Geodon and hallucinations

I have been on Geodon for 6 months now as treatment for schizophrenia. It totally gets rid of the paranoia, hallucinations, and delusions. The only bad thing that I noticed right off was the insomnia. I never feel sleepy and if I'm awakened in the middle of the night or early morning, I'm wide awake and cannot get back to sleep easily. I feel restless sometimes and never feel relaxed or rested. Lately, I've noticed my tongue moving involuntarily and some shortness of breath when I am in bed trying to get to sleep (I take 80mg Geodon once at night) I am worried about the shortness of breath because I previously was on Seroquel and stopped taking it because I was feeling dizziness and shortness of breath. I have to be on some form of medication though because I don't want to have another episode with the schizophrenia.

I was on 80mg at night and discovered it was far too high of a dosage for me. I became severely depressed, my throat closed up, and the hangy-ball in the back of my throat swelled up to the point where I'd occasionally choke on it. I would wake up in the morning (very late), only to find that I couldn't move out of my bed. It was as if I was paralyzed. I almost lost my job. I wasn't able to get ready and leave the house until hours after waking. If you are experiencing any of these side effects, stop taking Geodon immediately. I went through a month of this thinking I needed to wait it out until it would work. If only I had talked to my doctor sooner, I would've been able to avoid all of it.

At lower doses, Geodon still wasn't giving me the results I was looking for. I was rapid cycling between depression and extreme mania where I experienced delusions and (for the first time in my life) auditory hallucinations. I think Geodon is one of those medications that either works for you or doesn't. There really wasn't much inbetween for me.

Another common side effect I experienced was weight loss. I lost 10lbs in a month. So I'm now 115 and 5'5''. That was the only good thing about the pill.

My first side effects included agititated moods and feeling very angry most of the time. The smallest thing could set me offf. That went on for a few weeks now I feel good on the meds. My pupils dialiate for some reason right after I take the pills. I am on 80mgx2 taken at night.

I also had a horrible experience when trying to stop taking the pills. I have been taking them for about 5 weeks now and felt the need to stop taking them. I cut my dose in half. Huge mistake.

Within 5 days I started experiencing major hot flashes inside my body was cold on the outside. Lightheaded, sluggish, nassaua you name it. I gave up after two days and now I am taking the 80mg x 2 again. I will taper much more slowly this time. Anyway would love to hear other stories. The best part is no one is alone out there. Seems everyone has similuar effects.

I was put on Geodon about 2.5 to 3 years ago for about 7 months. I was only 15 at the time so I had little control to what medication I was being perscribed to. I wanted to get off of it about two or three months after I was on it but I had a terrible physiatrist who insisted he knew what I was experiencing better than I did which was perfect because if I refused to take any medication then I was sent to a pych ward for a week. My parents were understandably worried and didn't understand anything about these medications so they listened to that idiot.
Ok so, though at the time they weren't sure, I had severe depression. He thought it could be bi-polar and put me on Geodon, which I just read today that THIS year the FDA says is a medication to treat bi-polar. I can't remember how much I took but I think it was around 80mg to start. Within the first few days I noticed some annoying side effects such as drowziness and alittle shaking. Within a few weeks since nothing positive had happened, the physiatrist decided to increase the dosage. I noticed no change in my emotional state but the side effects were getting worse, I was becoming really fatigued most of the day, if I sat in one spot for about an hour my back would start to ache very badly, I noticed I was getting somewhat paranoid during the night as I become more tired. Still despite all this the physiatrist decided to increase it again things got worse ect. ect. he increased it AGAIN, I was on at least 180mg by then. At that point every night at about 10 I was knocked out, I literally couldn't stay awake even if I tried. Sitting in one spot for 30min made my back ache. I began to find it extremely difficult to use the bathroom (both ways). I also developed some minor hallucinations, the most memorable one being that, out of the corner of my eye, I saw my dog becoming flat and sliding under the door. This sounds like it might be funny and it may have been if it wasn't for the worst side effect, the paranoia. Every evening as I began getting sleepy the slightest noises would make me jump and if I was alone in a dark area I would constantly look behind me in fear. I would tell myself "this is just that pill cmon it's not real" but I would still feel a sensation of fear. My parents, though they reluctantly trusted the phyciatrist, at that point had had enough. There was still no change in my emotional state in terms of depression and since this was all overwhelming me the depression was just getting worse. Since it was getting worse the shrink wanted to admit me to a pych ward (for the third time) and my parents disagreed. They had a pretty big arguement, I very rarely see my mom unable to handle herself in an arguement but she was crying pretty bad. We never went back to that guy, though he did send my dad a letter saying that he thought that their desicion to not send me to the hospital was stupid and that he went to however many years of school and they don't know anything ect. ect. ect.
The next guy we went to got me off Geodon as soon as possible. To this day I have a small temor in my hands and find it difficult to use the bathroom often.

Yes, it is 3:40am and I too am up searching the internet to find out which medication is giving me insomnia! Looks like it's Geodon! I started with 40mg at bedtime for one month and they just upped my dose to 80mg at bedtime. My main problem has been sweating! As a 30 year young female living in sunny California (100 degress plus) it isn't to attractive to have a sweating problem. I am miserable! My eyes are so dilated and dry my husband actually asked me if I was using drugs (ha ha ha) and I am getting "trails" off things and small hallucinations if I wake up in the middle of the night (like a washcloth crawled away on the counter). I have trouble swallowing, am restless and anxious. I feel the symptoms worsened with the increasing dosage. But I guess this is better than the Zyprexa when I gained 30lbs in two weeks! I'm gonna give this drug a chance, hoping the sweat thing will get better with time. I've been playing this medication game long enough to know that unless the side effects are life threatening to stick with it and give it time. I have read many places that if you have stiffness and shuffling walk to stop the drug immediately and I saw a couple posts that were having that problem. It's on the manufacturers website; stop the drug immediately!

My 18 year old daughter (BPD with hallucinations) has been taking this drug since December. She is currently taking 320 mg. per day (split between morning and evening) - rare but it has been done - although I'd prefer not. First, I don't even think G gets to theraputic levels until 80 mgs. DD was on Risperdal (which worked wonderfully but her prolactin level went through the roof) and so they slowing titrated her off of that and on to G. Yes, the side effects were horrible at first. Again, it isn't until you reach theraputic levels that you start to see those side effects diminish and our experience plus other experiences I've heard of is that the higher the dosage the fewer side effects. I would highly recommend an EKG (just to be on the safe side although the side effect of heart problems appears to be over emphasized with the research I've found). I have to say that her hallucinations continue but are better - her BPD is very well stabalized with this drug (and we saw the advantage for her BPD early on). She is very level or able to regain stability when she senses a mood swing coming. Now her biggest side effects are tremors (which she's had with both Abilify and Risperdal) and a dry mouth (typical with Geodon). She occasionally gets headaches which, again, can be a side effect.

Honestly, our experience is that our DD has had side effects that were more intensified with every new medication and every dosage increase. Over time, that has always gotten better (except the prolactin level with Risperdal). I think people sometimes don't give it "enough time" but I know I'm not in their shoes. Lastly, for BPD, I'd definitely recommend giving it a try - the difference in our DD is like night and day.

I was on Geodon 2 times before and never felt anything. Iv'e also been on a bunch of different kinds of meds. Nothing has worked for me. The physchiatrist prescribed Geodon yet again. And this morning i took my first dose. I slept for 14 hours without waking. Also directly upon waking i heard loud voices in the house. The only person that was home at this time was me and my dad. I got out of bed and went to see who was here. My dad looked at me like i had lost my mind. Also i heard loud rumblings and noises outside the house. But there wasnt anything going on outside. I hope that these effects are only temporary i start taking 4 geodons next week a day. Im kinda scared. The reason i was put on them again was for my Hallucinations, Paranoia, and Impulsiveness behavior. I have other things wrong as well. I hope these help this time but i don't know yet.

Thankfully I just got off of this horrible drug. Worked wonders on the hallucinations, but made me to where I couldn't function at work, and I also began sleeping in parking lots, etc., because I became so sleepy and exhausted I felt it unsafe to drive. 2 hours after taking 80 mg at 8am, I was almost always found behind my desk sound asleep. To overcome this falling asleep at work, the doctor had me take 120 mg at night and 40 during the day. The next day after changing the way I took it, I started shaking uncontrollably and sweating. I shook like this for a week until I stopped taking it. The DR said it was anxiety, but I knew better, my head was clear. After I quit taking it I took 3 days to stop shaking completely. Seems like in made my ears ring too, and they're still ringing somewhat.

My daughter was prescribed geodon and began having hallucinations, auditory and visual. She felt like she had taken an hallucinogenic. She had become so scared of the feelings that she checked herself into the hospital where she has been for the last two weeks and is now having her medications adjusted. She is bipolar and had been taking seroquel and zoloft

The first time I started on Geodon was Sept of 2002 but stopped it shortly afterwards. I decided to take it again just starting last week for my schizophrenia symptoms. My doctor had me start on 40mg and she said take it either at night or morning. I tried taking it at night the first time and I had to be at work the next morning making me wake up at 7:15am. I had a hard time waking up and by the time 8:00am rolled around (when I had to leave for work, it's a 30 minute drive to work), I had to call in sick because for the whole 45 minutes, I was barely awake and couldn't become alert. I went back to bed and got up like at 12 or 1pm in the afternoon. So I decided to try taking it after getting up in the morning. I took it at noon and by 3pm or so, I had to turn around and drive back home (I was going to get my car checked on). The tiredness and sleepiness came on strong and fast. I slept for 3 hours and went to bed at 8pm. So now I'm on 20mg at night. Little drowsy for the first 1 hour in my morning class until we get break time. And I've started to notice my eyesight blurs and goes unfocused. When I first started back in Sept 2002, I missed my nightly doses a couple of times and even though I was sleepy, I could not fall asleep. Then about 1 or 2 in the morning, I'd have these out-right hallucinations (ones like I've never experienced from my schizophrenia before- much worse).

I have the sour mouth, involuntary movements (hands, arms jerking) but the most troublesome and dangerous is the falling asleep without warning, anywhere and anytime. I have missed work because I crashed out in the staff lounge and couldn't get back to "alertness," and the worst is that big chunks of my days are GONE. Just GONE. It's as though I blank out and erase whatever part of the day is happening when the wave hits me. Some memories come back, slowly, and luckily I have patient friends who help me bring some memories back. I am Bipolar I, rapid cycling with mixed states thrown in. Lots of hallucinations, mostly auditory.