[MuddyBoots]

So I'm mainly on zyprexa/olanzapine and a pretty hefty dose of it. I'm super tired and lethargic, but I'm not psychotic/manic anymore. The long term plan is to switch over to Invega. I just had a pretty bad manic episode prior to going on zyprexa and I know it works well. Zyprexa takes away just about all my symptoms and invega works like a 6/10 but I have zero side effects from it. How long would you give it before making the switch if at all?

[Yaowen]

I am not sure what I would do if I was in your situation. It sounds like you are a very thoughtful person who carefully weighs the pros and cons of your actions so I think you will be able to arrive at something you can live with. When I weigh the pros and cons of actions I also try to prioritize what is most important and that sometimes helps me. Don't know if that would help you or if you have already done that. I wish you only the best!

[Mountaindewed]

I'm kind of in the same boat with one of my meds and my doctor told me to just hang on for a bit and if I'm not happy to contact him to see what can be done. So I'm just going to wait and see if anything I don't like happens. But yeah, its like good things will happen but theres also a chance some not good things will happen as well. And you really have to weigh your options.

[Soupe du jour]

Hi Sapien. I agree with Yaowen that you seem to be weighing this carefully. You and your doctor should do so together.

From my experience, and past psychiatrist's thinking, the goal is to clock some time really stable before making any changes, unless side effects affect functionality in a very concerning way. There are times we need to be patient and tolerant through some discomforts, though.

In the past, when I was very ill long-term, a pdoc said that Zyprexa should stay on the table as an emergency med for me. Emergency, not permanent. Then move on to something more tolerable, when the coast is clear.

Another observation I had was that some meds that slightly fell short in the past, were adequate, or better, at another time. Or when in combination with a different one, increased in efficacy. Lamictal was an example for me.

[Random 503]

Watch out on Invega @Sapien. It worked great for me but I didn’t realize what was going on in the background . My prolactin went through the roof and my chest felt like I was being hit with a pipe daily (I’m male). Finally figured it out. I feel so bad for women during menstruation.