I tried Risperdal but was walking into walls on it and my heart felt like I was going to explode, and I know Risperdal and Invega are somewhat related. I want to do the injectables because that's the only way I'll ever be stable. Is Invega worth a shot given my bad experience with Risperdal? (Obviously I'll discuss this with my pdoc when I see him but I'm impatient)

edit: haha worth a SHOT, because I'm thinking about the injectable

[still_crazy]

honestly...id go with something else. the nurses at the clinic i go to tell me that people are actually thankful for the abilify shot...not so much the other ones.

Abilify makes me manic...

I don't like to trash meds, so I'll try to emphasize the positives.

For me, the combo of Depakote and Invega was outstanding at finally ending a four year period of severe manias, some with psychosis. It was significantly less effective for me at helping with the depressive side of my illness. But I had really been due for a major league mood crash. I'm wondering if I hadn't been so vulnerable to one if that combination would have been better for me.

I don't know if you are female or male. It's not always obvious here. I think I'd likely recommend Risperdal or Invega to a male more than a female because of the hyperprolactinemia issue, and others I won't mention. But if a female had few side effects on Risperdal, then maybe Invega would be fine and dandy. If your prescriber thinks the issue you had on Risperdal may ease on Invega, then I'd say do consider it.

I have heard stories of praise and horror stories about Invega. You'll never know yours until you try it. I did have side effects I can clearly assign to Invega, but another biggy may have been more from Depakote. It appears that you're on Depakote. If Depakote is good for you, then maybe a combo of Depakote and Invega would be different for you than it was for me.

[Victoria'smom]

Can you take the invega pill for a little and see how you react to that?

Originally Posted by Miguel'smom

Can you take the invega pill for a little and see how you react to that?

That would be the plan

[still_crazy]

have you ever tried low to moderate doses of older drugs?

Originally Posted by still_crazy

have you ever tried low to moderate doses of older drugs?

I haven't tried any of the older antipsychotics, except I had a haldol shot in an ambulance once (it worked). I've never had a doctor that will prescribe the older ones.

[Blue_Bird]

I was on Invega Sustenna for 5 years. It helped me a lot but I ended up having to get off of it eventually because I started developing Tardive diskenesia which thankfullyy went away after being off it for awhile. But I was on the maximum dose and getting it every 3 weeks for a very long time so that probably made me more susceptible to the TD

Originally Posted by still_crazy

have you ever tried low to moderate doses of older drugs?

Navane (thiothixene) - I was on low-moderate doses of Thiothixene. That was helpful in combination with Geodon and moodstabilizers. It was side effect friendly until maybe 10 mg. Then I had what my psychiatrist thought was a dystonia reaction. It was very brief, but concerning. I was lowered to 5 mg after that with no side effects. One issue was that some pharmacies near me didn't have the 5 mg pills. I had to travel a couple towns over to find it. 5 mg was not quite enough.

Trilafon (perphenazine) - I took a moderate dose of 12 mg of perphenazine at one point. It worked GREAT! I think I might have even been able to go off of my other antipsychotic, and just take the perphenazine with my moodstabilizers. The only side effect I had was quick weight gain, so I panicked. I have heard some people say they didn't gain weight on it.

The only other 1st generation I received was Haldol, but as another wrote, it was only as an emergency injection when psychotic. It worked for that, but I was not kept on it. I've read it's comparatively weight friendly. Obviously the risk for EPS with Haldol and other 1st generations is sometimes higher than for 2nd generations.

My pdoc wanted to put me on Moban (molindone) at one point, but discovered that they stopped making it altogether.

[still_crazy]

some people swear by perphenazine, alone or sometimes with an atypical. i think its now one of the more popular older drugs, because there was the big study w/ people with Schizophrenia that used perphenazine...it did -almost- as well as zyprexa. just...watch the dose.

[franz kafka]

Invega made me lactate.