Geodon

[RKB]

Unlike most of the people in this thread, literally the day of taking Geodon I went from just about beating the !@#$ out of someone over a parking space to wondering what I was so angry about. I had been desperately fighting the "I'm so manic I'm going bananas" high for months and Geodon shut it right down.

I am not happy with my screwed up sleep schedule from taking this medicine, but I am remembering my dreams more than when I was on Lamictal and Abilify.

[judy1967]

My 15 yr old is at a therapeutic boarding school. He is on Depakote, Seroquel and Cymbolta. He had a manic episode. They stated it was not the cymbolta, which he has only been on for about 2 months, that it is not a medication problem. He has been on the Depakote for over a year. Now the school transferred him to a psych hospital and they and his psychitrist are putting him on Geodone along with all the other meds. I am very scarred for him. What happens when he goes back to his boarding school this week?

I read that Geodone hasn't been tested on children and that it can cause heart problems. My son hasn't had any side effects so far. He is also on Seroquel and Depakote, but the psychiatrist is trying to take him off the seroquel because he's been on it for a few years and it can cause liver damage, and put him on the geodone and depakote instead.

[Alyy]

I recommend you take your son off of Geodone immediately!
I warn you it'll only get worse. I was on it for about a year or so. I lost that time. If I took the dose at 4 in the afternoon, I would be out by 6 in the night and awake at 4 in the morning, with more energy than the Enegizer Bunny. If I took it any later than 4 I would be awake till all hours of the night, and wake up as the she-devil. I lost of year's time. I have to repeat a year of school, because I slept or was sick and missed days in school. Don't put your son through that. It made me feel worse and as if I didn't want to tell someone. You're son might be dealing with the same thing.

And I have a friend that has taken it also. Her expirence was just as horrible.


I think this pill shouldn't be taken off the market, and at least looked into. Others, and myself, will agree...Geodone withdraws you from society.

[ihcuids]

Sure, I didn't like it that one of the side effects could be death (seriously) but while I was on it, it did wonders for me. I shook awful, but that's the only drawback I had with it. It helped me alot.

[EM1844]

I took geodon for several months and had very similar behavior.. I recieved it shortly after giving birth to my 1st child.. i have a long history and battle with mental/emotional problems...it knocked me out so strongly i wouldnt even wake up when my baby started crying..my mom had to come in and splash water on my face, hold my eyelids open and try to talk to me to get me up, and like you said... it wasn't happening...i have very sever night terrors, which was one of the main reasons my doctor at the time prescribed this medicine and they did; to me seem to get worse.. i absolutely could not be woken up from them..my family just had to listen to me scream and cry out in the night....somedays i was a zombie and some days completely irrational and unpredictable. Which to me seems like the medicine was only enhancing, not controlling the problems..depending on your son's diagnosis.. i would talk to his doctor about seroquel or prozac....both helped me tremendously. But, if seroquel is an option..before you decide to try it.. just know that once its fully in your system and have been on it for a few months, if it turns out to be not helping.. the withdrawels are extremely physically hard. i hope this information helps.

[chascorum]

Mother was recently put into the ICU for 2 days and 3 days on the floor. She was put into the ICU for a high level of Co2. She has been on Xanax for depression for over 8 years now.

Some problems happened in the ICU where two patients died one after the other. When the news came around that one of the nurses who was the head nurse for one of those who had dead, left for a few hours to go to a bar, no nurse would sign off on the death certificate of the deceased. Mom was the only other patient in the ICU to witness all of the drama. Her male nurse got a wheelchair the following morning and rushed her onto the third floor. He told her "God will be with you and with me". Apparently the nurses had threatened him to sign the release and he would not.

As soon as my mother was on the floor, the ICU nurses (WHY were they on the third floor?) gave her an IV of Geodon. My mother has been on Xanax and there was NO reason to give her an antipsychotic. I went to the nurse's desk and informed them of my mother hallucinating, believing there was a nurse on the floor with a gun. She told my sister to get her grandson off of the floor that the police were hunting for the nurse with the gun and so on and so forth. My mother was out of her mind! She literally did not sleep for DAYS while there, for fear.

She was released a day and a half later and has not had a breakdown SINCE. This is because she is not taking that medication.

We're actually considering a lawsuit over this. It caused my mother extreme anguish and four nights of no sleep, let alone them not changing her bed sheets for three days.

My question is why was my mother put on an antipsychotic like Geodon when she has had no symptoms that called for something that is prescribed for those will bipolar or schitzophrenia, unless there was something those ICU nurses didn't want shared with anyone else.

I am FURIOUS!

Any help is appreciated.

[adare11]

I was on Geodon for approximately 2 months. I knew from the beginning it was going to be trouble, but I "stuck" with it hoping that the horrible side effects would go away. First thing I noticed was how I would go through horrible anxiety and withdrawal an hour or two before my next dose (I took 20mg 2x a day). My psychiatrist told me to take 3 x 20 mgs a day, to avoid this anxiety. It worked, but about 2 hours after taking a dose, I would want to fall asleep. It was terrible, I could hardly keep my eyes open at work. This went on for a month and half. I kept taking it because I did feel better but this wore off. I started to become angry and anxious. My last two weeks of this drug I was advised to take all 60mg at night. I did this for 2 weeks and I had to get off this drug. Easier said than done. I started my taper (My doc told me to do 40 for a couple days, 20 for a couple days and then stop.) NO, this did not work. I went to see her with horrible anxiety that I felt I was going to die. She told me to start taking it again and slower the taper. I did this also but the anxiety was horrible. She prescribed me xanax and then klonopin to deal with the anxiety. This was the first time I have felt suicidal in my life. This horrible anxiety lasted for about 4 weeks. I weened myself off the klonopin which I'm not sure if there was withdrawal because I got a really bad flu like cold the day after I stopped it. Geodon is evil. Please do not take it. It will make you feel so much better for a month or two, and then I just became anxious and angry. It does not work long term, at least not for me. The withdrawal is horrible and anyone who is thinking about stopping it, do not go cold turkey. Talk to your doctor about taking another drug like xanax or klonopin to relieve the symptoms. Take the bare minimum you need, though. Xanax and Klonopin are highly addictive also. I can say now I am about 90% better but I still cannot sleep very well and am do have a little bit of daily anxiety now esp if I have caffeine.

[angela927]

My husband was on Geodon for almost a year. The Dr. tripled the dose after a couple months. 6 months later my husband started having jaw pain which later turned into the jerking jaw movements your son had. My husband has stopped the Geodon but the symptoms have persisted. He is miserable and the Dr. acts as if they have never heard of such.
Has your son gotten better? 12 is so young to suffer such things. You and your family are in my prayers.
Angela

[pllamo]

I wanted to share my experience with Geodon. I am depressed and social phobic with paranoia according to the health clinic. However, I can't afford a psychologist, so I take what I can get.

I was started on Abiify 2mg for depression when SSRI stopped working. I felt better than I have in years on Abilify, but it caused restlessness, insatiable hunger, and massive weight gain which became intolerable. It's a shame because the positive effects were almost worth it.

I was put on Geodon to stop the weight gain. I took 20mg a day for about a month.
This dose did nothing for me, except that I was losing about a pound a day for lack of hunger, and I was restless. Clenching jaws, biting, clenching fists, tension all over. At night I would sometimes have RLS. I also had a fever between 99-100f every day and it fluctuated constantly which led to hot and cold flashes. I would sweat uncontrollably often.

Now I am not sure if this was due to only taking the medicine once a day because after I would take my daily dose most of these symptoms would go away. 20mg did not sedate me at all.

Anyway I understand exactly how people are feeling if this medicine makes them rage. After about a month of feeling intense restlessness it was becoming intolerable. One day I became extremely angry about it. Any stimulation was feeding my rage. Peoples voices made me angry. I wanted to break my knuckles, kick, stomp, punch, throw things, and just lash out in general because the medicine put me on edge almost all the time. This rage was coming from the relentless restlessness the medicine was causing along with constantly being out of breath.

I would be interested to know if I was having withdrawals daily from only taking it once a day.