Posted by Brainbeard on May 22, 2010, at 14:17:39
In reply to Is this Geodon withdrawal, posted by tiopenster on May 21, 2010, at 8:07:55
I've been on 5-40mg of Geodon for a couple of months, then gradually tapered down. I experienced a severe withdrawal syndrome. I had very physical anxiety attacks, of a sort I had hardly ever experienced before. There would be this stone in my stomach and nothing could relief my anxiety except high dose benzo's. It was also weird that while I normally have very specific fears, the anxiety was completely non-specific. I was just plain anxious.
Geodon is a potent blocker of a subtype of serotonin receptors (5HT2A receptors) involved in anxiety, sleep and appetite, among other things. When you withdraw from any potent 5HT2A-blocker, these receptors have to readjust and will get activated at first. This causes a typical kind of anxiety. Activation of these receptors is also the cause of increased anxiety when starting up an SSRI.
What could actually help is to substitute Geodon for a milder 5hT2A-blocker, like pipamperone or trimipramine. I would look out for any QT-interval interactions though.
Current meds: 10mg melitracene + 0.5mg flupentixol; sertraline 100mg; amitriptyline 25mg; gabapentin (Neurontin) 300mg; melatonin 0.3mg. PRN: diazepam (Valium) 2.5-5mg.
poster:Brainbeard
thread:948155
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100514/msgs/948326.html