Posted by Terry on September 13, 2003, at 23:35:17
In reply to BP2 Polypharmacy Adjustment: Suggestions?, posted by Jota on September 13, 2003, at 17:35:16
I was on Geodon right after it came out. I went up to 120mg per day. After a while it became much to activating and I started to have severe anxiety. The Geodon done nothing for my depression so I was having severe depression with severe anxiety. I tried adding in Klonipin for the anxiety but it made the depression even worse. Then I had to come off the Geodon and had the most horrible withdrawals of any med that I've ever been on. I thought I had been through hell with depression before but nothing that I've ever been through compared to the hell that I went through then - Nothing.
My advice, if they talk you into taking Geodon then take a very minimal dose like 20mg/day. Better yet try 2.5mg of Zyprexa - in my opinion the best atypical on the market for BP2 as far as atypical AP's go. I've tried them all. Usually I get the FLAT affect without any relief of cycling. Abilify was the worst. Zy is the only one that works for me. It usually doesn't take much of an atypical for BP2. Remember one thing, Doctors think they know a lot but they don't have to go through the world of sh_t when something goes bad.
Some of the anti-epilecptics can make depression worse. Some that have affected me negitively are Tegretol, and Topamax.
Sometimes for true BP2 patients, high doses of antidepressants can make depression worse. In these cases it is better to cut way back on the AD and augment with whatever mood stablizer is best for them. For me the best mood stablizer is a low dose of Zyprexa. I'm on 2.5mg of Zyprexa and 50mg of Clomipramine, that's a small dose of a tricyclic anti-depressant. This for me is the best combination that I've found in twenty years of trying. It does have its side affect drawbacks though.
Terry
poster:Terry
thread:259728
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030912/msgs/259815.html