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Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow
I've been on clozapine for 4 years. I was really afraid of it before I started and anxious about all the labs. But honestly it hasn't been bad at all and that drug works. Nothing has ever really worked for me and here I am 6 weeks out from my last IP stay.
The blood draws are annoying in the first 6 months when they are weekly but honestly I don't even remember that part. I asked my family dr where the fastest lab was and usually I'm in and out in less than 10 minutes, often less than 5 minutes.
It really, really helps me with sleep. It is great with mania because just half of a tab extra bounces me right back to where I should be, albeit drugged for a while. The last time we had to do that I just took the higher dose for 4 days and then back to normal and it was fine. Nothing has ever stopped mania that fast.
I've had only minor depression on it and that includes when my (estranged) father died.
It really, really works. I would not go off it for any reason I can thinks of aside from the low WBC that happens rarely.
The only other bad things are drooling at night which you just learn to deal with and I have some incontinence when I don't wake up fast enough at night so I wear a pad at night. Neither is a big deal.
I gained a bit of weight initially but it came right off with metformin.
Compared to other drugs that have caused all kinds of problems it is pretty much perfect; it causes the side effects it says it is going to and that's it.
I resisted trying it for as long as possible but once I did I was glad I did. It's really not that bad at all.
If you really, really want to avoid it have you tried loxapine? It's kind of neat as it metabolizes into amoditine which is tricyclic. So it gives a boost of AD action while working as an AP. I had to come off before I got a full response because of EPS sx but that's rare. It's a nice drug because it really doesn't have side effects (unless you are me). It also has a huge response range which it good for titrating the perfect dose. It's not used much anymore but I liked it until I didn't.
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Will check into Loxapine--don't hear much about it here. I am so glad you have finally seemed to have found something that is working for you, Beyond. My pdoc has been dangling Clozaril in front of me for some months, been quite suicidal at times, but I've been resisting, partly, quite frankly, because I don't know if I can afford it. I know it sounds ridiculous for a retired doc to be in this position, but I support about 7 people (including me) off my current income and I am last in line. Kids come first, etc. So, with all the frequent blood draws and stuff, I would really have to pencil it out and see if I can manage it. But if I have to do it, I have to do it and we'll figure something out. We always do. Thanks so much for sharing your successes with me!! So glad things are going well for you.