Anti-Psycotic drugs

[S.M.F.G]

Ok forgive me if this is not a new topic.. have been looking around and havnt seen much on this area.. im currently on an anti psyc called largactyl, combined with valium,its keeping my anxiety and agitation relativley level. its a long story how this came about that i wont get into right now, would like to hear of anyone else on any kind of anti psyc, or anyone who has had past experiences with them and talk a little about combos with other drugs, why it was bein taken and outcomes from these,, i'm lookin 2 get better but am having a struggle and think im buildin up resistance 2 fast as today has been a living hell till i finaly went fuck it and redosed.. im feelin a lil better now defnitly calm enough to start a thread on this which is of much concern to me..... hope im not the only crazy in the B/L community thats on this type of shit!

 

[tvGUYok?]

I was given haldol and risperdal during a stay in rehab back in '98. I remember that clonipin (or was it clonidine) was the other pill I got a couple times a day. Anyways, the entire month in rehab was blurry thanks to anti-pysch drugs that were Rx'd to me because my parents swore I was schizo (why else would a white-christian boy use drugs?). I cannot fathom taking these cocktails every day as they hit me like a truck everytime. You are taking this for anxiety/agitation? Do you feel heavily sedated from this, or does it allow a "normal" or "baseline" for you?

 

[phatass]

i'm given a neuro-leptic (mood stabaliser/swings / Anxiolytic / Delusions...), which is also used in higher doses to combat schitzophrenia n that... it's to get me off the benzo's eventually n not be left with nothing...

It helps me sleep n leaves me feeling a bit dumb/doped-up/not happy type feeling the next day....

but essanctially, my doc wants it to replace benzos imo...

 

[S.M.F.G]

You are taking this for anxiety/agitation? Do you feel heavily sedated from this, or does it allow a "normal" or "baseline" for you?

was on a benzo bender, ended p in psyc assesment, been on vals and xanax (seprate periods of coure) for anxiety. was sent from hospital with the anti psycs, and my valium dose halved to 10 mg and. first week, heavily sedated, im only on a low dose of largactyl..(started @ 50 mg a day) second week all seemes good n leveling out not a lot of probs.we are entering week 4 and today has been fucked. have basicly had to double my dose of both of these as majour anxiety kick in midday after my anti psyc which is sposed 2 calm me down... now im koolin off after taken another 3 largactyl (thats 100 mg for the day). the extra valium calmed the pacing and sickness this arvo and was able to spend some time with the kids. im fuiguring 3 largactyl will put me to sleep soon but within a month my dosage has had to double to have any affect... just worrien the tollerence is buildin up again


phatazz ... same story here i think, they want me off the benzos....

 

[jayslapmc]

i took anti psychotics for a while, rispiridone and then abilify, neither of them helped me with my depression and anxiety so they kept upping the dose. eventually i had enough and stoped taking them because they did nothing to me except turn me into a zombie. i didnt realise how they were affecting me until i stoped taking them because everyone around me started to tell me how much better i was doing/looking.

i wouldnt take this shit unless u got schizophrenia. sure they have anxiety reliving properties but thats what happens when u turn into a brain dead half asleep zombie.

i have schizophrenic friends and to me they look worse (more crazy) when on their meds then off them. its kinda like when they are off the meds they look normal but have crazy thoughts, but when they are on the meds they look crazy but have somewhat normal thoughts.

i went in reverse to you guys i came off antipsychotics and onto benzos to relive anxiety.

 

[johanneschimpo]

phatass & SMFG - what kind of doctors would give anti-psychotics to replace benzos? Either you're schizophrenic, your doctor thinks you are schizophrenic, or your doctor is a total jackass. But like the dude above me said, you shouldn't take them unless you have schizophrenia, or maybe very occasionally to sleep in dire situations (but lets not get into that).

But, replacing/tapering/whatever benzos with anti-psychotics is not a practice I have ever heard of, and it doesn't seem medically sound. Does your doctor want you to be a zombie? I guess their tactics might work, its hard to have anxiety when you have no personality and no feelings.

Both of you guys - question your doctor's judgment, because this doesn't make any sense. If he wants you off benzos, you can taper off them, then try things like buspar, SSRIs, beta-blockers, natural remedies, etc for anxiety. But NOT anti-psychotics.

I recently ran into a pal of mine from a few years back. He's now on lithium and risperidone, and he doesn't know why. At least, now he doesn't. He blindly takes them and I don't think he realizes they have turned him into a emotionless automaton. Its quite sad actually, he probably had 1 panic attack or schizo episode, and now his doctor has turned him into a vegetable. More people need to question their doctors judgement (or lack thereof).

Now, maybe its helping you guys, I can't tell from over here. But like jayslapmc said, people told him the differences when he was on and off them. Get some feedback, you may or may not like what you hear. If you need them, excellent, keep taking them. If you don't need them, get off ASAP. And they are by no means a replacement for benzos, unless "benzo" is a synonym for "emotions and personality." By that definition, antipsychotics are a perfect replacement...

 

[jayslapmc]

this is unrelated but i just want to add that schizophrenia is usually the first answer to most problems when u go and see a psychiatrist, especially from public or government run centres. from my experiences with friends and myself schizophrenia is not the default cause to everything and a 2nd opinion is definitely needed

 

[zombiesarepeaceful]

I made the mistake of telling a psychiatrist in the psych ward that I had paranoid thoughts. That, appearing to be a threat to myself (I was still cutting then) and not being able to sleep, gave them reason to sedate me with antipsychotics and give me Geodon every night 8( Wasn't until a week after getting out of the ward that it started giving me horrendous nausea and vertigo, felt like a zombie, so I quit taking it and felt human again.

 

[paranoid android]

Ive been on seroquel and risperidone in the past. Seroquel works great for my bipolar (although it's not very effective without the lamictal im on which does most of the work) and i was taking 300mg's a day up until about a week ago. I was no longer manic or suffering manic episodes where i wouldnt sleep for days at a time so i stopped. Im starting to get kind of hypomanic again and my sleeping isn't great so im going to start up the medication again.

As for risperidone it majorly sucked and i only took it a few times. Not only did it make me feel like complete shit but it didnt work at all.

I don't think people should be getting prescribed anti-psychotic drugs for things like anxiety because there are much safer drugs out there with less side effects. Benzos are much safer they just get a bad rap. As long as you don't abuse them you will be fine.

Atypical anti-psychotics are great for people with psychotic symptoms such as people with schizophrenia and it's good for bipolar. They can help the mania, psychotic symptoms, racing thoughts and insomnia you get with bipolar and they act as a mood stabilizer by themselves.

To the OP i have no idea why your doctor gave you largactil aka thorazine (chlorpromazine) that is a really old school typical anti-psychotic that can have nasty permanent side effects. In fact it was the first anti-psychotic ever discovered i think. It's known for causing movement disorders suck as tardive dyskinesia.

I thought they only prescribed these drugs in emergency situations most times. The atypicals work better and don't have nearly as much risk as the older ones. You should really be taking a newer one like seroquel or zyprexa if your doctor is dead set on giving you a anti-psychotic.

 

[RorerQuaalude714]

I've experienced the following neuroleptics:

Zyprexa Zydis: Works great for mania. It was quite sedating at first, but the sedation wears off as you get used to the med. It put on a LOT of weight (55 lbs or so) and it's very expensive. I'm currently being tapered off it. I started at 20 mg/day (high dose) and I'm down to 5 mg/day currently. Since I've started the taper, I've already started to lose weight fairly quickly.

Risperdal: I personally find Risperdal to be somewhat useless. I find it doesn't help mania too much and that it makes me feel dysphoric and out of it. It's not sedating, rather, I find it's somewhat activating.

Seroquel: It worked pretty well for mania, but I personally find Seroquel to be extremely sedating. I also found that it gave me cold sweats, especially at night. Compared to Zyprexa, it was somewhat more weight neutral.

Abilify: I found Abilify to be an excellent med, with a good degree of effectiveness with minimal side effects. The only problem is that it's not available here, and the only source I had for it were sample packs from someone who was seeing a shrink in the US.

Clopixol Accuphase: An old school typical antipsychotic. I was given this as a deep-muscle injection when I was in the hospital and became agitated. It was a horrible, horrible med. Basically, it made me a drooling, mindless, emotionless sedated zombie for 3 days. Yeah, this stuff lasts for 3 days. It was single-handedly one of the worst experiences I've ever endured.

 

[Ruski Nath]

I'm currently on Seroquel and take 200 mg a day for Schizophrenia. All I can say is, NEVER mix this drug with a psychedelic of any sort.

Had a bad trip one night when I was stoned. I felt overstimulated and took Seroquel to settle me down. Big mistake. I puked as a result and had the worst trip of my life.

I should also add that right around the time I took the Seroquel, I was crashing on Adderall. Either way, be careful! These anti-psychotics can do nasty things.

 

[zombiesarepeaceful]

^Schizophrenia...and recreational drug use? Smart. Amphetamines can cause psychosis if you're predisposed to it.

I forgot to mention that I took seroquel once, but it was offered to me by a friend. I thought it was a benzo at the time (yeah, dumb). It didn't feel like an anti psychotic to me (when I say this I mean it didn't turn me into a zombie like Geodon). I just fell asleep, had some nice hallucinations before falling asleep as I forced myself to stay awake. Seroquel is the only antipsychotic I would consider using again...if I ever desire to induce sleep.

 

[paranoid android]

^^^ Do you take all your seroquel dose at night or do you take divided doses throughout the day? I take all my dose at night but some people i know with bipolar take theirs in divided doses.

Risperdal: I personally find Risperdal to be somewhat useless. I find it doesn't help mania too much and that it makes me feel dysphoric and out of it. It's not sedating, rather, I find it's somewhat activating.

I don't think it's a coincidence that i almost hung myself the second day after being on risperdal. I was on 1mg twice a day and i really had no idea about the drug at the time. This is a fairly high dose i think starting off because risperdal is alot more potent then the other atypicals. My GP prescribed it and he really has no goddamn idea about psychiatric meds and risperdal was the only atypical he knew anything about at all because that was the only thing on the market when he was in school. I was desperate though and just wanted the racing thoughts in my head to shut the fuck up.

Risperdal gave me a feeling of panic and gave me heart palpitations as well. This was abit scary because seroquel did none of this. It also did not sedate me, did little to help the mania and mixed states i was suffering from and made me feel like a total fucking zombie. I could barely think and felt dumb as a box of rocks.

Anyway i woke up the second morning after taking it feeling terribly depressed yet active. A mixed state which is very dangerous. All i wanted to do was kill myself and i hung a rope up downstairs and was going to hang myself. It was 5 in the morning so i knew that it would be awile before anyone discovered me so i would be dead for sure. Fortunately some sense came into my head at the last minute and i thought of what it would do to all the people that loved me. So i just waited out the bad feelings and took a load of clonazepam which helped quite abit.

I sure as hell never took risperdal again.

 

[McNAB]

isnt antipsycotics given to people by paramedics when they're having seriously bad trips?

anyways, i'm being prescribed abilify and take it whenever i've done too much drugs and get those negative thought loops. using it several days in a row however fucks me up. if not exactly zombielike it makes me boring and bored.

 

[Ruski Nath]

I used to take abilify, and it did wonders for my bipolar. Took a couple weeks for me to feel the effects, but still.

To zombiesarepeaceful: I sense some sarcasm from you. I would like to tell you that cannabis has been the greatest anti-psychotic of all IMHO. It rid me of all my delusions and paranoia. It wasn't until I was Seroquel that things took a turn for the worst.

But I'm better now.

 

[thepoisonpath]

I was prescribed risperdal because, according to my psychiatrist, the wellbutrin that I was on for depression was making me a little psychotic. Which bears the question, why keep me on Wellbutrin? Well, he was an idiot....so in short, I was on risperdal for a few months and it sucked. I was a zombie. In fact, some days I'd purposefully miss my dose cuz the next day at school would be a trip. I'd just freak out, yell at the teacher's when I thought they needed it (one really really did), and go crazy all day. It also made me gain a shitload of weight, and I had no idea why. It wasn't until I got off of it and lost it all in about a month that I realized what was going on.

 

[aardvarb]

i'm currently on depakote, lithium, seroquel (a whopping 1,200 mg at bedtime), consta (the new long-acting - two weeks - risperdal IM injection), alprazolam and haldol (PRN for breaktrough mania/psychosis) and abilify.

it sounds like a lot, but i don't feel "zombie-fied" or anything even remotely like that....when i don't take my meds, all hell breaks loose and i end up in handcuffs being dragged to an ER where i'll spend the night in a padded room getting 10 and 3's all night (10 and 3 being 10 of haloperidal and ativan by injection. not as fun as it sounds). while it's true that there are a number of people out there who are over-medicated, or just plain wrongly-medicated, i think it's important to remember that there are those of us who need these meds to live life in as close to "normal" as possible.

 

[thepoisonpath]

isnt antipsycotics given to people by paramedics when they're having seriously bad trips?

Actually, taking risperdal while tripping balls on LSD ended the trip for me. It was just my usually 1mg dose too.

 

[Ruski Nath]

^amazing

 

[jayslapmc]

LOL i forgot to mention the drooling my GOD the droolingin your sleep then u wake up and think ur sweating??? no way buddy u just drooled all over your pillow. hahah i find it really funny because this happened to me.

I don't think it's a coincidence that i almost hung myself the second day after being on risperdal. I was on 1mg twice a day and i really had no idea about the drug at the time. This is a fairly high dose i think starting off because risperdal is alot more potent then the other atypicals. My GP prescribed it and he really has no goddamn idea about psychiatric meds and risperdal was the only atypical he knew anything about at all because that was the only thing on the market when he was in school. I was desperate though and just wanted the racing thoughts in my head to shut the fuck up.

Risperdal gave me a feeling of panic and gave me heart palpitations as well. This was abit scary because seroquel did none of this. It also did not sedate me, did little to help the mania and mixed states i was suffering from and made me feel like a total fucking zombie. I could barely think and felt dumb as a box of rocks.

Anyway i woke up the second morning after taking it feeling terribly depressed yet active. A mixed state which is very dangerous. All i wanted to do was kill myself and i hung a rope up downstairs and was going to hang myself. It was 5 in the morning so i knew that it would be awile before anyone discovered me so i would be dead for sure. Fortunately some sense came into my head at the last minute and i thought of what it would do to all the people that loved me. So i just waited out the bad feelings and took a load of clonazepam which helped quite abit.

I sure as hell never took risperdal again.

this happened to me on aropax/paxil around 2 weeks after i got my dose increased to 40mg from 20mg, only my preference of death was a mix of codeine, zoloft, paxil, mirtazapine, stilnox, valium and temazepam..... and alcohol. i thought the same shit that nobody cared and therefor nobody would find me for days after i died, which if i seriously had of died nobody would have found me for at least 3 days.
anyhow i started seeing crazy shit and called my friend to get all these people out of my room, i had no idea who they were or what they wanted but they sure as hell would not leave my bed room. when my friend got to my house he didnt see anyone realised what happened and took me to the hospital. that night when i came too, i realised that i must have thought my home phone was my mobile phone so i took the home phone with me to hospital, i didnt have any pants on and i only had one shoe? it was quite an embarrassing ride/walk home for me, at the time i kinda wish i had of just died.

i was taking risperdal/respiridone at 2mg a day once a day, taken at night to supposedly help me sleep and compliment my anti depressants(effexor) to make them more effective. i specifically asked for a sedating anti-psychotic if they were going to put me on any because there was this whole "oh no not benzos" thing around benzos this was in the government supported mental health services by the way.
anyways i put on 7 kilograms in less then a month on this medication and HAD to stop taking it. yeh after that was abilify, and abilify didnt work for me either..... nomatter what dose, and i did not get any withdrawals from stopping 15mg a day cold turkey............ i realised im not a schtzofrenic so i dont need these stupid medications which do nothing for me whatsoever apart from hold me back from being a productive human being.

everyone seems to have different responses to the different medications.

something else i might suggest would be trying a SSRI or SNRI such as effexor, people say this is a bad drug (effexor) but it has helped me heaps. personally the SSRI's i have tried have not been as effective and have had worse and longer lasting side effects then the effexor has had on me. many people may say that they get brainzaps and all this shit when they dont take it, which i have to agree with but seriously i dont find them that bad and quite tolerable if and when i forget to take my medication ( i can forget to take it and not realise until the next day having no brainzaps whatsoever, and i can start getting brain zaps around 3pm~ mid arvo and then realise i forgot to take my meds) i think the extended release or effexor -xr is the reason for inconsistency.

allot of people seem to complain about withdrawals from effexor but i went down from 225mg to 150mg and all i got was a bit of diareah. benzo withdrawal is about 100times worse if not managed properly on a reducing scale, this i have also experienced. and would not want to attempt again whilst unmannaged by a doctor.

in saying all this i would suggest staying on the benzos for a good solid anti anxiety drug.
and if you want to swap to another kind of medication the second type i would recommend would be anti-depressants SSRI + SNRI. i dont think all SSRI's are bad i have head really good thing about lexapro, its just that i havent tried it before, so anything i could say about lexapro would not be based on personal experiences i have encountered.