Geodon and medications

I have been taking Geodon for about 4 months now and it has relieved my bipolar symptoms remarkably well but in the last month and a half I have experienced a "Shocking" feeling to my heart that goes down my arms and legs. I was referred to a cardiologist and had a not so good EKG. I am scheduled for a ecocardiograma and to wear a heart monitor for a few days and then follow up with a nuclear stress test on Friday. The feeling is scary and recently I have not been sleeping. At first the medication was a miracle and I had for once in my life a normal sleep pattern. I guess I am worried about my heart. I take 180 mg every night along with a sleeping pill that was prescribed by my doctor. He was running out of medications that would help me. I have lost 27 pounds since being on the medication which is on the good side but is the cost going to be my heart? I will post what the doctor finds so that all of you can know what to look for or be on the watch out for. Many thanks for listening. B.

Hi all. My DH has been taking Geodon for 5 months for "delusion - other". The docs don't feel he's bi-polar or schizophrenic. He started up on 20mg and was taken all the way up to 160mg at night until he got ridiculously drowsy on this drug from that dose. He was having issues getting up in the morning (even after 9 1/2+ hours of sleep the night before) and was getting scared of driving to work as out of it as he'd be. The doc took him down to 120mg and it was still bad. So, then they dropped him down to 80mg and he started experiencing severe anxiety. He said he felt like his chest was closing in on him. So, now he's on 100mg and still tired, but not as bad.

Don't get me wrong.. if this was the only issue, I'd be fine with it. The Geodon was a godsend, at first. It really made his delusion dissipate (he wanted to run off and preach the word of God on street corners) and he was able to go back to working 8-hour days after a few months.

But now that he's gotten past that (he's had this once before, 6 years ago, and they had him on risperdal and depakote until the delusion was gone and then took him off of everything completely) he is BEYOND depressed. He has no history whatsoever of depression and has never felt this way before.Our family has never seen him like this. It's increasingly interfering with our relationship, as he just stares at me blankly if I happen to get upset about anything. He's just completely dead inside and feeling worthless. He can't even have an emotional conversation with me anymore and he used to be the most attentive, wonderful husband and friend he could ever be before he got on Geodon.

He also has zero interest in sex. I mean, he can go through it just fine, but he just doesn't want it on his own. And that's depressing for me!!

All in all, I want him off this drug as it seems that, once it did its job, it's eating away at his cognitive and emotional sides. He has a hard time reasoning and, of course, then ends up getting depressed because he feels worthless at his job. I just don't get it.

My question is: if he should happen to be bi-polar ( I mean, if the docs have all gotten it wrong) and he's going through a depressive phase, shouldn't the Geodon be helping? He just seems to get more and more depressed as gets further and further away from being delusional.

We're going to the doc on Thursday and I'm going to tell him that I want DH off this med.. no matter what he thinks. We just can't keep going through this crud anymore. I'd appreciate any feedback/advice/empathy you all can give.

I just miss my husband and I feel like this drug is running him into the ground and wrecking our marriage. :(

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.

I have been on some different medications since told I was BiPolar. My first Doc prescribed Seroquel, Lexapro and eventually Adderall. The combo worked well seeing that I had no life after leaving home and moving up north with an aunt where I knew no one. I worked and slept. I felt like a robot. With the Seroquel I was falling asleep and barely able to make it up the stairs to go to bed. After moving home my new doctor informed me that a woman at the age of 20 really should have some form of sex drive, which I was completely lacking since taking the medications. He started me on Wellbutrin rather than Lexapro and Geodon rather than Seroquel. Needless to say, my sex drive did come back...but not out of control like before treatment. Things got better and a couple years later my doctor lost his license due to malpractice...long story. Searching for another doctor...I was told I was not BiPolar...just depressed and he took me off of every thing switching the Geodon to PROZAC and changing the Adderall to a low dose Dexedrine (10mg twice daily vs. the 40mg Adderall twice daily!!!). Needless to say...he was a quack and after 4 visits being bullshit...the appt was at 5 and I wasn't seen until after 8PM. He over booked and was a QUACK!!! So...after swearing off medications forever...

Too be continued.

Taking Geodon for misdiagnosis of BP. Depression yes. Worked great for 6 months until I THOUGHT I needed a smaller dosage. Went fron 80 -60-40-20 all at night. Stayed off 7 days and crashed. I need this drug to keep sanity. Everyone seems to hate Geodon, but I now know it helps me. Did not have any withdrawal symptoms, but learned I needed this drug. Immediately after taking 60 mg everything seemed back to normal. Not crazy about taking any medications, but Geodon has me where I need to be.

I have been taking Geodon for exactly 15 days, and I'm FREAKING OUT over this drug!! Last night I woke to find myself throwing things around the room to try and baricade myself thinking someone OR something was trying to kill me. My bird was really startled and started free flight in his cage. Luckily he did not hurt himself, but he could have. My paranoia is WORSE, and I am MORE PSYCHOTIC than I was before taking Geodon! Do I need to give it more time to see if these terrible side effects will diminish? A friend who knows a lot about medications told me that if I am experiencing these same side effects after 2 weeks into taking the medication, it appears that my body is trying to tell me something, it is rejecting it. I want to just stop taking it IMMEDIATELY, BUT, will I be worse if I do? What kind of side effects can I expect?
HELP!!!!!!!

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.

I was taking risperidal and it worked great, but the weight gain and glucose intolerance were enough for me to get off of it. The psychiatrist recommended that I try Geodon. I started at 40 mg (along with Wellbutrin XL). I was still experiencing symptoms of auditory hallucinations and still was feeling irritable. He increased my dosage to 80 mg. It feels like I am emotionally better. However, now I am feeling tired all the time, my blood sugar keeps geeting low, I have had indigestion, and my vision seems to be getting worse. I saw another doctor who thinks my symptoms are related to my medications.

Yesterday my Doctor prescribed 120mg Geodon at night along with 10mg of tomazepam and during the day 150mg of Wellbutrin 10mg Lexapro and 100mg of Lamictal
I slept all the way through the night but this morning felt awful, difficulty forming words and feiling faint. I knew that Ihad to force myself to do something and went swiming, I hate getting my head in the water but my head was so hot that I went under water to try and clear my thinking and aleive the headache
I was unsure which of the night medications produced these reactions
I have been on Wellbutrin Clexa Nerontin wellbutrin and more recently Lymictal and Seriquil were added
It is scary to hear everyone else's side effects to this drug.
Has anyone been switched because of thier side effects?

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