[wildflowerchild25]

I have bipolar disorder. I won't bore you with details but I'm basically treatment resistant because I am so sensitive to medications. If they work, the side effects are too much to bear, and if they have tolerable side effects they don't work. So I'm at the end of the med line and my pdoc has arrived with Invega sustenna, the injectable.

Has anyone ever taken it? It's super new so I don't know much about it. My main worry is that it will have some intolerable side effect for me and then I'm stuck on it for a whole month until it wears off. In fact I'm terrified about that. I've just scared the crap out of myself reading the possible side effects. I always get the bizarre side effects that are uncommon. For example abilify put me on a five second delay, risperdal made me gain 20lbs and made my movements super stiff, lamictal blurred my vision and gave me crazy anxiety, etc etc.

For the record I was supposed to try the pill first but my insurance refused to cover it. My pdoc has free samples of the injectable to give me.

Anyone tried Invega in either form? Any improvement in your symptoms? It's really only approved for schizophrenia and schizoaffective but according to my pdoc my bipolar symptoms are severe enough to warrant this experiment.

[Sometimes psychotic]

Um invega is the active metabolite of risperidone but it lasts a full month...if you had issues with risperdal I would not take Invega. Have you tried Latuda...it's weight neutral and a lot of people are having good results with it.

[wildflowerchild25]

Yeah that's what I told my pdoc but she said it wasn't the same thing...that's totally what I thought too. Problem is risperdal was the most successful med for me so I bet Invega would work well. The muscle stiffness though...I don't know if that's serious or not. I was taken off risperdal because of it so I guess it was serious enough to that pdoc. They work in the same practice, the one that took me off risperdal is my current one's boss so all med decisions go through her, I would hope she would have said something.

I haven't tried latuda. Same thing though, I'd have to get samples bc my insurance wouldn't cover.

Thank for your input, I appreciate it.

[ashland]

latuda is a don, like Geodon, Risperdal, theres a few more dons the only thing that changes are sides but there all in same family . then theres the pines, olanzapine, quitiapine see the ending last name then its just a different sides.

[Sometimes psychotic]

Originally Posted by wildflowerchild25

Yeah that's what I told my pdoc but she said it wasn't the same thing...that's totally what I thought too. Problem is risperdal was the most successful med for me so I bet Invega would work well. The muscle stiffness though...I don't know if that's serious or not. I was taken off risperdal because of it so I guess it was serious enough to that pdoc. They work in the same practice, the one that took me off risperdal is my current one's boss so all med decisions go through her, I would hope she would have said something.

I haven't tried latuda. Same thing though, I'd have to get samples bc my insurance wouldn't cover.

Thank for your input, I appreciate it.

Could be a dose thing...risperidone is the strongest d2 binder of the atypicals so since a lot of the movement issues are Parkinson's like you may be ok on a lower dose. Still I would be concerned about taking the shot right away because there isn't any way to get it out of your system if things go bad. Stiffness I'm not sure about... the Parkinson's effects are like walking like an old man, tremor that kind of thing. Also it may be different because it's injected....stiffness yeah I'm not sure...I do know if you have like spasms that pretty severe. It's also possible he can give you a drug to counteract the stiffness. Some people use cogentin for side effects....

[wildflowerchild25]

Ok so I bit the bullet and started the invega injection. I've had two doses, the starting doses, scheduled to get the maintenance dose tomorrow. No side effects, it's working fairly well. But the site where I got the injection is tender. It hurt like hell for about five days both times. I did it on different arms each time because of the pain. Now a month later both sites are still tender to the touch. I'm getting freaked out that it may be causing some sort of muscle damage. Should I bring this up with my pdoc when I see her? The one who is giving me the shot tomorrow is not my regular pdoc. I'll be seeing my regular one august 22.