Posted by TomG on October 1, 2004, at 15:02:13
I'll try to keep this concise. I have psychotic depression. Two and a half months ago I was put on 20mg Geodon and it is the first medicine that has truly put an end to disorganized thought, paranoia, confusion, suicdal thought, and I think for the most part hopeless depression and anxiety. The only problem is that sedation set in about a month and a half into taking the Geodon. I have taken Zyprexa and Seroquel and it feels like a different kind of sedation than these medicines gave me. With these medicines I actually did sleep all day and take naps, but with the Geodon it is just a false sense of sleepiness with my natural underlying energy still intact, and I don't take naps.
I was recently taken off the 1200mg Neurontin that I was taking with the Geodon in the hopes this might be the culprit of the sleepiness. I tapered this down 300mg every 4 days. Unbelieveably I became more sleepy after stopping the Neurontin. I am also a little confused, because I seem to have lost drive, confidence, motivation and the focus that I had when I first started Geodon. I also don't get out of my house now not necessarily because of social anxiety but becuase of the loss of confidence and drive. The reason I am confused is becuase I don't know if the sedation is starting to affect my mood or if the Geodon is starting to fail me. I think more the sedation is starting to affect my mood.
This is the weird part. One week after I stopped the Neurontin I had something like euphoric hypomanic energy one evening that almost got rid of all my sedation. This only lasted one evening and the next day I started to have a headache and in the early evening I started to get waves of panic that came over me. I've had one panic attack before and it felt similar to the beginning of one, but it never fully formed. I started having little waves of loosing control of my mind, and I had that sinking feeling in my stomach like when you ask out a good looking girl or ride a roller coaster. I also felt like I was over salivating. Yesterday I had the same experience and it has lasted into today. I figured out what did it. The common thread in these experiences is that I had three or more cups of coffee before these mini panic attacks happened. Again I have only had one panic attack before and coffee was not the culprit. I also was drinking coffee while taking the Neurontin and even before Neurontin and Geodon with no problem. What are people's thoughts on what is going on here?
Also concearning the sedation I know that the antagonism of the histamine H1 receptor could be to blame for the sedation associatied with atypical antipsychotics, but what else could cause the sedation. Geodon also inhibits the reuptake of serotonin and norepinephrine. Could this be linked to sedation? Like I said before it feels like a different kind of sedation and the really weird thing is that it started over a month into dosing and not from the very beginning. I need some suggestions from others about some options here. I have tried 15mg Abilify and got akathesia. I tried Wellbutrin alone and it exacerbated paranoia and other psychotic symptoms. I also tried Provigil alone and I could see where this might be useful in this situation, but then I think back to the coffee and panic feelings and think maybe an SSRI might be useful. Thanks for reading this and I appreciate any input or similar experiences.
Tom
poster:TomG
thread:397954
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040927/msgs/397954.html