[BipolaRNurse]

I thought this stuff was supposed to help me sleep and tamp down any budding mania?

Since I started it on Friday night, I've slept really good....but it's hard for me to get to sleep till well after midnight because I'm so keyed up. I've been happy, hyperactive, jittery, loud, profane, irritable, AND euphoric all week---gotten a ton of work done and been having a helluva good time doing it. This incredible energy is what I live for......and yet, I'm vaguely aware that it'll turn on me. It always does.

What I don't know is why it's only been this way since I started the new med. I'd been ramping up slightly over the past 2 weeks, but Sunday I was quite a bit higher, and Monday I was in full-blown whateverthehellthisis. (I say that because my pdoc doesn't let me diagnose myself....of course, HE'S in Hawaii, and I'm here bouncing off the walls. Haha!)

Anyway, I'm having a great time, and today was the most awesome day of all---we had an entire afternoon of sun, and it must have been 60 degrees outside. So I was out there soaking it up and I got even MORE energetic, so I was driving home at like 80 MPH (normally I'm very conservative as a driver) and watching the gorgeous sunset and thinking, "damn, if I get in a wreck on this freeway and die, at least I'll go out on a high note!"

I don't want to change anything. I love feeling this way. But I've done my research and can't find anything on Geodon causing the whateverthehellthisis. Maybe I was just gearing up for a mood episode anyway, maybe the dose is too low to calm it down, maybe it's a paradoxical reaction......who knows? Just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced hypo/mania on this drug. Thanks! May the Force be with you.

[ibex]

Originally Posted by BipolaRNurse

I thought this stuff was supposed to help me sleep and tamp down any budding mania?

Since I started it on Friday night, I've slept really good....but it's hard for me to get to sleep till well after midnight because I'm so keyed up. I've been happy, hyperactive, jittery, loud, profane, irritable, AND euphoric all week---gotten a ton of work done and been having a helluva good time doing it. This incredible energy is what I live for......and yet, I'm vaguely aware that it'll turn on me. It always does.

What I don't know is why it's only been this way since I started the new med. I'd been ramping up slightly over the past 2 weeks, but Sunday I was quite a bit higher, and Monday I was in full-blown whateverthehellthisis. (I say that because my pdoc doesn't let me diagnose myself....of course, HE'S in Hawaii, and I'm here bouncing off the walls. Haha!)

Anyway, I'm having a great time, and today was the most awesome day of all---we had an entire afternoon of sun, and it must have been 60 degrees outside. So I was out there soaking it up and I got even MORE energetic, so I was driving home at like 80 MPH (normally I'm very conservative as a driver) and watching the gorgeous sunset and thinking, "damn, if I get in a wreck on this freeway and die, at least I'll go out on a high note!"

I don't want to change anything. I love feeling this way. But I've done my research and can't find anything on Geodon causing the whateverthehellthisis. Maybe I was just gearing up for a mood episode anyway, maybe the dose is too low to calm it down, maybe it's a paradoxical reaction......who knows? Just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced hypo/mania on this drug. Thanks! May the Force be with you.

Yes I have and for three months I was getting pretty out of control and pdoc said uh lets take you off this. I was buying stuff like too much stuff, we are talking over 30k. little sleep if any spending days almost non stop KNITTING. Painting things I thought were transcendent when in retrospect looks like crap. We all thought it was helping. I mean when you compare it to down in the dumps can't peel yourself off the floor to do anything. To becoming back to bubbly and making positive changes of course you would think it was the right thing until you have the contrast to figure out it was not so good.

Now I am going in circles. I do know these meds affect everyone differently so maybe you will be lucky. Hang in there.

[~Christina]

Altho I have never been on that Med .. YOU know its not a good road you are going down.. Probably a good idea to get in touch with whatever Pdoc is covering for him. I know Zyprexa upped your blood sugars too much but maybe you need it for a little bit to knock you down a bit?
The highs are great but they often lead to hell in a handbasket .

Just be safe, Please

[Gaijin]

'Nurse, if you don't come down, be sure to let us know. I'll try to get some of that stuff for myself.

[BipolaRNurse]

Huh-uh.....I'm keeping it ALL. HAHAHAHAHA

[spoiltmom]

How are you taking it? Do you take it with meals and if so how big of a meal?

My Pdoc prescribed it for me. Then the pharmacist told me that it has to be taken with at least 500 calories and at the exact same time every day, otherwise it may not work as well and I may end up with withdrawal type symptoms. Since I've had weight loss surgery and I don't eat big meals I decided not to take it until I could talk to my pdoc about it more. Of course my pdoc is crappy and won't return my phone call about it so the bottle is sitting there unused.

If it will help me I'd love to try it. He said it should help level my moods and ease my depression.

[BipolaRNurse]

I'm taking it with an ounce or so of cheese, which is fatty. I can't eat late at night---not 500 calories worth anyway, or I'd gain back the 43 lbs. I've lost in two shakes of a lamb's tail. But even that doesn't matter because I'm still full from dinner and can't eat when I'm not hungry. So I make do with the cheese, or sometimes I alternate with a spoonful of Peanut butter.

[Gaijin]

"Of course my pdoc is crappy and won't return my phone call about it so the bottle is sitting there unused."

Doctors don't return phone calls because they don't get paid for talking on the phone.

[BipolaRNurse]

Originally Posted by Gaijin

"Of course my pdoc is crappy and won't return my phone call about it so the bottle is sitting there unused."

Doctors don't return phone calls because they don't get paid for talking on the phone.

If I had a dollar for every time I've read a post complaining about pdocs in general or one's own pdoc in particular, I'd have been able to go on that Caribbean cruise with my son. I thank God I hit the jackpot the very first time I dipped my toe in the waters of psychiatry. I was very, very scared, and very, very ashamed of having to go in the first place; I can't imagine being mentally ill AND having to fight with the very person who's supposed to help. That just isn't fair.