[astone131]

I am on 320 mg of geodon a day. Husband thinks its not working. Is anyone else on it and if so how is it working for you. Any other med suggestions as to what else to take besides geodon?

[thinker22]

Wow. That's a lot of Geodon. Not to call your prescriber wrong, but I read that the maximum daily effective dose is 160mg or 80mg twice a day. I am on 100mg a day (60 at night, 20 in the morning, and 20 in the afternoon). It has stopped my racing thoughts and muted the sui voice in my head (well, mostly).

What other meds are you on? Do you have an anti-dep or a mood stabilizer?

[astone131]

I am on 320 of geodon, 1mg klotopin, 20 mg lexapro, 15 mg of restoril, 200 mg of lyrica.

[thinker22]

Is the lexapro helping with your depression? When I was on it, it either made me feel worse or did nothing at all (I can't remember which it was because they tried so many SSRIs on me that didn't help before I found my miracle anti-d: Cymbalta).

My other meds besides Cymbalta and Geodon are lamotrigine 100mg 2x daily, diazepam 5mg, benztropine 1mg twice daily, and a thyroid supplement. I don't know anything about restoril or lyrica. What did your doc or nurse say they are for?

[astone131]

The lexapro does help. The restoril is my sleeping pill and I originally started taking lyrica for fibromyalgia precribed by my primary care dr. but my pdoc said it would help with my bipolar i forget what exactly he says it does.

[thinker22]

Oh. My mom has fibromyalgia too. They put her on Elavil, but I'm not sure if she still takes it.

Glad lexapro is working for you. Geodon may not be the right drug for you even though it was for me. Taking that much and still not feeling right may be an indication that you should ask your doctor about perhaps switching to another med within that class (the atypical anti-psychotics). And don't think that you're "psychotic" just because of the name. Like I said, mine is for invasive and racing thoughts.

That is a HUGE dose of geodon. I don't know how you can even stay conscious. Geodon always made me really, really drowsy. I'd be questioning the large dose.

[astone131]

the odd thing is he has me on this high dose of geodon and my other meds but doesnt have me on a mood stabilizer

[thinker22]

That is odd. Having a stabilizer would allow you to take less of Geodon. The stabilizer also boosts the effect of an antidepressant. Well, that's what Lamictal did for me anyway. Def talk to your doc.

[dragonfly2]

The Geodon acts as both an antipsychotic and an antimanic and helps to temper any possible mania from the Lexapro, so in that regard, it is somewhat of a mood stabilizer, just not your more common Lithium or anticonvulsant. And I agree, 320 mg is a huge dose - I'd be sound asleep, too. I had a hard enough time staying awake on 160 mg a day.

Why does your husband think it's not working? What kind of symptoms are you experiencing?

[dragonfly2]

After doing a bit of research, it seems that the Lyrica is an anticonvulsant and is related to gabapentin (Neurontin). Its psychiatric use is mostly for anxiety.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pregabalin

[astone131]

He thinks its not working because several weeks ago I went through a 12 day manic episode and a week later went through a 4 day manic episode to where they had to give me a shot of ativan and a pill of ativan plus my 3 geodon at night.

[dragonfly2]

Yeah, I would tend to agree with him then. If the Geodon was working, you shouldn't be having such severe breakthrough manias. Sounds like it may be time for something else.

[dragonfly2]

Incidentally, how are you feeling now??

[astone131]

I think I am alittle hypomanic. Started feeling that way yesterday.

[dragonfly2]

You had asked about other meds to try. What have you already tried?

[dragonfly2]

I just saw your other thread. I hope the new mix works for you. I didn't even think to ask if you were taking the Geodon with food. That is a must. Hang in there.