ehygon Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 so I've been around the block with the atypical antipsychotics, minus clozapine and abilify (ab is not available in canada, i don't think). anyway, i'm on 80mg of ziprasidone (called zeldox in canada), and i take it in 2 doses, 40mg at a time. anyway, i have posted twice now, at different times, about my crawly feeling hallucination (i remember silver trying to find me some information about it, <3). anyway, its back. i get about 5 hours relief from the geodon, so i spend a significant amount of my day trying not to claw my skin off. i have to delay taking my meds at night really late, so that it will be working when i try to sleep, so i can get some damn peace. anyway, there's no question my dose is going to go up, I'm just curious... I know geodon has like 60% bioavailability when you take it orally. I am wondering, seeing as how it has a mega short halflife, would it be better to take say 40 mg three times a day, or 60 mg twice a day? basically, this is a math question, and I suck at math (i failed it in uni 3 times, passed the last time with a 55% and was ecstatic, i'm THAT bad), so I was hoping someone could explain which sounds like a better plan? I don't want to go to the doctor on thursday, and then have to call him on monday because shit ain't working out. I am not dealing with this crawling feeling if i don't have to. and honestly, while I like my dr, hes a very nice man, he doesn't seem to know much about the shit he's giving me. he even said when he gave me the sample bottles "this is a drug I do not use" (no explanation given). i started lamictal at 75mg/day, for example (not that I'm terrified of "the rash", i can think of worse things, like suicidal depression, LOL.) he is usually open to my suggestions though, and asking for a particular dosing regime of an antipsychotic probably won't put him off. halp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nalgas Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 I know not so much about ziprasidone (e.g. I would not be one to know if there's some special reason you should not take it more often), but I have always had better luck with taking a smaller amount more often with meds with a short half-life than taking a larger amount but spread out more. My current/most recent example of that is with Keppra. I started out taking it twice a day, just like your ziprasidone, and I could feel it starting to wear off after five or six hours, also just like your situation. What ended up working out best for me was not just taking more twice a day but to take it four times a day instead, so it covers the whole day. That's fairly inconvenient for a lot of people, or they can't remember to, but when it's practical, I'm almost always in favor of splitting up doses of things that you want a consistent level of in your system instead of just raising the amount you take so there's still enough left at the end of the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmo Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 I take geodon, and I must stress the most basic (and most important part) of taking geodon: take with food. It works *much, much* better with food. As for dosage, I take 80 mg at night, and I can't wake up the next day, despite taking it at 7pm. It's supposed to be activating. Go figure. (And no, it's not the zyprexa that's making me tired, I started this crap before I started the Z.) If taking 4 sets of 20 mg capsules during the day helps, go for it! The half-life is only 7 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Velvet Elvis Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 and by "with food" it doesn't mean a glass of milk or a handfull of chips. It means a full meal. If you don't eat a full meal three times a day, take it twice a day. I think I only took it once a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehygon Posted May 4, 2009 Author Share Posted May 4, 2009 thank you for your reply nalgas. even though my experience is with an AP and yours is an AC, i appreciate your understanding of my situation. gizmo, i appreciate the food tip, but i do that already, and it still doesnt last long. i have had this crawling feeling problem for the past like... 5 years. it went away on zyprexa, but you KNOW that fucker packed on the pounds like nothing else, so they want me off it. the other option i had was going on seroquel, but i remember being famished all the time when i was on it before, but that was a low dose, short time, so it might fade.. i dunno. I'd rather not gain any more weight, because i have body image problems/food problems as it is, so i said no to seroquel when he gave me the choice. thank you for trying though Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnneMarie Posted May 4, 2009 Share Posted May 4, 2009 I had to take Geodon three times a day. Otherwise, I had something like withdrawal symptoms. Heh, the symptoms you are trying treat sound like the skin crawls I got from the med. It was a weird med for me, much better at high doses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehygon Posted May 4, 2009 Author Share Posted May 4, 2009 Update: I got the skin crawlies so bad last night, i just tried to burm them off with a scalding hot shower. that didnt work so i got my sister to drive me to the hospital. I got admitted to one of those crazy person rooms, aka a windowless, closet-sized room with 2 chairs and a garbage bucket. I sat in there for about 6 and a half hours, and finally the doctor came in. her suggestion; call your shrink. i told her, i can't do that, i feel too bad for other people who might need to get in more urgently than me. she says "thats what we feel is the best option for you. there's nothing else we can do." I got released this morning, still covered in the feeling. I had 3 hours rest, which was my only reprieve. I feel absolutely hopeless (to drudge up old terminology, whale shit on the bottom of the ocean). I graduate officially with a bachelor of arts on may 26th. I pray to god I get some money, so i can get a plane ticket, get the hell away from this place, and die a homeless person on the streets of some big city. I just want the world to forget i existed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tryp Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 I'm sorry, Ehygon. Please do call your shrink. It's what they're there for. If you need 'em, you need 'em - let them worry about all the other people who also need them. This one time, I made my shrink spend her lunch hour dealing with my emergency. I felt guilty as hell afterwards, but it was what I needed and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmo Posted May 5, 2009 Share Posted May 5, 2009 Well congrats on the BA, that's really a great accomplishment. I got a GED because I was too wound up tightly to finish high school, but am quite proud of my "high honors" Associates degree. I'm so sorry you ran into a useless ER. They couldn't even pump you full of haldol or something? I went to an ER once in a manic state when my pdoc was incommunicado and they pumped me full of haldol, ativan, and benadryl. They said it would make me sleep. It didn't, but I did leave there more "grounded" than when I got there. The only advice I can give you is try again. You have to keep trying, don't give up. I may not be in the same weight class as you, but I've tried med combos for four years, and somehow I ended up on *two* AAP's. Go figure. If it works, that will be good, but it's only been three months. As long as you keep trying, you never know what's just around the corner. I wish you the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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