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Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
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 Posted - 07/26/2009 : 04:01:06
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Ok so I wanted to be witty but the main point is that tonight I started to switch from Seroquel to Zeldox, or as it's more commonly known Geodon.
I was reccomended this one since I was beginning to get what I fear might be the onset of Tardive Disconesia (sp?) anyway it's been a lot of time since I had to switch antipsychotics and the experiences I read about from people who've had to discontinue this drug were frightening. Also the abstracts I found using google scholar were so objective as to be completely medically detatched from the experience of taking it. Oh and this gem as well http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=68500 I love erowid.org it's the sort of website I wish had existed in 1996 when I was geting in over my head with recreational drugs I would have learned a lot and maybe not done as much. So out of sheer curiosity I decided to see if erowid had anything to say about Geodon and that's what I found. It's scary but remember it was being taken by a person recreationally with no idea what he was doing and no medical need for it.
So two real extremes and no middle ground. Ugh. I spent the past five or six days agonising over wether or not to go on it at all but I can't talk to my shrink (he's on holiday) and I ran out of my previous dose of Seroquel and the only prescription the pharmacy had for me was the one written for this transition.
After spending some hours last night dealing with a clenched jaw and really feeling my medically induced obeisity I concluded I might as well go for it.
I thought I'd start a thread here chronicling my switch, partially to keep folks I care about updated on what's happening and partially for my own curiosity and also partially in the hope of providing another experiential account of what it's like to take this drug. I have never been on it before and have no idea what it will do to me.
Ok so this is going to be a long post but here's my account of my first dose. 20mg taken with dinner.
I felt high. Like intoxicated high but not unplesantly so. my limbs felt lighter than normal and my mood was kind of uplifted a bit. I felt headdy when I stood up to get some water and it made spending the night in with the wife into a new kind of fun. When that wore off I felt pretty normal, that was several hours ago and I'm drowsy. Actually been a little wooly since taking it but I'm coming off seroquel so cotton brain is nothing new to me.
Tomorrow I'll be taking 20mg in the morning and 20mg at night. I'll tell you what that's like before bed tomorrow.
Anarchy and Peace  |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 07/27/2009 : 01:26:56
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So, day two. I think I can see what people mean about knowing when they're supposed to take their next dose. I was fine after I got up. my morning dose was no big deal I took it with breakfast and then had to go out and do errands, skateboarding on this drug ios kind of fun though maybe a little dangerous.
By about 8:30pm I started to get anxious and restless and I could tell that my body wanted it's next pill, I waited until about 9:00pm because I think that's about when I took it last night, once it kicked in I didn't feel restless any more.
My wife is a So You Think You Can Dance fanatic and while I find the show entertaining enough I can't do two episodes in a row so I went to lay down, I didn't expect I'd fall flat asleep but that's exactly what I did, lights on and all. However unlike Seroquel when Yvonne came in to wake me up after her show I was easy enough to wake and feeling fine. If I had dropped off under Seroquel I'd be a total drugged out zombie.
I'm curious what this pill will be like in four days when I'm on double what I'm taking now (it'll be 40mg per day). I hope my body is used to the effects by then so the increase will just be another enjoyable buzz.
Anarchy and Peace |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 07/28/2009 : 02:30:32
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So far I'm doing well on this drug. I'm not feeling as high any more when I take my dose and I'm not feeling knocked out tired from it either. I feel well enough and no problems sleeping, I don't want to speak too soon but I think my TD symptoms are starting to go away, they certainly seem to be lessening in severity. and I'm not turning into Mr. Hyde either so hey so far so good!
Anarchy and Peace |
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| OWLman
New Member
54 Posts
Gratitude: 23
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Posted - 07/28/2009 : 07:21:19
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Hi Chris.
Glad to hear that the ziprasidone/ZELDOX seems to be working for you. I found the sedation to be the most prominent side effect, but it seems as if your body has adapted to this already. Hopefully the TD lessen's over time.
Good luck!
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 07/29/2009 : 00:23:42
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Lesson #1 Zeldox can make you high
Lesson #2 it is not a great Idea to go out cycling all day in the summer sun and heat while on Zeldox.
I had a great and refreshing sleep last night and a bunch of errands to do, chief amongst them was to pick up my bike from the shop. I went down and got it and decided to ride around doing the rest of my errands.
By the time I got to my second to last stop I was dizzy, faint, and nauseus. Uck. I had a bottle of watter with a tiny pinch of salt added to it (to restore some of my body's mineral content) and sat down until I felt better but I suspect that this episode was a result of heat-stroke. I've read that this drug can make it difficult to cool off and so you should avoid being in the heat for long periods, today I think I might have learned why.
Otherwise doing well. The transition seems to be going well.
Anarchy and Peace |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 07/30/2009 : 00:54:10
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Still doing well. Tomorrow I up my dose from 20 and 20 to 40 and 40. I stayed at home and worked on my writing today it's very hot here and even with all the windown open and a fan going it's hard to bear.
I'll have to go to work tomorrow and I'd like to bike there but I'll have to be careful that I've got plenty of water and ride on shaded streets I don't want to be a hazard on these funky pills.
one more thing I've noticed, I'm getting up easier and feeling more refreshed when I do. I still have day/night reversal but I'm not as sluggish in the morning as I was on Seroquel.
Anarchy and Peace |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 07/31/2009 : 01:06:41
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So I got up today and went straight back to bed for an hour. When I got up the second time I felt light headed. I think feeling faint is one of those things that's not likely to go away on this drug. Maybe, if I'm lucky, once I'm at my full dose but probably not before that.
It's so hot here! even with all the windows open and the fan going and non-stop cold water to drink it's still boiling. I stayed indoors as long as I could and waited for the heat to break, I think it finally did about 6:00pm I had to go out before that and get to my studio to work. Lucky for me I work alone and can lock the door to my studio it was so hot in there I just stripped and did all my work in the nude with a fan on. That place gets no kair circulation and it's really bad for my instruments and my computer but I have no where else to put anything.
I'll be placing things in storage next month and moving out of that space. I have to tell my landlords I'm moving at the end of August I can't afford to keep the space up I'm going to have to start mothballing stuff. ugh. (not literally but still ugh)
feeling high again because I increased my dose today to 40 and 40. Glad my bike is in the shop again for adjustments wouldn't want to do do that when I'm peaking on this stuff, not at first anyway.
I had a cold shower when I got home from the studio and I wonder why I hadn't done that earlier it was just what my body needed. I think I might take two or three of those tomorrow.
I had an awsome breakfast when I got up. kippers, eggs and fried jalapeno slices in batter. mmmmmm and a crumpet and coffee. I didn't need to eat again until dinner time and even then not so much. I'm not sure if it's too soon to tell but I think my apetite is becoming more normal and not so crazy like when I was on only Seroquel.
two more days of it at this dose and then I decrease I'm writing that here so I don't forget.
I think I'm going to go to a rock show tomorrow night.
Anarchy and Peace |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 08/02/2009 : 02:21:29
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wasn't on here last night. It's HOT in my part of the country! I mean really, really hot.
I stayed inside all day napped infront of the TV until 9pm then took my evening dose. at 1:30am I went for a wonderful bike ride down the beach it was great because it was still warm but not HOT. Today's been more of the same except there was work as well. I didn't end up going to that rock show yesterday, I slept instead.
I'm not certain if some of my fidgiting is still TD or not. I'll have to talk about this with my doctor when I see him next but the tongue stuff has really been going away and that's excellent. I've also been noticing a change in my appetite I'm feeling full sooner, now I just have to learn not to order such large meals at restaurants 
Anarchy and Peace |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 08/03/2009 : 03:01:59
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it's finally cooling off here I can go outside without totally overheating and my workspace is feeling less like a foam padded oven. I'm still rocking the cold showers but might be anyway they're divine in this heat.
for someone who doesn't go out in the sun for long I'm browning really well! I guess it's because I don't spend that much time in the sun and I havn't been wearing sunscreen (I don't burn easily).
took my tandem bike to the shop and I have to find a way to get my wife's over to a place that does welding.
Anyway I guess that's all to say that I'm doing ok on this drug still. I think I might have the sniffles because of it but none of the really frightening side effects have come over mend I'm looking forward to loosing weight!
I had a thought recently that what if this is just the first of a whole generation of antipsychotics which wont cause weight gain in people! Wouldn't that be great! if I could stay on this one long enough that I never have to go on something that will make me obese again?
I'm so fed up with my weight. I can't even stand over the stove to cook a proper meal without my back making me want to sit down. I hate being in pain like this and I'm tired of not being able to take my shirt off in public I have such bad stretch marks that it really looks like I've had my stomach mauled by an animal. I think that if anyone ever does see them and asks I might just make up some animal attack story and leave it at that.
Mauled by the atypical antipsychotics.
Anarchy and Peace |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 08/03/2009 : 06:17:14
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I totally should have seen this coming.
So tonight I decreased my Seroquel and what do you know... I can't sleep.
It's 6:08am and I'm up noodling with my modular synth and writing this!
My wife's been in bed since about 12:00am I'm a nightowl shure but this is rediculous even for me.
Of course natural sleep is kind of a novelty to me these days I've been on Seroquel for about five years, that's five years of not needing to fall asleep on my own five years of relying on a dose of a drug that would effectively incapacitate me for about nine hours a night. I think I might have forgotten how to sleep on my own!
Perhaps I'm blowing this out of proportion after all I am kind of tired, not enough to go to sleep but sort of the way I felt on my honey moon when we first got to the UK, groggy, a little heavy eyed but ultimatly awake at a stupid hour of the morning.
I'm sure in time my circadian rythems will restore themselves but right now I'm not having it. I guess I'll just stay awake until I need to sleep and then just treat it like jet lag.
Anarchy and Peace |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 08/03/2009 : 06:22:35
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one question if anyone knows I'd be interested to find out, is clenched jaw a side effect of Geodon? I've been noticing tonight that I've been holding my jaw rather tightly all night.
Anarchy and Peace |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 08/04/2009 : 02:41:23
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so I finally got to sleep at 8:00am and slept through till 2:00pm I forgot to take my pills until five and then fell asleep again until 9:00pm my body clock is fu*ked up!
Anarchy and Peace |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 08/05/2009 : 11:26:24
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moved up to my full dose last night. And I'm sleeping better, and earlier.
a word or two about dreams.
I've always had an active dream life but this drug has made it stranger. yesterday morning I had this dream that I was playing my synth late at night and there was the sound od someone outside so I shouted at them then these hands grabbed the sides of the window and lifted it up and while the window was being lifted up in my dream my eyes were opening in real life it was very starteling both to myself and my wife who could hear me shouting from the shock of it in the next room.
I've had other strange dreams lately but that one's the strangest.
Anarchy and Peace |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 08/06/2009 : 00:05:07
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up early but didn't do much. I went down town and when I came home I went back to bed. meh. I hope I have more energy tomorrow
Anarchy and Peace |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 08/07/2009 : 01:17:18
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I think I'm getting used to earlier mornings, my tongue is still doing things without my intending it to but it's very slight now, not like when I started this. I'm expecting another all nighter when I cut my Seroquel dose again I'll probably go for a long bike ride or watch a movie. I have to find a way to plug headphones into my TV so as not to wake up the wife. I could always watch movies on teh intartubes. Today was the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, the 8th it's Nagasaki Day. That has nothing to do with my meds but I think I ought to mention it because someone should.
Anarchy and Peace |
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| Chris
Amazing Member (1000+ posts)
1773 Posts
Gratitude: 268
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Posted - 08/07/2009 : 01:18:58
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I'll be wrapping up this thread on Monday because the transition seems to be going well and my doctor will be back I think this has served it's purpose.
Anarchy and Peace |
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Legend of Zeldox
