My Support Forums - View Single Post - antipsychotics in bipolar-ish

Blue_Bird · Oct 20, 2019, 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by still_crazy

thorazine...eeek! it has a bad reputation. but 200mgs isn't a high dose, and apparently it is about as easy to tolerate as risperidone as long as the dosage isn't too high (so says wiki). :-) why those two?

i've considered 2 AP combinations (by which I mean prescribers have brought up the possibility...), but I'm scared I'll die or have twitches. a doctor brought up amoxapine, which is an old tricyclic that does double duty as a tranquilizer, for my intense depression. i declined, because I thought it sounded like the harshest possible Rx, ever. now, I kind of wish I'd at least tried it, maybe (?).

i've been oddly curious about seroquel, probably the xr. it has solid data on it for all phases of bipolar, plus its original indication was for Schizophrenia, so...yes! im just concerned that I'll get diabetes or...cataracts. I dunno.

abilify is a somewhat unusual Rx. low doses can help depression; higher doses = an OK antipsychotic, no more or less effective than most other options (so says the Cochrane Review), but less toxic in some respects than many alternatives. my -big- concern is TD, because (wait for it, wait for it) I -had- facial tics and such after stopping an 'atypical,' way back when...they stuck around till I started taking high/massive doses of antioxidants, b-vitamins, etc.

im a little worried about going down to 10/abilify, but...again: abilify is a somewhat unusual drug. the brain imaging studies show that most people probably don't need high doses, anyway...it takes over those D2 receptors at a high %, even at low(ish) doses. good to know...

anyway, thank you all. :-)

I was on 600mg of seroquel but changed over to the abilify and thorazine due to weight gain and the seroquel not fully controlling my psychosis. Thorazine doesn't generally have the weight problem since it's a typical antipsychotic according to my doctor. and abilify is just generally less associated with weight gain so my doctor chose those. I was a little shocked when my doctor brought up thorazine," I'm like but isn't that ancient?" she said yes it's an old one but it's a very effective medication.

I was terrified of taking thorazine at first but I took it and I have to say, I haven't had any side effects except when I was on 400mg of it but that had to be lowered to 200mg because it was causing too much dizziness and blood pressure issues, at this dose along with the abilify and other meds I'm on I'm doing amazing. I'm not overly sedated, I have energy and motivation and it controls the psychosis probably better than any other meds I've been on.

I think part of the bad reputation associated w/ thorazine is due to it being used at way too high doses back in the day