and that is my Thanksgiving evening

I have weird reactions to some antipsychotics. They cause rather than alleviate mood episodes. Risperdal and Clozapine caused depressions (of different flavors). Geodon and Vraylar now appear to be on the opposite pole. But so far a really low dose of Geodon seems to be just right.

So far so good on Geodon 20 mg and Seroquel 75 mg, but of course I am afraid to jinx it.

Good to hear! I'm happy it's working out for you.

So most of the time this regimen:

20 mg of Geodon with breakfast
75 mg of Seroquel and 1200 mg of Gabapentin at bedtime

works.

Once I stayed up too late which makes is very difficult for me to fall asleep and then I took Zyprexa 5 mg as a rescue medicine.

But most of the time it is enough and I would say that on most days, although not on all, I need less sleep than I needed when I was on Latuda.

So we will continue the trial. It is too early still to say with confidence whether this is the combo that will carry the day long term. I am hopeful.

The regimen is enough for stability. I cannot believe it.
But I started needing more sleep than when I began this trial. Still less than was the case on Latuda.
I will continue for now.

I upped the Geodon from 20 mg to 40 mg. Not that anything was wrong on 20 mg but it just seemed to me that 20 mg could not possibly work because it was so little and that sooner or later there would be a crisis. Now, at 40 mg, I feel that it is a legit dose. Not high (the FDA approved max is 160 mg), but legit. Something.

I had this inclination to try upping to 40 mg thinking that why initially 40 mg had made me unable to sleep at night, I might have adjusted and sure enough, I had adjusted and 40 mg worked just fine when I retried. I made this change during the holiday break when my pdoc was off for 2+ weeks and I have just written him an email wishing him a Happy New Year and informing him of the change; I got an autoresponder that he is still on break but I am sure he will read my email later this week, and in any event I will see him on Saturday for our weekly session.

The switch from Latuda to its elder cousin Geodon was nothing short of amazing in terms of how alive I am. No going back to Latuda for me. It is quite surprising that similar medications affect one so differently. Just goes to show how idiosyncratic all this stuff is.

I have some other issues including a return of abnormal hunger for which I restarted Topamax prescribed by my weight loss physician assistant. Sure enough, I am already forgetting words! Next day, immediately upon restarting Topamax, I forgot a word. And since then there have been more instances. Oh well. I could not live with the painful hunger and I can live with an occasional vocabulary lapse, right?

In terms of sleep, I am trying to go to bed at 10PM, get up at 7AM, and not take naps. I hope I will be able to keep it up.

I just started topamax for hunger/weight issues approximately six weeks ago and am forgetting words too, and I'm only on 50mg. Lol. Oh well.

I'm happy the new med regimen is working out for you!

I am forgetting words on 25 mg of Topamax, the lowest dose. I am thinking of upping to 50 mg so that I take some in the morning against daytime hunger and some at bedtime against nighttime hunger. Yes, I wake up hungry in the middle of the night

Thank you!

Whenever I forget a word now I just laugh and call it my "topamax brain". Lol. It's nothing serious. Just names of certain places. It doesn't affect my writing or anything, so I don't really care. I take mine all at night. Sucks you wake up in the middle of the night hungry! It finally just started working for me against my hunger a little bit, though I was thinking about asking if I could take 50mg in the morning too. Idk though.

So it gradually started working against hunger, not right away?

Yeah gradually.

Worked right away for you?

At first it did nothing. I finally don't have my nightly binge urges! And I get full really fast.

It started working right away but only partially. I still have hunger, just less. I am thinking about whether to wait until it works more fully or doubling the dose. I will ask the medical weight loss physician assistant who prescribed it to see what she thinks.

Okay.

Yeah. I think I'm just going to keep my dose as is. It's turning me into a moron the more and more it fully kicks in! It's definitely working now though, so hopefully I lose some weight!

Actually, I initially asked her to prescribe 50 mg and she did. I think I am just going to go to 50 mg on my own, as prescribed. I really need now to stop these nighttime or early morning feedings. If it works well, I can always try scaling back later.

That's a good idea. Good luck.

My pdoc just increased me to 100mg of topamax at bedtime... hopefully it doesn't turn me into an even bigger moron! Lol. Got weighed. Haven't lost or gained in the last six weeks. Boohoo! At least I haven't gained I suppose.

At least you have not gained.

I took my first 25 mg at bedtime and then woke up in the middle of the night from real hunger. Had milk, crackers, nuts, and a small persimmon before I felt full and was able to go back to sleep.

So taking it at bedtime certainly didn't work right away, but I hope it will work geadually.

I'm sure it will!

Is it working yet?

I asked my pdoc if I should take 50mg in the morning and 50mg at night, but he told me to take the full 100mg before bed because it stays in your system for a long time. I didn't recommend increasing the dose. He wanted to. Probably took a look at my stagnated weight and was like, "****! She's FAT. I need to increase her weight loss drug!"

Not working yet, no. But I am patiently waiting.

Yes, I know it has a long half-life.

Looks like Geodon is working very well for mood. And today is my second day without hunger pangs. I started feeling a little hungry for dinner, at normal time, you know, when your stomach is empty, and it continued for a couple of hours without getting out of control and making me anxious, until I could go to the restaurant with my son and my friend as we planned. I could not believe it: normal hunger, not out-of-control hunger. I ordered a big portion of meat and took half of it home because I was full. Again, pleasantly full. I am so happy.

Either that abnormal hunger just came and went for no rational reason, or, Topamax and increasing its dose started working. Time will tell. I will later try to decrease the dose.

For now, I have made myself a new signature, removing "treatment resistant". I am not listing Mounjaro and Topamax as they are not psychiatric or neurological rx.