Tired of meds making me tired

Hi all, it's been a long while since I've been on here. It's good to see that a lot of the same people are still here. Sorry I've been MIA. Things have been pretty good. Been taking my meds usually as I'm supposed to. I forgot to last night but wow I miss the feeling of not being sleepy and groggy the next morning. This is so nice. I got my kids off to school and I'm awake. Usually I'm so sleepy and groggy that I can't stay awake and I go back to sleep. I wish so much that I didn't have to take meds. I'm currently on latuda 40mg and hydroxyzine 35mg. Does anyone else experience tiredness, fatigue or sleepiness with their meds? How do you combat it?

i think...it kinda happens a whole, whole lot, especially when you're dealing with anti-seizure drugs, antipsychotics, sedatives and hypnotics, etc. blah. :-(

i take abilify and prozac. my sleep is...far from ideal, but i'm able to get enough. i have crazy insane vivid dreams though.

with the antipsychotics, the goal is supposed to be Lowest Effective Dose, because these drugs are -heavy- artillery, even the newest ones. not that they're evil, horrible drugs, just...proceed with caution. there are lots of people out there on the antipsychotics who would be better off with a different sort of drug or...no drugs, honestly. true story.

i do think heavy-duty antioxidant supplementation has helped -me, personally- , and that's just -me- , speaking of -personal experience- , nothing more, nothing less.

speaking of antipsychotics...I think there's a 'sweet spot,' assuming that its an appropriate choice. personally...dip too low on dosage, i get a sense of doom and trepidation (weird)...too much and I just slow down, at all levels, and gain weight.

hope this helps. glad to see you're back posting. :-)

Yes! My meds make me sleepy and sometimes dizzy. I have much less dizziness with decreasing the dose. I had to stand firm against my pdoc in order to make that happen.

It would be nice to not have so many side-effects!

Have you ever considered something like Adderall or Provigil? It might be worth looking into. My exhaustion got way better on Adderall and went completely away once we switched to Provigil I don't honestly know what I would do without it.

I have tried stimulant meds. They just add side-effects for me. Worth a try though!

Hi dshantel. It's great to see you back.

Indeed many of us have dealt with medication over sedation at times, with certain medications. I have with some. I guess for me some medications' sedating effects eased quite a bit over time when my body got used to them. Others, no so much. In some cases, a new strategy in when and how to take them was helpful. It depended on the medication.

I do take Latuda, but only 20 mg, a starter dose. I don't find that small dose being sedating for me at all. I started by taking it in the morning, but then changed to taking it in the evening, because I learned it should be taken with a good amount of calories, which I didn't always eat in the morning. I don't know if it makes me more tired at night. If it does, it doesn't do so to any major degree. But we're all different, and maybe 40 mg would affect me more. I don't know. My morning medications are not that sedating at all. In fact, sometimes I could benefit from a little sedating med then and occasionally need a "prn".. I have plenty of sedation in my evening med mix with my Seroquel XR.

I definitely recall taking hydroxyzine (name brand Vistaril) in the past. I also definitely recall it making me very drowsy. It wasn't even a sleep-inducing drowsy, but more a ten ton weight on my head and shoulders kind. I disliked that medication A LOT and believe I demanded off of it. Do you take it for anxiety? Would your doctor consider a different medication for the purpose that hydroxyzine serves? Some don't cause such drowsiness. Or, maybe over time you'll adjust to it.

All I can say is with me, you are preaching to the choir! I feel the exact same way and I feel like there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. It’s be sane and constantly lethargic or chance a scary psychotic break. I still have some episodes on meds as it is. I loathe the sedating meds, especially the Seroquel which also happens to be the one that works best for me.

With me I have a lot of trouble falling asleep. But once I do I sleep for around 12 hours or so. I wake up tired still. It sucks. I am on so much medicine not just for bipolar but other things to. My family thinks I am on too much stuff. Most of the time I am like a zombie and have memory problems to. I think the meds are messing me up more then the disorder itself is. Don't know for sure.

See, reading much of this just makes my angry. I told my former psychiatrist, God rest her wonderful soul, again and again and again that I was constantly, chronically exhausted and couldn't get the most basic and simplest of tasks accomplished with any kind of reliability. That it was great that, at the time, my mania wasn't an issue, but the fatigue thing was just out of control. I lived in my bed. She though Cymbalta might help. It didn't. She thought Wellbutrin might help. Maybe a little bit. And that was it. That was the extent of what she offered for my exhaustion problem. I loved her then and I love her now, but my fatigue was never taken seriously as a major quality of life issue. Her priority was that I not be manic, which, in my opinion, is the sometimes only priority of far too many psychiatrists treating BP1 in the USA today. It's sometimes like that's all they care about. Just my take. YMMV.

When she got ready to move, I got a new psychiatrist (my current). He was quite a bit closer in age to his residency years. We talked. I told him this fatigue deal was going to kill me. He listened, asked a bunch of questions. Then, he put me on Adderall. Within a few days, my life was transformed. I didn't have to take multiple long naps every day. I started getting stuff done again. My partner was crying. Who was this guy? Later, when I began to have some side effects from this medication, we switched to Provigil (modafinil). It works better for me and I have no real side effects. Way better choice for me. I seldom nap anymore. I get stuff done. I act like a human. It has been revolutionary for me.

So, I do get angry and sad when I hear other bipolar or depression or schizoaffective d/o patients talking about their crushing fatigue and no one seems to be helping them. Why? Why is this not important enough to do something about? Isn't helping us have a better quality of life a noble and worthy goal? Doesn't our total experience matter? Aren't we more than just either manic or depressed or psychotic? Don't we have a right to live somewhere besides our beds?

If you are suffering from crushing fatigue or chronic exhaustion, please, please, please stand up for yourself. Demand that you symptoms and your life experience be addressed. You are worth fighting for. You don't have to be on an amphetamine. There are other options. Please consider looking into them. Things can get better. Much better.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bpcyclist See, reading much of this just makes my angry. I told my former psychiatrist, God rest her wonderful soul, again and again and again that I was constantly, chronically exhausted and couldn't get the most basic and simplest of tasks accomplished with any kind of reliability. That it was great that, at the time, my mania wasn't an issue, but the fatigue thing was just out of control. I lived in my bed. She though Cymbalta might help. It didn't. She thought Wellbutrin might help. Maybe a little bit. And that was it. That was the extent of what she offered for my exhaustion problem. I loved her then and I love her now, but my fatigue was never taken seriously as a major quality of life issue. Her priority was that I not be manic, which, in my opinion, is the sometimes only priority of far too many psychiatrists treating BP1 in the USA today. It's sometimes like that's all they care about. Just my take. YMMV. When she got ready to move, I got a new psychiatrist (my current). He was quite a bit closer in age to his residency years. We talked. I told him this fatigue deal was going to kill me. He listened, asked a bunch of questions. Then, he put me on Adderall. Within a few days, my life was transformed. I didn't have to take multiple long naps every day. I started getting stuff done again. My partner was crying. Who was this guy? Later, when I began to have some side effects from this medication, we switched to Provigil (modafinil). It works better for me and I have no real side effects. Way better choice for me. I seldom nap anymore. I get stuff done. I act like a human. It has been revolutionary for me. So, I do get angry and sad when I hear other bipolar or depression or schizoaffective d/o patients talking about their crushing fatigue and no one seems to be helping them. Why? Why is this not important enough to do something about? Isn't helping us have a better quality of life a noble and worthy goal? Doesn't our total experience matter? Aren't we more than just either manic or depressed or psychotic? Don't we have a right to live somewhere besides our beds? If you are suffering from crushing fatigue or chronic exhaustion, please, please, please stand up for yourself. Demand that you symptoms and your life experience be addressed. You are worth fighting for. You don't have to be on an amphetamine. There are other options. Please consider looking into them. Things can get better. Much better.

Thank you. Thank you so, so much. I found courage when I read your post. I feel like Dr. W. my effing pdoc wants me to be a depressed lump. All she can talk about is getting rid of my mania. I am so, so, so tired of hearing it.

YES THIS ^^^^