Clozapine

It's a really scary drug because of the blood draws but what are the advantages and disadvantages?

For me (been on it 6.5 years) rhe only real downside is the blood draws. 6 months weekly, 6 months every other week, monthly from there on. It can be frustrating to get the labs to the pharmacy sometimes, at least with my pharmacy (who lose things and blame it on the doctor's office). The labs themselves you become so used to. Of course there is a potential for an abnormal lab but I've never had to even repeat one. My levels did go up way too high about a year ago so I have added a clozapine level to the routine every 6 months of so but I don't think that happens much.

The good thing; it works. At least for me. I'm not been back to the hospital since I started it and if I've had hypo it's been treatable with 4 days of increased meds. I used to get hypo or manic every July/August and not I'm actually still on my higher dose of antidepressant. When I'm not depressed I feel quite good. I had a few months this year that my therapist said were pretty much a normal, stable mood. It's the strongest AP and it does live up to the name.


I'm not sure what else to say. Feel free to ask me questions.

My dr wants me to cinsider if but it scares the heck outta me.

I was afraid of it too but am so glad I wound up on it. I knew for a while that it was going to be likely because I was running out of meds my pdoc was willing to try because I had so many EPS reactions to 2nd generation APs that she was wary of trying 1 generation ones. So for some time when I'd get worried about running out of meds or that I wasn't responding to something she'd remind me that "there's always clozaril". And the time came and I've been on it 8 years and I've also been out of the hospital for 8 years and I don't rapid cycle anymore. I'll answer more in the other thread but it sounds a lot more scary than it really is.

I was afraid of it too. It did clear up any of my symptoms within a week of getting back on it, but my pdoc/lab/pharmacy hadn't learned from kindergarten and couldn't cooperate, so I was sick of only getting it 5 days of the week. Also only certain pharmacies stock it.

The lab thing is more of a pain in the butt especially at the beginning because it is super rare anything pops up. I had to repeat them once when I was sick and had an elevated WBC (as one does when sick).

The weight gain was awful though. If med shyt were competent and there was no weight gain, I'd definitely be on it. Not if I'm gaining weight from a med I'm taking 5 days a week and feeling shytty the other two from not having it though.