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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by tgo on August 16, 2007, at 9:57:21
I have been taking Geodon for 2-3 months now for mood swings, tiredness, and social anxiety with good results. I just recently have started getting the involuntary muscle movements and this has me concerned. I have stopped the med because I don't want this side effect to worsen or become permanent. I also don't want to take a 2nd medication in conjunction with Geodon to counteract it's side effects.
Has anyone had this expereince with Geodon? Can you recommend an alternative mood stabilize that may work just as well?
Posted by cloudydaze on August 16, 2007, at 19:29:09
In reply to Help with Geodon, posted by tgo on August 16, 2007, at 9:57:21
I think geodon was one of the drugs that caused me to have weird muscle spasms in my face...
I can't remember for sure though.
Posted by LlurpsieNoodle on August 17, 2007, at 7:38:57
In reply to Help with Geodon, posted by tgo on August 16, 2007, at 9:57:21
hi tgo,
first thing is that you should talk to your pdoc right away.I had some of these symptoms when I was on seroquel. I switched to geodon and all the symptoms went away. This happens a lot with the atypical antipsychotics. One of them may cause the twitchies and the other one "cures" it.
But then I had a lot of sedation with geodon, so I ended up switching about 3 weeks ago to abilify. I have been doing really really well on abilify. I switched to abilify because of mood swings as well, so, I hope that this medication works well for you. The other advantage over geodon is that it has once daily dosing. I had to split my dose 3 or 4 times a day when I was on geodon.
I also take lamictal for mood stabilization/antidepressant augmentation whatever. Have you tried this one? It's not the strongest mood stabilizer in the world, but does have really good antidepressant properties.
best of luck,
-Llp.s. talk to your pdoc!
Posted by tgo on August 18, 2007, at 17:09:55
In reply to Re: Help with Geodon » tgo, posted by LlurpsieNoodle on August 17, 2007, at 7:38:57
Llurpsie,
Did you have any start up side effects on abilify? I have noticed that I am tired and not able to get much done all day. Did you have this and did it go away?
Posted by LlurpsieNoodle on August 18, 2007, at 18:25:03
In reply to Re: Help with Geodon » LlurpsieNoodle, posted by tgo on August 18, 2007, at 17:09:55
> Llurpsie,
>
> Did you have any start up side effects on abilify? I have noticed that I am tired and not able to get much done all day. Did you have this and did it go away?hi tgo,
At the same time I started abilify, I also started sertraline [zoloft] which I find quite stimulating. I had some bad insomnia for a week until I figured out I should take the zoloft in the am. I hope the fatigue goes away for you. I have been getting a lot of sleep, so maybe I'm tired too.-Ll
Posted by Amandafran on August 18, 2007, at 22:37:50
In reply to Re: Help with Geodon » tgo, posted by LlurpsieNoodle on August 18, 2007, at 18:25:03
I have taken just about every medicine in the book and am currently on Geodon 20mg in the morning and 80 mg at night for mood stablization. I havent had the trouble with twitching but I did have trouble with it on Seroquel and they had to put me on some other medicine to counteract it. Needless to say I got off of the Seroquel..although it worked really well for a while. I also take Lamictal 150mg at night and it works really well. I have been on it the longest. I also just started taking lithium which my Pdoc told me is a mood stablizer plus has anti-depressent qualities...
Good luck finding the right meds...it can be very frustrating because it affects each of us differently.
Take Care. I dont know if this will help but I wanted to share the meds that I have taken that have seemed to help...
Posted by twinch42085 on August 19, 2007, at 20:23:36
In reply to Help with Geodon, posted by tgo on August 16, 2007, at 9:57:21
I tried seroquel but had to come off of it. My pdoc (who I think was trying to kill me) told me to start at 25mg and increase my dosage by 25mg every 30 minutes until I became sleepy. I made it to 100mg and I felt like I was going to die. My heart was beating a 1000 times a minute and I felt like someone was putting a ton of concrete on my head. It was horrible. So I switched to Geodon. I started at the lowest dosage and work myself to 160mg. The reason that I was on 160mg is because I have a high tolerance to medication plus I was taking 800mg of tegretol XR and tegretol causes other medications to break down quickly. I had to abruptly stop the Geodon because it was making me lethargic during the day. I had to focus during the day because I am a college student. SO I was switched to risperdal. I am currently taking 4mg of the risperdal and it does wonders. I have been taking it for 6 months. I tried tapering off of it because 6 months was way to long to be on a atypical, but when I did the mania and bad thoughts came back so I went back up on it. It is a very good medication for insomnia and it doesn't make me lethargic. I would like to try abilify because it is a unique atypical. I would suggest risperdal if any drug but the only downside is the sexual side effects. Everyone is different though.
Goodluck with everything! : )
Twinch
Posted by tgo on August 20, 2007, at 8:19:45
In reply to Re: Help with Geodon » tgo, posted by twinch42085 on August 19, 2007, at 20:23:36
Does the involuntary muscle movements mean that I will develop tardive diskinesia if I continue the Geodon? Or is it a good idea to get off it now. My nurse practitioner wants to give me Congentin to counteract the muscle movements, but I don't want to take any chances. I can handle the twiches as long as they don't become permament and as long as I don't develop tardive dyskinesia.
This is the end of the thread.
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