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  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | Eligiu | deficiT | paranoid android

Mental Health Coming off Invega Sustenna (paliperidone)

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In my case I drank 4 or 5 beers a night and had 2 or 3 joints for 10 years with no problems, but about 3 years ago I started smoking all day everyday and was going through over an ounce a week aswell as drinking sooner and sooner each day. I was illegally growing my own and became obsessed about it gradually getting manic and delusional and ending up in hospital and luckily not prison.
At the moment I'm staying off the cannabis and have no intention of going back to the all day smoking of it, but I haven't ruled out having the odd joint at night when I feel I've recovered from the poison and got my life back on track, I'm trying to leave it for at least another 6 months to make sure I don't spend another summer locked up in hospital.
I don't think I'm allergic to it, but the thought has crossed my mind and at the moment it does scare me a bit and I'm getting chilled out at night off 3 beers. I get a rushy feeling off weed at the moment that I do not really like and the beer feeling is more relaxing and makes the stress of going through this invega torture go away. Perhaps if the weed feeling was more chilled out and I was able to get the high I'd have a harder time not using it.
You've just got to be sensible I suppose and try to recover from this experience the safest way possible and if I'm honest the weed smoking on top of the pressure of illegally growing it brought on my episode and I've got to try to put that in the past and try and get a more healthy lifestyle.
In your case mister T perhaps its safer for you to try and forget about the weed, but I think alcohol should be safe for you in the future although I'm no doctor.
Perhaps if I hadn't been drugged up in the hospital I'd have gone back to all day weed smoking, but I've realised that I need to get my life back to how it was 3 years ago, but at the moment thats impossible with this poison still in my system, hopefully I don't relapse this time and thats why its safer for me to stay off the weed till I feel fully recovered and even then I might decide to stay off it completely although I'm sure I'll at least try it to see if the magic is still there. All you can do is try and be sensible and learn from your mistakes I suppose and keep battling the poison each day.
 
Week 22 off the poison, week 4 on the testo gel
The sex drive has returned a couple of times the last week, not the normal ecstacy, but at least the equipment is still working. Don't know if its the testo gel or just the poison leaving my system, but its at least a positive sign.
Can't say I'm happy, but the suicidal depression that I felt until christmas has lifted and I still feel in a zombie state, but without the constant depression. Still feel cold most of the time like I'm in a state of withdrawal, don't know if thats what drug addicts go through, but its a constant reminder that I'm still a good 3 months off recovering at least I think.
Noticing some slight improvements, I'm feeling slightly more chilled out in my own company and am able to just sit and reflect on things that have happened and the memory of things is clearer if not slightly embarrasing, hopefully one day I will be able to laugh about things.
I'm managing to sleep for 8 or 9 hours a night, waking 2 or 3 times with wierd thoughts, but managing to get back to sleep and not waking in the morning with constant depression. Not taking me as long to come round on getting up, but it still takes an effort to gather my thoughts and make that first cup of coffee.
The anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach seems to have gone aswell thank god, although I'm still bracing myself for another wave of symptoms to hit me.
No motivation or energy yet to make my days more interesting, but I'm almost starting to like lazing about all day and I am trying to keep myself as stress free as possible whilst I wait for each half life to pass. The main thing is not to have another relapse and at the moment I don't feel like I can cope with stress or that it is helpfull in recovery. I think in another 6 weeks when I should only have a sixteenth of the poison in me I should hopefully notice more improvements. All you can do is wait it out and try not to panic it seems.
Going back to the doctors monday to see if he can do a blood plasma test so that I know for sure that I've still got an eighth still in me and that is what is making me feel so ill after all this time, the 49 day half life says it must be so and it feels like I've still got this poison still active in me, but for peace of mind and because I'm still not close to feeling normal even though they give this stuff out like candy as though it only lasts a month I'm requesting one.
 
I'd be interested to know how that blood plasma test comes back and if it actually shows how much is in your system. Hopefully we all will get better soon.
 
I've been thinking about such a blood plasma test and what it could actually convey. For two reasons, I, myself, wouldn't have one done. 1. I currently take 6 mg of Invega every night. 2. If the injection stores the medication in the muscle for slow release, technically all a blood plasma is testing is the average release for when the test was administered.

Bad Robot, I feel like a blood plasma test is kind of like wishful-hopeful thinking. Maybe I'm a cynic, but I feel like information like that is a double edged sword. If it comes back as a low number but you're still feeling shitty, what then? If it comes back as a high number and you're feeling shitty, will it bring some kind of comfort knowing that it will someday be low, or will it shatter your dreams? i.e. like a placebo effect?
 
Managed to watch a movie last night and follow the plot which is something at least after 5 months I suppose. Not got the cold withdrawal feeling aswell, but I'm bracing myself for another wave of symptoms. Next stop box sets.
About the blood plasma test, I got the idea from a couple of other posters who had one done and not even sure if the doctor will do one because when I had blood tests a few months ago he said all the invega had passed through my kidneys and liver. Wanted my thyroids checking aswell because I've read the poison can affect them and I just have no energy to do jobs around my house, let alone exercise or work at the moment.
The science says I've still got an eighth in me going on the 49 day half life and it feels like this stuff is still in my system and affecting me although I am starting to notice some slight improvements in my clarity of thought and ability to be chilled out in my own skin. Its hard describing the torture you feel on this poison day in day out and how it changes you as a person, but thankfully I'm through the worst of it I think and I've just got to chill out until the next half life passes and hopefully notice some more positive improvements and I can start loving life again.
I'll report back what the doctor says and what more tests he does, he did seem surprised I was given this injection in the first place and is at least trying to help me recover from the poison.
 
Can somebody help me to answer my question please? After 4 weeks I almost hadnt anything in my blood anymore but still felt these horrible effects which i am still feeling now. How can that be? Theres nothing in my blood anymore and i still feel all the effects after 10 months almost 11 months. i have astrong anxiety and pain and depression as side effects.
 
Could be withdrawal, high prolactin or your hormones tina, can you not go to your doctor for blood tests ? And it could be the zopiclone if your still taking it
 
I think its still paliperidone (invega) i dont understand how it can not be seen in the blood anymore and it has such a high half life. 49 days.
 
Tina3000 said:
I think its still paliperidone (invega) i dont understand how it can not be seen in the blood anymore and it has such a high half life. 49 days.
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Are you on other meds like antidepressants?

@Bad Robot: You're lucky in the U.S, because here in France they don't do blood tests for Invega Sustenna (Xeplion) but only for Risperdal and they do it just for the police and not for the individuals. So I'm relying on the half lives calculations, taking 50 days as the half life.
 
Tina3000 said:
Can somebody help me to answer my question please? After 4 weeks I almost hadnt anything in my blood anymore but still felt these horrible effects which i am still feeling now. How can that be? Theres nothing in my blood anymore and i still feel all the effects after 10 months almost 11 months. i have astrong anxiety and pain and depression as side effects.
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I've been thinking about this, and I think the reason may be because you had the gluteal injection. It will take just a couple months longer for you to recover, I think. As to why you are still suffering after just 2(?) injections, is beyond me. But I think it has something to do with the gluteal injection vs. the deltoid injection. Like Hilary said, there's less circulation in your buttox.
 
Feeling pretty silly about saying I would "ideally have one update left". Approaching month 9 off Invega Sustenna. Energy still blocked and has been for just over 5 weeks now. I just tried to see if I could come up with some kind of equation for when I see these spikes of energy and motivation... and... whatever. Only found that I have not enough factors for my equation. I'm past the 8th half-life counting 33 days so apparently my metabolism isn't fast enough according to this http://www.drugs.com/answers/long-invega-stay-system-after-discontinued-747165.html because the medication is still very much in my system. This has been the hardest 5 weeks on this poison so far. I mean - I have a more vivid imagination that the time I spent consistently taking it, but apparently the gods are trying to teach me a lesson (and possibly laughing at me as I struggle).
 
iridescentblack said:
Feeling pretty silly about saying I would "ideally have one update left". Approaching month 9 off Invega Sustenna. Energy still blocked and has been for just over 5 weeks now. I just tried to see if I could come up with some kind of equation for when I see these spikes of energy and motivation... and... whatever. Only found that I have not enough factors for my equation. I'm past the 8th half-life counting 33 days so apparently my metabolism isn't fast enough according to this http://www.drugs.com/answers/long-invega-stay-system-after-discontinued-747165.html because the medication is still very much in my system. This has been the hardest 5 weeks on this poison so far. I mean - I have a more vivid imagination that the time I spent consistently taking it, but apparently the gods are trying to teach me a lesson (and possibly laughing at me as I struggle).
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If you want to know if your metabolism is within good parameters, you have to go to your GP and ask for a blood analysis to test your creatinin level.
 
iridescentblack said:
Feeling pretty silly about saying I would "ideally have one update left". Approaching month 9 off Invega Sustenna. Energy still blocked and has been for just over 5 weeks now. I just tried to see if I could come up with some kind of equation for when I see these spikes of energy and motivation... and... whatever. Only found that I have not enough factors for my equation. I'm past the 8th half-life counting 33 days so apparently my metabolism isn't fast enough according to this http://www.drugs.com/answers/long-invega-stay-system-after-discontinued-747165.html because the medication is still very much in my system. This has been the hardest 5 weeks on this poison so far. I mean - I have a more vivid imagination that the time I spent consistently taking it, but apparently the gods are trying to teach me a lesson (and possibly laughing at me as I struggle).
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Or it has nothing to do with gods, which is a good thing. Like, it's biological, chemical. Didn't you have months of injections, more than one month, so you may have been loaded up with a lot more at once, (where even one injection is too much for the system). So like you said to Tina, you'll recover, it just may take a bit longer, and for you because you had more than one month of injections.
 
Bad Robot said:
Week 22 off the poison, week 4 on the testo gel
The sex drive has returned a couple of times the last week, not the normal ecstacy, but at least the equipment is still working. Don't know if its the testo gel or just the poison leaving my system, but its at least a positive sign.
Can't say I'm happy, but the suicidal depression that I felt until christmas has lifted and I still feel in a zombie state, but without the constant depression. Still feel cold most of the time like I'm in a state of withdrawal, don't know if thats what drug addicts go through, but its a constant reminder that I'm still a good 3 months off recovering at least I think.
Noticing some slight improvements, I'm feeling slightly more chilled out in my own company and am able to just sit and reflect on things that have happened and the memory of things is clearer if not slightly embarrasing, hopefully one day I will be able to laugh about things.
I'm managing to sleep for 8 or 9 hours a night, waking 2 or 3 times with wierd thoughts, but managing to get back to sleep and not waking in the morning with constant depression. Not taking me as long to come round on getting up, but it still takes an effort to gather my thoughts and make that first cup of coffee.
The anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach seems to have gone aswell thank god, although I'm still bracing myself for another wave of symptoms to hit me.
No motivation or energy yet to make my days more interesting, but I'm almost starting to like lazing about all day and I am trying to keep myself as stress free as possible whilst I wait for each half life to pass. The main thing is not to have another relapse and at the moment I don't feel like I can cope with stress or that it is helpfull in recovery. I think in another 6 weeks when I should only have a sixteenth of the poison in me I should hopefully notice more improvements. All you can do is wait it out and try not to panic it seems.
Going back to the doctors monday to see if he can do a blood plasma test so that I know for sure that I've still got an eighth still in me and that is what is making me feel so ill after all this time, the 49 day half life says it must be so and it feels like I've still got this poison still active in me, but for peace of mind and because I'm still not close to feeling normal even though they give this stuff out like candy as though it only lasts a month I'm requesting one.
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Paliperidone like any drug given to people that don't need it or are on too high of a dose can cause nasty side effects but it's not a poison. I took Risperidone (Of which Paliperidone is the active metabolite) orally for about a year or more in doses of up to 4mg's a day and besides feeling like abit of a zombie if i took more then 2mg's a day when not manic i got no significant side effects in low doses. People i know find both Invega and Risperdal to work the best for them with the least amount of side effects so it all comes down to the individual just like every other drug out there. Risperidone and Paliperidone are 2 of the worst offenders among Atypical anti-psychotics out there in terms of raising prolactin levels, lowering Testosterone and causing movement disorders such as Tardive Dyskinesia and EPS due to it's strong D2 antagonism and this combined with the fact that it didn't seem to help my Bipolar much is the reason i went off it. But for some people these anti-psychotics work the best for them so it's weighing the benefits against the risks and i would have stayed on it myself if the possible side effects and zombie effect had been worth the risk but it wasn't as it didn't work very good at all for me alot of the time. It also made my depression worse sometimes and on occasion seemed to term a manic episode into a mixed state which is hell on earth.

Personally i find Quetiapine and especially Olanzapine to work the best among the Atypicals and i get basically very little side effects from them. In fact i get no side effects from Olanzapine really even at the max dose of 20mg's unless you count feeling back to normal (wtf ever that is) mind you and it's the best drug i have taken so far for stopping Manic, Hypomanic and also depressive episodes. Sadly i am stuck with Seroquel for the time being because of my shitty insurance as the only Atypicals it covers are Risperidone and Quetiapine so i go with the drug that works the best with the least amount of side effects for me. I even find Chlorpromazine aka Thorazine aka Largactil to be alot more tolerable then Risperidone despite it's bad rep. I have never had a bad reaction to Largactil/Thorazine and i get no zombie effect from it and if anything in doses of 100mg's a day or lower feels like more of a anti-histamine to me then a anti-psychotic. I have also taken Methotrimeprazine aka Levomepromazine which is a Phenothiazine like Chlorpromazine that is only half as potent as Largactil which is in and of itself a low potency anti-psychotic so it's really only used for sleep, nausea and vomiting due to pain along with opiates and to help opiate induced nausea as doses of Methotrimeprazine needed to help Mania or psychosis are very high (up to 1000mg's) which would no doubt make for a very compliant patient as they would be asleep 24/7 as only 10-15mg's knocks me out for a good 10 hours. It is a weak Dopamine antagonist and because of it's strong sedative activity (it makes Seroquel look like a stimulant by comparison) due to it's very potent anti-cholinergic and antihistamine effects along with the very high doses needed for it to act as a anti-psychotic it is really very rarely used as a anti psychotic these days and instead is used mostly for nausea and vomiting along with opiates like Morphine to help the nausea and vomiting from pain which it works well for. I also found Prochlorperazine (trade names Compazine, Stemetil) to have less side effects then Risperidone.

If Paliperidone is not tolerable to you i would suggest trying Olanzapine or Quetiapine if you need a anti-psychotic. Both these drugs tend to make my thinking clearer for some weird reason actually probably because they work wonders at stopping the racing thoughts i get but it's also important to remember that these drugs effect everyone differently and no 2 people react quite the same.
 
This stuff will always be a poison to me paranoid android. It left me suicidal for the first 4 months on it. The length of time it is active in your system is a joke and if you have a bad reaction to it you are basically up shit creak without a paddle. There is no antedote for it and the doctors giving it out seem to be under the impression it only lasts a month in your system. As has been proved by this thread that is bullshit.
My hormones are all messed up from it and I have to take testo gel daily for the next 6 months. My doctor is still running more blood tests on me and I may have more stuff up with me. I have hardly been able to look after myself for the past 5 months and am just grateful to my mother for doing my shopping and cooking my meals.
God knows what damage it has done to my brain or if it will recover, there is evidence that it could have shrunk and I'm not one hundred per cent certain I will ever be the same person I was before getting forced this poison on me. At the moment I'm still not happy in my own company although I do gradually seem to be improving and am unable to exercise let alone work although I could have got lazy.
Lets not forget the 21 unexplained deaths in japan aswell and I'm guessing there will have been suicides from people stuck on this stuff or similar poison like robin williams allegedly.
I'll give the olazapine and seroquel a miss thanks, more poison different name although I've never had the pleasure of trying seroquel I'd rather my brain healed naturally and AP's aren't exactly antibiotics.
Perhaps in tablet form the invega has its uses even though its nearly the same as risperidone, but getting a shot of it seems to take at least 6 to 8 months of your life to recover from and those months aren't exactly a walk in the park and with only 2 or 3 success stories so far I'm thinking poison is a polite word of describing this dangerous form of medication.
 
I would have to agree with Bad Robot. Invega is clearly poisonous. But please don’t be discouraged and don't underestimate the brain's ability to recover from the damaging effects of drugs through neuroplasticity. Dr Norman Doidge is a Psychiatrist at the Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research at Columbia University. He has written several books about the brain’s amazing ability to ‘rewire’ itself and recover from conditions that have previously been considered ‘hopeless’.

The brain can change its own structure and function in response to mental experience. That’s neuroplasticity. I’ve seen this personally with my next-door neighbor. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. Then 2 years ago she joined a community orchestra and started playing the violin – something she hadn’t done since high school. The change in her has been amazing. Exercise, music, diet and positive experiences are so important for healing.

...as one man's meat is another man's poison, so one man's rubbish is another man's treasure.
- William & Robert Chambers Journal of popular literature, science and arts (1879)
 
Bad Robot said:
This stuff will always be a poison to me paranoid android. It left me suicidal for the first 4 months on it. The length of time it is active in your system is a joke and if you have a bad reaction to it you are basically up shit creak without a paddle. There is no antedote for it and the doctors giving it out seem to be under the impression it only lasts a month in your system. As has been proved by this thread that is bullshit.
My hormones are all messed up from it and I have to take testo gel daily for the next 6 months. My doctor is still running more blood tests on me and I may have more stuff up with me. I have hardly been able to look after myself for the past 5 months and am just grateful to my mother for doing my shopping and cooking my meals.
God knows what damage it has done to my brain or if it will recover, there is evidence that it could have shrunk and I'm not one hundred per cent certain I will ever be the same person I was before getting forced this poison on me. At the moment I'm still not happy in my own company although I do gradually seem to be improving and am unable to exercise let alone work although I could have got lazy.
Lets not forget the 21 unexplained deaths in japan aswell and I'm guessing there will have been suicides from people stuck on this stuff or similar poison like robin williams allegedly.
I'll give the olazapine and seroquel a miss thanks, more poison different name although I've never had the pleasure of trying seroquel I'd rather my brain healed naturally and AP's aren't exactly antibiotics.
Perhaps in tablet form the invega has its uses even though its nearly the same as risperidone, but getting a shot of it seems to take at least 6 to 8 months of your life to recover from and those months aren't exactly a walk in the park and with only 2 or 3 success stories so far I'm thinking poison is a polite word of describing this dangerous form of medication.
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Get well soon, while i have gotten past the worst of it i can say that i still just dont feel like my old self :(, im trying everyday even if its little steps at a time.
 
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