I have been on
geodon for a couple of months now and have have been a habitual smoker for a good part of the last 3 years (with the exception of two 3 month periods where I didn't smoke. Before taking geodon, I would basically wake and bake and keep smoking throughout the day. In the beginning, side effects of geodon were very severe for me. As soon as I took my medicine, I would be on my ass tired as hell with a tight chest kind of feeling uneasy because it was so hard to breathe. Needless to say, the side effects of geodon had me not wanting to smoke in the evenings. It was also frustrating to take Geodon in the evening because I wanted to hang out with my friends or stay up late studying, something my body on Geodon was not wanting to happen. Geodon is a hell of a drug; it takes some getting used to.
Marijuana is a good escape for me; it helps stimulate my appetite when I'm anorexic and is great for when I can't sit still to focus on playing music or reading a book. When I've been in terrible moods, it's been a great escape to relax and reflect on things with a friend over a bowl or two or good buds.
On geodon, my equilibrium state of consciousness is very different and smoking weed obviously feels different than before. Those initial few weeks had me feeling much more lethargic about smoking weed; the unpleasant side-effects of geodon left me with little desire to smoke marijuana even though I've loved the stuff for the better part of the last 3 years. I suppose it's the somewhat detached level of consciousness I feel on Geodon that's made weed different. Geodon seems to make me a much more functional human being in a lot of respects but I feel a little detached emotionally and just don't get as much out of being high anymore.
In all, I'd have to say that people just getting on Geodon probably should not smoke marijuana. You will probably be more sensitive to the unpleasant side-efftects, especially if you smoke within a couple hours of taking your medication.
After a few weeks I have been responding better to geodon; I no longer get super drowsy or feel tight in my chest after I take my medicine and I've gradually gone to smoking about as much as I did before. However, I feel very ambivalent about marijuana at the moment. I seem to derive less pleasure from it than before I started taking Geodon.
For those curious, I've been loosely labelled bipolar by my doctors; my mother is also bipolar. I am currently taking 200mg/day of
Lamictal, 80mg/day of geodon, and the occasional 1mg
Alprazolam XR for anxiety. I have been on Lamictal for 3 years and responded well. I took
Zoloft for about 2 years and have been weening myself off of it after the first month of Geodon seemed to be helping.
Zoloft helped a bit with some depressive symptoms like wanting to sleep all day but I started to have compulsive suicidal thoughts upon taking the drug. Now that my dose is down to 50mg every other day, the suicial thoughts have died down. I'm glad to be rid of the drug. I will say that I
quit smoking weed for a couple of months when I was on Zoloft and I'd have to say that weed and zoloft was better than just zoloft. Weed helped me deal with some of the uneasy affects zoloft had on my personality-wise (things were more stale, numb and boring on Zoloft). I also had difficulty reaching orgasm on Zoloft, which should not be something that affects a 19-21 yo male (or female for that matter).
Lamictal was prescribed to me just over 3 years ago and the first couple of months on that drug I spent completely sober. When I started to smoke weed again, I didn't really notice Lamictal affecting my high all that much.
Seeing as psychological meds and drugs have such a wide range of effects on the people who take them, it's tough to really draw any lines or predict how they will effect you for the good or bad BUT I feel it is very important that we share our experiences. Hope this helps.