[raspberrytorte]

At my latest appointment with my pnurse she told me that she wants to put on a different antipsychotic. I get a shot of haldol once a month right now. She told me haldol has the most dangerous side effects, etc.

So she wants to put me on an atypical.

Except I've already been on all of the atypical APs.

Unless there's something I'm missing.

I've been on:

Abilify
Geodon
Zyprexa
Seroquel
Invega (for one night. It washed me out)
Risperdal (again only one night)

Am I missing some?!

She said she wants to put me on the shot form of abilify. Even after I told her twice that it gave me really bad akathisia the last time I was on it. She said the shot form of it shouldn't give me that.

Pretty much, the only AP that doesn't completely wash me out or make me tired is haldol.

Well, except for geodon, but that gave me heart problems!

I don't know why she wants to do this. I wish she didn't want to. Haldol works very well and I don't have intolerable side effects from it. I forget I'm even on it the majority of the time.

[wildflowerchild25]

I would advocate for yourself! If haldol is working well, why change? It makes no sense. And if you got akathesia from ability before, why wouldn't the shot give it to you too? Makes no sense. Plus the shot you can't just stop taking. I was afraid to go on the invega shot in case of side effects because it would have lasted a month. I tried the pills before just to see. I definitely wouldn't agree to the shot! Just my two cents.

Do they allow you to have a say in your care? Could you tell her "I understand and accept the risks"?

[Kuras]

Haldol has the most dangerous side effects? Has your doctor never heard of Clozapine lol? Haldol has been a very effective medication for me. Only issues I get from it are making me tired and oversleep if I'm not careful and akathisia, which is hardly uncommon in APs in general. If you like your Haldol and don't want to switch up, you shouldn't have to. Fight for yourself.

[raspberrytorte]

Well, overall she wants to make a bunch of changes to my meds because she thinks I'm on way too many (I'm on five, so yeah, it's a little ridiculous!). My husband is coming to my next appointment because he wants to talk to her about these changes. He's nervous about it because he said he hasn't seen me this stable in years.

I'm very stubborn when it comes to meds. I don't want to go on something I don't want to, but I'm on that six month commitment thing right now and I sort of have to do what she wants. As of now it'll be over on january fourteenth and I don't want to do anything to **** that up.

I already told her I don't want to switch!

[raspberrytorte]

God my life is a nightmare right now.

If she forces you to change I would insist on a document being placed in your file that you were forced and she is personally responsible if something happens which can be attributed to her change. That might shut her up

[raspberrytorte]

Originally Posted by ElsaMars

If she forces you to change I would insist on a document being placed in your file that you were forced and she is personally responsible if something happens which can be attributed to her change. That might shut her up

This is a good idea!

[Kuras]

It's not possible to just switch around other meds in your cocktail that you aren't as fond of keeping?

Originally Posted by raspberrytorte

This is a good idea!

I knew it would happen someday (me having a good idea). Today is my day!! Glad I could help. I sincerely hope everything goes well for you Rasp

[raspberrytorte]

Originally Posted by Kuras

It's not possible to just switch around other meds in your cocktail that you aren't as fond of keeping?

Oh, yeah, I do want to get rid of one that I hate, which is trileptal. It's ridiculous. I'm on lamictal, trileptal and gabapentin. So three mood stabilizers. **** man.

What I want to be on is haldol, lamictal, gabapentin, and then have propranolol just as a prn.

Those are what I want to stay on!

[raspberrytorte]

Originally Posted by ElsaMars

I knew it would happen someday (me having a good idea). Today is my day!! Glad I could help. I sincerely hope everything goes well for you Rasp

Thanks, elsa.

I'll be alright. Just going to be a good girl until january fourteenth. And then FREEDOM!!!!

We can never fully appreciate our freedom until it's taken from us. It won't be long now and you'll get your wings back . Stay strong girl....we're on your side routing you on the whole way.

[raspberrytorte]

Originally Posted by ElsaMars

We can never fully appreciate our freedom until it's taken from us. It won't be long now and you'll get your wings back . Stay strong girl....we're on your side routing you on the whole way.

Oh my god you're so nice! Thank you.

[JustJace2u]

Hang in there

[raspberrytorte]

Do you guys think I should ask about going on saphris? If she still wants to switch me to something else that is, because I'm definitely not switching to abilify. Or maybe I should talk to her about latuda. I couldn't afford latuda before because my insurance sucked, but I have new insurance now that's awesome and I'd pay zero dollars for it.

Latuda would be worth a shot, or Saphris. They do say there are less side effects but they've also been tested on the general populous for less time.

[raspberrytorte]

I hate having to try new meds. And I've had so much bad luck with all the atypicals I've tried I'm weary about trying a new.

That's it. I'm BEGGING this woman to let me stay on haldol.

I'll do anything. I'll even get the 50mg one if she wants! Just anything.

[raspberrytorte]

And I don't understand what she means about haldol having the worse side effects.

I know you can get some movement problems on haldol, but the side effects of the atypicals isn't that much better. Weight gain, diabetes, walking around like a zombie, being washed out.

This is the ONLY antipsychotic I've tried that doesn't make me feel washed out!

[raspberrytorte]

****. ****! I can't go on saphris. She wants to put me on another injection. I hate shots. Why do they have to be shooting me up anyway?!

Clozapine is also an atypical.

[HALLIEBETH87]

I have same luck with atypicals!

Geodon-ocular dystonia
Saphris-extreme panic
Rispersal-bad akathesia
Zyprexa-rapid weight gain and high cholesterol
And so forth

The only antipsychotics I can tolerate are Latuda and haldol. I do get some side effects from haldol but not half as bad as the atypicals I have been on and also it's super cheap at the pharmacy!!!

I hope this all works out for you. I am on five meds too...but I've never been this stable.

[still_crazy]

Sorry about all this. Involuntary "treatment" is horrible, especially when there's injections involved...and they won't even listen to you about what drug(s) you need/want.

I'm glad your order expires soon(ish). I know that's not much comfort right now, with them being so controlling and everything, but...it won't be much longer until you can have more freedom.

5 meds is a lot. I take 4 daily...ugh. I tried to get one drug (trileptal) dropped, since I'm also on lamictal. I was all "could you just increase the lamictal and drop the trileptal?" and dude doc was all "NO." Actually, he didn't even say no, he just gave a blank stare, shook his head, and kept on with the convo.

Docs are weird about haldol. They still use it, all the time, but then when they want to talk about how great the new(er) drugs are...they compare them to high doses of Haldol. Thing is...if you keep the dose low(ish), Haldol isn't terrible, except for the high risk of Tardive dyskinesia.

Hope things work out for you.

[bizi]

A year ago my pdoc wanted to get me off of klonipin to sleep. I was taking 1 mg at night and that was all. None during the day.
So she tapered me off klonipin and started me on trazadone But she also lowered my geodon which was a bad idea.
The trazadone made me mildly psychotic for about 3 weeks before I stopped the trazadone and went back to the klonipin and then back up to my prior dose of geodon. It took a while to stabilize. Well I got down to .5mg of klonipin to sleep so she was happy with that thankfully.
I hated the trazodone, made me super dry, super drying stuffed nose, could not sleep. And it was supposed to help my sleep.
Awful.
I have heard of some people taking seroquel for sleep, and that is an AP so that could help you too.
bizi

[HALLIEBETH87]

Originally Posted by still_crazy

Sorry about all this. Involuntary "treatment" is horrible, especially when there's injections involved...and they won't even listen to you about what drug(s) you need/want.

I'm glad your order expires soon(ish). I know that's not much comfort right now, with them being so controlling and everything, but...it won't be much longer until you can have more freedom.

5 meds is a lot. I take 4 daily...ugh. I tried to get one drug (trileptal) dropped, since I'm also on lamictal. I was all "could you just increase the lamictal and drop the trileptal?" and dude doc was all "NO." Actually, he didn't even say no, he just gave a blank stare, shook his head, and kept on with the convo.

Docs are weird about haldol. They still use it, all the time, but then when they want to talk about how great the new(er) drugs are...they compare them to high doses of Haldol. Thing is...if you keep the dose low(ish), Haldol isn't terrible, except for the high risk of Tardive dyskinesia.

Hope things work out for you.

As my pdoc told me "it's a strong med. that's why I put you on a Low dose of 2mg."