Starting GEODON

Hi, I just started geodon at 40mg in the evening with Dinner. I noticed with this drug if you take it too early in the evening, it can zonk you out so that you want to go to bed early. I noticed that if you take it too later, after 8pm, your whole morning is shot and you feel like you dont want to get out of bed. Only been on it for 4 days. Does anyone know if this tiredness feeling goes away? My Dr. seems to think so ,, but is 4 days too early to see that?

It's too early to tell that with about any med out there. Give it a month at least before you make any decisions about it. I hope it all works out for you.

It probably is too soon to tell if that side effect goes away. If you don't notice an improvment or if you feel like you just don't want to get out of bed then I'd call the doctor. You may need to try something else.

My experience with Geodon was that @ higher dosages (120 mg) I didn't have as much a problem with the sleepiness as when I only took 60 mg.

Not to scare you, I developed tics while on this medication. I was fine with that, but then I had a seizure that was caused by the Geodon, so I had to stop taking it. I did find that it worked well on getting me out of the deepest depression I had ever had. Just be careful.....but that pretty much goes with any atypical anti-psychotic.

At first that's how it was for me and I stopped taking them. Then the next time I tried them it was completely opposite. It was only 2 days and I started experiencing extreme restlessness and some inner energy/anxiety. Like I wanted to rip out of my own skin. I couldn't sleep because I couldn't lay down. My legs would almost feel like they were ripping apart from the inside. I had to lay flat on my back and incline my legs as high as I could. I dealt with it for a week and gave up. The side effects took 3 more days to go away. It was horrible.

I had the same issue and it went away after about a week or so. It usually takes a couple weeks to adjust to a medication...at least for me that is true. If it continues after 2 weeks, talk to your pdoc about it again.

I just started 120 mg. Geodon to replace 6 mg. Risperdal per day. It's so much better. I felt like a zombie with Risperdal but not with Geodon. Hang in there - how's it going now? It's hard when meds make u feel bad. I'm glad I finally found a doctor who listens and works with me. He says I'm paying for his accessibility. Never heard it put like that before.

I HATE geodon!!!
I can't say anything good about it.
I was on 160mg that I took at bedtime. It made me a zombie and I could not talk to people because I was never thinking of anything. Plus for the first time in my life I developed insomnia while on it! that is pure h3ll. It also kills your memory. You can forget what you told people a day after you said and end up saying something different and they think you lied. I also had this weird problem when walking that happened out of the blue where my foot wouldn't take a step without my knee bending at a weird angle and getting increasingly lower to the ground. It made it impossible to walk. It was scary and dangerous because it could happen anywhere in the middle of the road and I would have an impossible time trying to get to the other side of the road in time.
I highly advise you to read the side effects of this drug and think seriously if you want to stay on it. In my opinion anything else is better then this drug. Even olanzapine with it's weight issues is far better than geodon.
IT's a new drug without much research so by taking it you are like a lab rat for the doctors to test the drug on and see if it really works. Just my opinion.
good luck.

Gornza,
I take between 40-80 mg depending on the time of of year and symptoms and have for years. I experienced what you described early on in trying to find the right time of day to take it. It takes some experimenting but once I found the right time and once it is more adjusted in your system, there has been no grogginess during the day. It still will knock me out at night but it is not as severe as it used to be; however, being one who experiences insomnia frequently, I appreciate this quality for some good solid hours of sleep. I take it around 7, I am in bed btn 9-11 so for me I have a 2-3 hour window from the time I take it to the time I'll sleep so I can plan for events now that might be later in the evening; try to notice when the time period is for you so you can adjust when you take it and when you wake up. A journal/pad of paper to jot down med and sleep times for a few weeks helps to do this.

Many I have talked to who have had a positive initial response to Geodon have also found this to be the case as well, just takes some time. Best wishes!

But how is it helping with your symptoms...

When I as on Geodon (20mg), I had to take it @ 9pm with a Fiber One bar because taking any sooner would render too tired to stay up till 10pm (bedtime). Geodon didn't keep me asleep. I got up around 3 - 5 every morning and had morning akathisia. I didn't really like Geodon. Plus I had a rash, and I told the doctor for 3 weeks in a row to get me off this medication, before he finally did and when he did, you know what he said:
"the side effects tend to be reduced the higher the dose you go".

I really disliked that. It made me really feel bad for saying anything. I could never really confide in my psychiatrist (he was the one through the program I was going to.). I'm trying to get an outside psychiatrist, but its very difficult.

Anyways, that's my experience with Geodon.
Andy...