consistant, so if youre only getting it when you miss a dose, thats prolly just normal WD and not RLS. but you wont know that until you are off meds. since its not happening when you are on them i wouldnt worry.

 

[Homeskooled]

Gave you Abilify for ADD? Holy cow...thats just incompetent. ADD means a LACK of neurotransmitters in the prefrontal cortex. Antipsychotics like Abilify bottle more of them up so that they cant be used....thats grounds for a lawsuit. And gave you dementia/Alzheimer medicine to help with concentration?? If anything, the Wellbutrin is for that, but with DP, it'll just make the temporal lobes misfire more (its the only psych drug which has been linked to seizures). Oh well. I'd give you some Lamictal for depression and DP and call it a day. I have to accompany my bipolar roommate to the psychiatrist's office, just to make sure he doesnt overmedicate him. He had Tim on Zyprexa and Lamictal, and the zyprexa was affecting his sugar as well as making him suicidal. I kept telling the doc, and he kept lowering it, and finally I got it dropped. Then he wanted to put Tim on Abilify. Needless to say, the man went to Harvard, and is once again just a pillpusher, not a thinker. Psychiatrists have given up on being scientists. I make sure Tim goes to a family doctor now to simply get Lamictal, 200mg. Keeps him from having psychotic manic episodes and suicidal depression. On top of that I give him Omega 3 fatty acids since they were linked to a remission in Bipolar symptoms at Harvard. I dont want to see his body messed up by endless psych med experimentation. Thats probably what triggered my porphyria. On a lighter note, I would recommend L-tyrosine too. It will increase the dopamine which the Abilify depleted, which may in turn stop the tics. How has your sugar been? Still trying the South Beach?

Peace
Homeskooled

 

[g-funk]

Hi
Don't want to hijack this thread either (sorry peaceboy), I just want to ask HOmeskooled a question if that's ok.

I'm on Effexor. It worked last year for me, not long after reaching 150mg. I slowly stopped obsessing and DP soon lifted. I came off it in May. Hellish withdrawal but totally worth it for the fact it gave me my life back.

I got DP back in September and it is hellish. I have been on 150mg for a few weeks now and I'm as obsessive as they come. And getting down about it. Can you give me some advice please?!?!?!?!

again, sorry for hijacking!!!!

 

[Tom Servo]

Hey, P.B.,

I looked up Geodon - you're at 80mg? That's the maximum dose. WFT? No wonder you feel like sh*t. Even back when anti-psychs were routinely prescribled for DP, it was for a low dose of high-potency meds, like maybe 6mg of Stelazine or Navane (A lot of doctors prescribed a lot more than that, but probably with almost no with success). How familiar is your MD with DP? Sounds like you're being given way, way too much of the stuff. Unless, of course, it's helping your mind. Is it?

Well, maybe that dose at least helped get you through bottom of the 9th of last night's game. I certainly could have used 80mg of Geodon in the last 7 seconds of the USC-Notre Dame game. I'm still fuming about that (Hell, I'm still pissed off about games Michigan lost back in 1972! No wonder I ended up with DP).

 

[peaceboy23]

No it's not helping my mind at all...in fact I thnk it may be making it worse, or at least it's just as bad. My head just feels funny all the time now. It's actually my psychiatrist I don't know why he put me on such a high dose, but I definately dont' like it. I see him on Wednesday and i'm gonna get off it hopefully.

 

[Tom Servo]

Was this the first med he's ever prescribed for you?

 

[Homeskooled]

Dear G-funk,
I've seen this alot with Effexor. It seems that when people taper off and try it again, even months later, they need a higher dose. You can try going a little higher, although I'm not sure they go much higher than 150 or 175 with Effexor XR. Women seem to respond especially well to it, and this may be because it regulates your hormones a bit, as it is used for menopausal symptoms. You can try taking just a little bit of 5htp with the 150, and see if it helps. You can find it at a healthfood store. Take the minimum reccomendation, as it creates serotonin, which is low in OCD states. Dont overdo the 5htp, as you'll get serotonin syndrome with too much. If the Effexor doesnt hit it, the next med your psychiatrist should try is Celexa. Low side effect profile, high amount of efficacy in DPers.

peace
Homeskooled
PS- Increasing the carbs in your diet will also increase your serotonin levels. There are many ways to treat mental illness...Lastly, or maybe first, you can try taking a B complex with the Effexor. B vitamins are used to make all neurotransmitters. It may augment its effect on you.

 

[g-funk]

cheers Homeskooled, will give it a try
Gxxx

 

[Martinelv]

Hey G-Funk, I thought you were withdrawing from Efexor ? Changed your mind?

And as we are pumping Homeskooled for information - mate, do you know why my lipid count would be abnormal? I went for the results of my recent checkup this morning, and my platelet count is the same, but apparently there is 'concern' about my lipid count. As I understand it, they are fatty globules that stick to your blood, or something. The doctors keep banging on at me to stop eating fatty foods, but I never do, really !!! So what else could be effecting it ? Booze I suppose?

 

[g-funk]

I did withdraw about 4 months ago and then got DP and panic back last month

 

[Martinelv]

Bummer.

Why not try Cipramil this time? Although I went through a bit of a trauma getting off it (coz I cold turkied), as you know it's nothing in comparison to the dreaded Efexor withdrawal. Did Cipramil do nothing for you? Or perhaps 5-HTP as Homey suggests?

 

[g-funk]

Cipramil worked for me a few years back, then when I got full-on DP last year, I tried it again and it seemed to spiral me downwards. I'm not blaming the drug, yet it seems funny that Effexor then began to work for me and this second time around, I'm getting worse not better. Maybe I need a completely different drug!
My mum in-law-to-be runs a health food shop so she can get all these supplements free/cheap so I might exploit that avenue.

My other thought is this - maybe these drugs don't do anyting at all, my DP just takes it own course? I mean, I know they do SOMEthing, I can feel it, but I'm sure the reason I feel better is when I get into focusing outwards and not obsessing. Ultimately its down to me. I can't rely on a drug, I'm very much of the mind that the long term answer is for me to learn new coping skills. I'm seeing a psychoanalyst at the moment and I have learnt some stuff about myself in just 4 weeks, but it's so hard at the moment because I'm geting married in December and what should be 'happy days' is like torture because I'm paranoid I will feel this way on the day and be a gibbering wreck! I feel so guilty for not being all happy and chirpy about it.

Sorry, TOTALLY hijacked this thread now. APologies!