Posted by wcfrench on September 30, 2002, at 2:02:06
In reply to Re: Geodon dosage, posted by hawkeye on September 29, 2002, at 10:57:41
Geodon is recommended to be a twice a day medicine. When I started taking it, I tried 20mg twice a day, but when I took it, it made me feel this really wierd tiredness, and I couldn't take it during the day. I'm not sure if this is going to happen with you. It worked OK taking it at night, but I gradually needed to increase the dosage and eventually got up to 80, then 100mg at bedtime. There IS an activating effect that will keep you awake and thinking, for me it lasted a few hours sometimes and was very frustrating. I think you should try taking it during the day and see how if affects you. If you are still functional on it, then I would consider taking it twice a day. The night time dosage, take a few hours before bedtime to avoid lying in bed awake.
But if you can't take it during the day and you wind up increasing your nightly dosage, beware. When I got up to 80-100mg nightly, I could feel it wearing off the next day. I would take it around 9-10 PM and then the next day, around 5 to 6 PM, I would feel withdrawal effects and would feel very wierd, scary feeling. Like something really bad was going to happen, or like I was going to die. That's why it's a twice a day medicine, because it doesn't last for 24 hours. If you stay at 40, I think you'll be OK, but if you go higher on a single nightly dose, this might start happening. Your best bet with Geodon is to take it twice a day. If it makes you tired during the day and you can only take it once at night, you might want to consider a different, 24-hour antipsychotic, like Zyprexa.
Good luck,
Charlie
poster:wcfrench
thread:121277
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020922/msgs/121621.html