Sick of Vraylar side effects

[PingWire]

I'm looking to switch from Vraylar to an antipsychotic that has less of the listed side effects. Any help would be appreciated.

I was switched from 10mg Abilify to 3mg Vraylar to reduce intrusive thoughts. It has helped somewhat with the intrusive thoughts but I am sick of the side effects.

I was originally given Abilify for anxiety alone (total overkill). I have never had hallucinations or delusions.

Side Effects:

1. Akathisia. When I started Vraylar, I had akathisia which included restless leg syndrome. The RLS is gone but I still have restlessness and take 10mg of propranolol with the Vraylar daily. I never took anything for akathisia (if I had it) while on Abilify.
2. Weight gain. At one point I weighed 260 lbs. Now I weigh 245 but that is because I'm not eating much. My appetite sucks due to depression. I weighed 238 on Abilify. Before taking antipsychotics I was very fit and weighed 215 at 6'2". I have not had a real workout high for 11 years due to antipsychotics.
3. Prolactin levels. I have had gynecomastia which got worse with Vraylar. I have occasionally heard people talk about my problem at the gym. Not cool.

 

In the past I was able to switch from Abilify to 2mg of perphenazine. I was put back on Abilify due to a "nervous breakdown".

I would like to be back on 2mg perphenazine, to be but I don't know if I can get back there. Vraylar seems to be a very strong drug.

Geodon (ziprasidone) knocked me out for 18hours.

 

 

On another note:

The Vraylar was prescribed under the "care" of a nurse practitioner. There was a psychiatrist at the location whom I almost never saw. It appears that the nurse was one of the psychiatrist's pawns.

According to this website https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars , the psychiatrist received nearly $80,000 for prescribing Abilify within two years time.

In the following years, the psychiatrist received other money, mostly for prescribing Rexulti and Vraylar. I was on Rexulti briefly.

I often saw pharmaceutical representatives at the location, usually delivering free food. One time I overheard a rep say "I really like the way it makes me feel".

I don't go there anymore.

 

Edited August 1, 2020 by PingWire

[CeremonyNewOrder]

what about trying just an antidepressant?

[Iceberg]

1 hour ago, PingWire said:

I'm looking to switch from Vraylar to an antipsychotic that has less of the listed side effects. Any help would be appreciated.

I was switched from 10mg Abilify to 3mg Vraylar to reduce intrusive thoughts. It has helped somewhat with the intrusive thoughts but I am sick of the side effects.

I was originally given Abilify for anxiety alone (total overkill). I have never had hallucinations or delusions.

Side Effects:

1. Akathisia. When I started Vraylar, I had akathisia which included restless leg syndrome. The RLS is gone but I still have restlessness and take 10mg of propranolol with the Vraylar daily. I never took anything for akathisia (if I had it) while on Abilify.
2. Weight gain. At one point I weighed 260 lbs. Now I weigh 245 but that is because I'm not eating much. My appetite sucks due to depression. I weighed 238 on Abilify. Before taking antipsychotics I was very fit and weighed 215 at 6'2". I have not had a real workout high for 11 years due to antipsychotics.
3. Prolactin levels. I have had gynecomastia which got worse with Vraylar. I have occasionally heard people talk about my problem at the gym. Not cool.

 

In the past I was able to switch from Abilify to 2mg of perphenazine. I was put back on Abilify due to a "nervous breakdown".

I would like to be back on 2mg perphenazine, to be but I don't know if I can get back there. Vraylar seems to be a very strong drug.

Geodon (ziprasidone) knocked me out for 18hours.

 

 

On another note:

The Vraylar was prescribed under the "care" of a nurse practitioner. There was a psychiatrist at the location whom I almost never saw. It appears that the nurse was one of the psychiatrist's pawns.

According to this website https://projects.propublica.org/docdollars , the psychiatrist received nearly $80,000 for prescribing Abilify within two years time.

In the following years, the psychiatrist received other money, mostly for prescribing Rexulti and Vraylar. I was on Rexulti briefly.

I often saw pharmaceutical representatives at the location, usually delivering free food. One time I overheard a rep say "I really like the way it makes me feel".

I don't go there anymore.

 

Ceremony has a point ... what diagnosis are you trying to treat ? As far as side effects, your going to have trouble finding a perfect answer cuz those things can happen with any AP. I have had each of those on various APs worse than I had on Vraylar. Unfortunately AP treatment sucks pretty bad and it really varies by person. I had akathisia bad on Geodon and really bad on abilify - to the point where my doc had to do standing dose Ativan so I didn’t lose my shit. Zyprexa caused both weight gain and gyneomastia, both pretty bad, rexulti is known to be bad for weight as well. Latuda wasn’t weight bad for me, but my pdocs have told me it made my restless-type symptoms worse. If you are taking them for depressive symptoms those are the typical options. 

I also took perphenazine with little side effects .... was it 2mg a day? If so you have room there if you feel u need more effect 

[Wonderful.Cheese]

I have been able to lose some weight very slowly on zyprexa and rexulti. I put on a LOT of weight on when I took seroquel for 11+ years. YMMV. 

AAP’s have been the only type of meds that have helped me. Mood stabilizers have really done nothing. I don’t know why I take it. But I guess it depends on what you are trying to treat as others have said.

And FWIW, vraylar was hell on a stick for me. And I do well on most all AAP’s. So that was very weird.  

[0112358]

For my part - I stopped Vraylar a few weeks ago for a lot of reasons - generally lack of efficacy over time and side effects. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure it's the AAP I've had the fewest side effects with.

[PingWire]

5 hours ago, CeremonyNewOrder said:

what about trying just an antidepressant?

I forgot to mention that I take 20mg Prozac and 100mg Lamictal. I've been on a slew of different antidepressants especially over the last year. However, none of them seem to help with intrusive thoughts and they seem to make me more anxious now.

I've been on the following antidepressants: Zoloft, Effexor, Lexapro, Celexa, Viibryd, Trintellix, Clomipramine, and Luvox.

I took 200mg of Zoloft for about 15 years for OCD and phobia of waste.

5 years ago, I got sick for 2.5 weeks with what seemed like a cold but was probably something worse. After the 2.5 weeks bad anxiety started and things have been much worse since. I'm doing a lot better now though.

I've read about strep throat doing this and a condition called adult P.A.N.D.A.S . In both situations, a persons immune system attacks the brain because the virus mimics human tissue. Psychiatric problems and nervous system problems can develop. They are not well known conditions.

On another note: I'm starting to feel depressed for whatever reason and probably need to go back a lower does of Zoloft or increase the Prozac.

Thanks for the input people.

[Iceberg]

2 minutes ago, PingWire said:

I forgot to mention that I take 20mg Prozac and 100mg Lamictal. I've been on a slew of different antidepressants especially over the last year. However, none of them seem to help with intrusive thoughts and they seem to make me more anxious now.

I've been on the following antidepressants: Zoloft, Effexor, Lexapro, Celexa, Viibryd, Trintellix, Clomipramine, and Luvox.

I took 200mg of Zoloft for about 15 years for OCD and phobia of waste.

5 years ago, I got sick for 2.5 weeks with what seemed like a cold but was probably something worse. After the 2.5 weeks bad anxiety started and things have been much worse since. I'm doing a lot better now though.

I've read about strep throat doing this and a condition called adult P.A.N.D.A.S . In both situations, a persons immune system attacks the brain because the virus mimics human tissue. Psychiatric problems and nervous system problems can develop. They are not well known conditions.

On another note: I'm starting to feel depressed for whatever reason and probably need to go back a lower does of Zoloft or increase the Prozac.

Thanks for the input people.

I think upping the Prozac makes good sense since it’s at a low dose before getting to complicated with changes 

[CeremonyNewOrder]

3 hours ago, PingWire said:

I forgot to mention that I take 20mg Prozac and 100mg Lamictal. I've been on a slew of different antidepressants especially over the last year. However, none of them seem to help with intrusive thoughts and they seem to make me more anxious now.

I've been on the following antidepressants: Zoloft, Effexor, Lexapro, Celexa, Viibryd, Trintellix, Clomipramine, and Luvox.

I took 200mg of Zoloft for about 15 years for OCD and phobia of waste.

5 years ago, I got sick for 2.5 weeks with what seemed like a cold but was probably something worse. After the 2.5 weeks bad anxiety started and things have been much worse since. I'm doing a lot better now though.

I've read about strep throat doing this and a condition called adult P.A.N.D.A.S . In both situations, a persons immune system attacks the brain because the virus mimics human tissue. Psychiatric problems and nervous system problems can develop. They are not well known conditions.

On another note: I'm starting to feel depressed for whatever reason and probably need to go back a lower does of Zoloft or increase the Prozac.

Thanks for the input people.

I've read low dose risperidone can be effective for treatment resistance OCD. Also have you tried therapy? I never found a med that would help my OCD but therapy has helped me a lot especially exposure therapy and mindfulness exercises. I worked one on one with my therapist and attended a OCD group two times. I still have OCD (it's impossible to completely get rid of) but it doesn't have complete control of my life anymore. 

Edited August 2, 2020 by CeremonyNewOrder

[PingWire]

12 hours ago, CeremonyNewOrder said:

I've read low dose risperidone can be effective for treatment resistance OCD. Also have you tried therapy? I never found a med that would help my OCD but therapy has helped me a lot especially exposure therapy and mindfulness exercises. I worked one on one with my therapist and attended a OCD group two times. I still have OCD (it's impossible to completely get rid of) but it doesn't have complete control of my life anymore. 

Fortunately I don't have the waste phobia anymore. Natural exposure eventually fixed that. However I still have intrusive thoughts which is a form of OCD. I haven't been able to find anyone that does actual CBT. I've lived in my area for 25 years, there are no good physicians here whatsoever.

[Iceberg]

2 hours ago, PingWire said:

Fortunately I don't have the waste phobia anymore. Natural exposure eventually fixed that. However I still have intrusive thoughts which is a form of OCD. I haven't been able to find anyone that does actual CBT. I've lived in my area for 25 years, there are no good physicians here whatsoever.

You may not need someone to do explicitly CBT in all your meeting. In my experience, if you can find a good therapist they can usually work with you to find a strategy that is helpful overall