Anyone on Geodon?

Anyone on Geodon? First, did you gain weight? Second, did it make you sleepy if you take it at night? Any other experiences are also encouraged.

I'm trying to see what my options are instead of 400 mg of Seroquel are. I need something to knock me out, and I absolutely refuse to gain weight. I've been doing research online and am getting mixed reviews. I was on it before and I have no clue what happened, so I atleast know I'm not allergic to this one.

I am, i just recently started though. I switched from risperdal. Geodon is weight neutral and i've even heard of people losing weight on it? (maybe they were switching from a different antipsychotic though). It hasn't made me tired yet, i have to take two pills and i take one of them in the morning with no problem. but that may be because i am on a low dose and haven't titrated up yet.

I was taking geodon for two years at 80mg for most of that,,,I had no weight gain or loss,,in the begining it knocked me out completely so I took it at night only..I did get used to that and had no side effects for most of the time I took it....I stopped because my pdoc allowed me to come off all ap's..hope this helps

I did not gain weight on it. It did knock me out but took about three hours to do so.

I love it. It knocked me straight out of the worst mixed episode I ever had and worked within 10 days to stablise my mood. For the first 3 days I was literally knocked out. For the first couple of weeks there was a small amount of anxiety but the benefits outweighed the anxious discomfort. Now that I am used to it it barely sedates me but still does its job.

I was stable for 3 years on 80mg plus a couple other meds. Now as I am inpatient its back up to 100mg (we change it as the mixed episodes hit). I lost weight on it and my only problem with it being that it has increased my prolactin levels so I have quite sore and sensitive breasts and may start lactating but its the best med for me for the last nearly 5 years now so I'll put up with that until I am stable enough to taper down again.

I see you are on trazadone. Do you use that for sleep? I need something strong to get to sleep and stay asleep, my mind never shuts off. Seroquel is strong.

Seroquel is not that sedating past about 200mg, thats probably why you are no longer getting the sedation you want. I find I take 80mg at night and 20mg in the morning of geodon and my sleep has been overall very good. I also used a months course of high dose melatonin to get my body clock sleeping at the right time when I first started it all those years ago and have rarely had a problem with sleep since. It also curbed my need for alcohol.

It's hit and miss with the Seroquel. I swing on the high side usually, so when that's happening I will take benadryl, lately I tried 1.5 mg of melatonin and it works. This last week I wasn't swinging up in trees, so I didn't need anything extra, slept like a baby. That only happens usually for one week every 6-8 weeks I've noticed.

I'm just trying to figure out how to get off of this stupid Seroquel. I tried last year with the assistance of my pdoc and I instantly went into a mixed episode. We tried so many APs and I was allergic and had a horrible experience on latuda. I have to find a med that I can sleep, and I obviously have to be on an AP, and not just a mood stabilizer.

I use geodon as my mood stabiliser as it has stabilising properties. Like I said I have been on it for years with a mix of an antidepressant, dex, clonazepam (on and off) prn zyprexa and ativan. That combo has not caused me to go manic even though geodon is not sold as a mood stabiliser. It is honestly the best med to get me out of mixed episodes that I have ever come across. ( I also years back came off 900mg of seroquel, spent 6 months in hypo then it turned nasty mixed and I got on the geodon).

It is great that melatonin works for you, I tried EVERY sleep drug under the sun before my doc said ok back to basics have you tried melatonin? I said no, he was shocked it wasnt the first option I was given and seriously it gets me to sleep really well. Especially if I go out first thing in the morning to soak up the sunlight. Its not available over the counter here - you need a script, I think because it is a slightly higher dose. When my sleep does get mixed up I go on a course of melatonin for a month or so and it fixes my sleep for a long time to come. I guess I am lucky like that.

I have had very very few side effects from geodon and the only reason my prolactin is so high is because of the length of time I have been on it. My prolactin is just over 800 so its not crazy high yet and we monitor it. When I stabilise we lower the dose back down to 80mg and I get less sore.

I started on 40mg twice a day, thats probably why it knocked me out so much as I didnt taper up just smack bang on the target dosage. But in all honesty the 3 days I was knocked out I really needed to be.