Posted by LlurpsieNoodle on July 24, 2007, at 10:07:33
In reply to Re: [over?] medicated haze. help. triggers, posted by med_empowered on July 23, 2007, at 21:07:48
> hey, sorry--I didn't mean to overstep. I'm just a poster here...
no problem. post away.
>the thing is that higher doses of antipsychotics will increase your neuroleptic load, which over time increases your risk of tardive syndromes, which is already a little elevated since you have mood problems and you're female.
oh, did I mention that my uncle had really bad TD by the time he died? (schizophrenia) that was with the old generation APs though.
> Benzos have mild antipsychotic properties, and can help augment neuroleptics. I thought you might want to talk about that with your doc since some studies (a lot of them from the 70s, though) showed that higher doses of benzos often helped out tremendously with psychosis and "other" symtpoms (agitation, anxiety, insomnia) in schizophrenia.
Actually my problem is that I'm not compliant with my benzos. I don't want to take any of them, because they make me feel vulnerable (one of the things about PTSD is that I feel this need to be aware of EVERYTHING in my immediate surroundings. benzos take that edge off and then I feel like this defenseless noodle. I'm glad that there is empirical research to back up my pdoc's increased Rx for klonopin. I thought he just found me neurotic and wanted me to stop feeling so antsy. So... I will henceforth put 2 yellow .5mg tablets in my pill planner, instead of the 1 tablet.
> Have you had an AIMS test while you've been on neuroleptics? If you're going above the approved dosages, I would think it would be particularly important.
I've done it to myself. I know the symptoms from when I was taking seroquel... so far geodon has not only failed to produce any tremors or such, but also completely resolved all my tremors and lumpy throat that I got on seroquel (300mg). pdoc gets a pretty good look at me every time, since I have to sit right next to him.
> Have you tried Risperdal or Abilify? They're both higher potency, so you might be able to get the effect you want/need w/ less drowsiness. Abilify has a weight profile similar to Geodon (sans the weird cardio issues), but Risperdal is a kind of fatty-making med.
I tried to push for abilify at my first appt with my new pdoc. his response "geodon has a wonderful calming effect, and I've found that the side effects continue to decrease even months after starting therapy". I will push for abilify later on. However, I am concerned by Honore's recent posts that abilify doesn't have the long-term studies to demonstrate its low potential for neuroleptic symptoms. I don't want to get the seroquel twitchies again. That's for sure.
>
Thanks for your kind suggestions. Have a lovely day. I feel somewhat better today. not as many dark thoughts (yet) just very low energy and very high apathy. I moved a table. that was my big accomplishment of the morning. and ate my breakfast. on to coffee.-Ll
poster:LlurpsieNoodle
thread:771329
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070719/msgs/771591.html