[cashart10]

I've been in the midst of a manic episode that got pretty scary. To slow me down, my doc prescribed Geodon and Klonapin (which I hadn't taken at all for quite some time). I wake up so groggy that my speech has actually been slurred. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Is it a normal side effect? Thank you.

[BipolaRNurse]

How much of each are you on? Both of those make a person sleepy (I take 'em both at night too) but you shouldn't be that sluggish on a small dose. I started with 20 mg Geodon and 0.5 mg Klonopin. Eventually the daytime drowsiness went away, although I've gone up to 80 mg Geodon and still fall asleep on the john in the morning sometimes. But I'm functional, which is a lot more than I can say for the way things were six months ago.

[cashart10]

I'm on 80 mg of Geodon and 1 mg of klonapin. I think that is the beginning amount for an acute manic episode. Maybe it's because I started on 40 mg of Geodon and 1 mg of Klonapin at night at once?

[BipolaRNurse]

Entirely possible. That 80 mg dose kicked my butt at first, which is what I needed at the time that I was going through that nasty mixed episode in May. Unfortunately, I STILL need it to maintain my current stability, because I went right back into hypomania when I tried decreasing it to 40 mg. Wishing you luck with this combination; you should be back down off the moon in a few days.

Yeah the first few days on Geodon has you very sedated, especially starting at 40mg, I literally could not get out of bed for the first 3 or 4 days, but after that it lifted slowly. It worked wonders for me too. Taking it at night is a good idea. I take 40mg in the morning and 40mg at night but I do have some daytime fatigue. On the other hand, if I dont take it like this I start to feel withdrawls!

[Blackberryrocks11]

I take 80mgs of Geodon AM and PM. I find that if I take it right before sleep, I wake up groggy and tired. So the dr. advised that I take it two hours before sleep. That seems to do the trick.

Geodon was instrumental in tapering my manic mood (miss that btw)

[jesusplay]

i could drive on geodon, felt like I was falling alseep at the week,

Slurring my speech, felt like a hangover and being drunk at the same time.
was on it for a month,

[ultramar]

I've never been on Geodon, but just wanted to add that on Seroquel I've had slurred speech (especially at first and still when I get way too little sleep), but I think at least some of it is not having so much as a drop a saliva --0. And then the more I talk (which I have to do a lot of for work), the less saliva, the more I slur, etc. Does Geodon cause such extreme dry mouth? Could it be contributing? I do gum and lemon water (or any citrus helps).

[BipolaRNurse]

My mouth gets dry too, but then most of the meds I take cause that anyhow so I don't know which is the worst offender. I drink fluids constantly throughout the day to keep myself from spitting cotton!