Thinking of trying a typical antipsychotic

[Swamp56]

I'm talking hypothetically (seeing as I'm not on an antipsychotic right now, although I know my new psychiatrist will force me on one). The issue is that I've tried Seroquel, Geodon, Risperdal, and Abilify and all of them gave me horrible side effects such as anorgasmia, memory issues, sleepiness, rapid weight gain, irritability, akathesia, lack of emotions, and other things.

It's gotten to a point where I'd rather try and older typical anti-psychotic to see if they give me less side effects.

[mika]

I was almost put on Trilaphon, and this was a well known psychiatrist. She went on vacation and I was given a new pdoc. She kept me on the shit I was already on. Anyway, the pdoc that wanted to prscribe the Trilaphon said there weren't many side effects and no weight gain issue (weight gain was my biggest gripe about AAPs). Also, I had tried every AAP.

Check on that one. I was gung ho on taking it but it never happened.

[Swamp56]

Ya, I was talking about it with my therapist - she's seen what all the meds did. She kept talking about how bipolar people were put a certain med (forget name) to counterbalance the weight issue as well. The only typical antipsychotic I won't try is Thorazine (for obvious reasons, no?).

[gizmo]

Your therapist might be talking about topamax - an anticonvulsant. It got some attention when some patients said they weren't feeling as hungry and lost some weight on it. But buyer beware... Taking an AC just to hopefully get this not common side effect is like shooting goldfish with a shotgun.

I take topamax. Have for more than 3 years. Though I take it for migraine prevention. It works so good that you'd have to pry it from my cold dead hands to get me to stop taking it. But at no time did I ever feel less hungry... well, I take that back. I lost 35 pounds by eating smaller portions of home cooked foods and skipping lunch about 6 months ago, but that was a combo of Geodon and topamax. Take away the Geodon and add zyprexa, and I've gained 6 lbs. since starting. I figure with zyprexa, 6 lbs in 6 months isn't too bad, considering the damn drug gives me an insatiable, unending appetite for bacon. If I could lose the bacon sandwich every day (yes, I've tried turkey bacon, it is NOT the same) I would likely lose the weight.

But anyway, the topamax really messes with my short term memory (my best friend told me she broke her toe and I forgot and asked her three days later why she was limping) and gave me aphasia (um, um, um, chair!) that has slowly gotten better, but still pops up several times a week.

Maybe you have no side effects and lose tons of weight. Great! It's just always best to know what you're diving into. Good luck.

[blackbird]

Im on a typical and an atypical - Zyprexa and Haldol

Zyprexa made me put on 60 lbs but Ive lost them all now largely through having anorexia.

Haldol is a good high potency drug which I can testify works very well. It doesnt make you sleepy or put on weight. You might get akathesia and restlessness but they gave me procyclidine to combat that. Haldol is very good for controlling bipolar and psychosis.

Chlorpromazine gave me tachycardia.

I am also on Topamax for bulimia and alcoholism (off label recommendations). I would not recommend anyone to go on a drug like Topamax to just lose weight unless there were other reasons they were taking it - ie epilepsy, migraines, mood stabilisation, or in my case extreme bulimia where I was eating everything that wasnt nailed down, spending $40 a day on cream cakes and vomiting them or alcoholism.

Topamax can have very bad consequences for your health and can mess up your cognitive abilities. Kidney stones are not fun and the weight loss is not always guaranateed. Topamax did not make me lose weight but it helped my impulse control so I wasn't bingeing and purging all the time or smuggling Smirnoff minatures home in my handbag.

For this reason - if I get drunk, I will probably kill myself as alcohol makes me vehemently suicidal - the risks of Topamax are far exceeded by the benefits.

blackbird x

[Cuttlefish]

I figure with zyprexa, 6 lbs in 6 months isn't too bad, considering the damn drug gives me an insatiable, unending appetite for bacon. If I could lose the bacon sandwich every day (yes, I've tried turkey bacon, it is NOT the same) I would likely lose the weight.

Haha, I already had a bad craving for bacon, and zyprexa made it much, much worse for me as well.

As to my input, I've only been on one typical AP, and that was Haldol. It cramped my muscles up, essentially paralyzing much of me. However, there are medications to combat that like Cogentin.