Posted by Christ_empowered on August 16, 2010, at 12:58:14
In reply to Geodon dosing questions..., posted by SheilaC on August 16, 2010, at 7:54:36
I found this (http://www.biopsychiatry.com/ziprasidone.html) which would seem to indicate that the dose really depends on your problem(s) and the phase of your illness at the time you start therapy. The abstract I linked to above discusses the possibility of using higher doses for acute phases of severe bipolar and schizophrenia, and then lowering down to a "maintenance dose" of around 40mgs/day.
I personally think that since you don't have psychosis or mania, you might want to start very low and gradually get up to a dosage that provides control of your problems w/o any (or too many) side-effects. The great thing about antipsychotics (both "atypical" and "conventional") is that they're pretty fast-acting in some respects; since you don't have hallucinations or acute mania to contend with, lower doses should help deal with anxiety, agitation, irritability, and possibly even dysphoria rather quickly. In fact, some docs use neuroleptics on an as-needed basis for control of certain symptoms in non-psychotic mood-disorders (and borderline personality disorder, too).
I think one problem you're having is that your doctors seem to think that Geodon, and possibly the other atypicals, are somehow special drugs that have unusual properties that show themselves at the "right" or "target" dose. I've been on various meds at various doses, and I can tell you: there's really nothing special about Geodon or any other "atypical" (or "conventional") antipsychotic. There is no magic dose. The special thing about the "atypicals," from my view as a patient, is that you're more able to get control of your symptoms w/o running into problems such as tardive dyskinesia, drug-induced depression, and "affective flattening" (jargon-y term for being Thorazine-d into oblivion).
I guess I wrote all this to say these 2 things: 1) even though Geodon is probably a lot safer than, say, Haldol, it is still heavy artillery, so start low, go slow so you can discover the lowest dose at which your problems are minimized; and 2) keep your expectations low. I know its hard, with all the advertising and glowing reports from shrinks, to be at all skeptical, but it certainly helps. Drugs can help with certain aspects of what we call mental illness, but they're really not "cures" and there's a whole lot more to obtaining a good Quality of Life (QOL, another jargon-y term I'll borrow from the shrinks) than taking the "right" med(s) the "right" dose(s).I wish you the best of luck. I hope my post was helpful.
poster:Christ_empowered
thread:958806
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100811/msgs/958821.html