just started Geodon...not loving it

New drug regiment and either the Geodon or the Sonata is freaking me out. I quit taking my Lamictal (bad girl behavior) because if I took it at night I ate until I lost consciousness and waking up to find that you fell asleep with a bowl of soup on your chest is less than ideal. If I take it during the day I get nauseated and the memory loss was annoying.

Frankly I'm re-thinking the decision. It's hard to explain but I feel like my depth perception is messed up and that drugs-are-turning-me-into-a-zombie thing is happening.

Also, not as psyched about the time-release Zanax as I thought I would be. I hate being this low-functioning and the bi-annual reminders that I am not like "normal" people. I've been trying all day to either clean my room or take a bath and just can't get it done. I'm actually patting myself on the back for giving fresh water to the parakeets. THAT is my major accomplishment today.

Has anyone else had this, or similar, or worse reactions to Geodon?

I was nearly catatonic when I was on geodon. Literally had to hold my eyes OPEN just to stay awake and I was barely coherent when I did that. Mostly I just slept. It was horrible for me. I only lasted a little over a week if I remember right.

Good luck to you.

I've never heard of lamictal causing hunger issues; it is generally really weight neutral. Hmm. Geodon can be pretty sedating. You might try taking it early evening so that if you go to sleep at least it is actually bedtime.

Yes it makes me the same way!!

oops... I didnt mean to send that so quickly.. .anyways I thought I was depressed for months and months and it turns out the geodon was just making me very unemotional and uncaring... like completely out of it

The frustrating thing about geodon was that it probably worked on my symptoms better than anything I had ever taken, BUT I was so drugged in the mornings that it really was dangerous to drive because I was literally falling asleep. Horrible feeling. I found if I could take it about supper time and go to bed early it wasn't too bad, but if I didn't adhere to that schedule I was toast.

I take Lamictal, Geodon, Pristiq, and Xanax XR. When I first started on the Geodon I felt like a walking zombie. It took at least a month for me to see the benefits of the Geodon. I have a rountine of taking it at 7:30 every night. Yes, I pass out by 10, but it's the only way I can take it and get up for work the next morning. Geodon was a miracle drug for me. It has helped me more than any other psych drug, but of course, this is my experience. Everybody reacts differently to meds. I recently tried to go off of my Lamictal ( I thought that maybe I didn't 'need' it anymore) and it sent me off into a mixed episode. Now everything is leveled out again. Maybe your pdoc could lower your dose. I started out at 120 mg, and now I take 60mg. At 120mg, it is VERY hard for me to function in the morning. If you can stick it out, the side effects may get better, but again, everyone is different. Take care!

Hey there. The big question I have is something you said in the initial post.

" I quit taking my Lamictal" .

Was this something you did cold turkey, or was it controlled through your doc? I imagine that this in itself could be causing some issues if it was cold turkey.

I quit taking the Lamictal gradually, and at first it was actually an accident. I was already feeling like I had built up a tolerance to the maximum dose and it wasn't helping like it used to. The "accident" was my strategy of trying to avoid the side effects. I would take all my other pills, put the Lamictal out and then do my best to remember to take them right before I fell asleep. When I forgot I would take smaller pieces during the day so in my own way I ramped down, not cold turkey exactly.

As far as the hunger goes it was really weird because if I took it during the day I didn't want to eat anything. I think in my pre-sleep drugged out state my body was trying to fight the nausea by non-stop eating.

I'm not having a problem with drowsiness so much, probably because of my extremely high tolerance for sedatives. I'm taking them before bed and I'm waking up okay but I'm sluggish during the day.

It makes me feel better this could be temporary, thank you for writing back.

The pm dose I take is okay, but the am dose I take at 10 (or else symptoms reemerge at night) conks me out sometime between 12-2. I have to take an hour or more nap to recover. It is severely interfering with my work and school. I don't want to go to either any more. I have to leave early. Sadly, it is the best one at preventing my issues. I've been on every atypical but Clozaril, and I'm not having weekly blood tests. I abhor needles and blood.