pdoc put me on invega when he knew risperidone didnt work!?!?

[crywolf2010]

got schizophrenia. tried risperidone. didnt work. then tried zyprexa. worked but had massive weight gain. was stopped. then as soon as invega hit the market my pdoc put me on it. was on it for a couple of months. didnt do a damn thing. after doing some research on invega i found out that its a newer fancy version of risperidone but just released differently. they are the same drug?!?! right? so why did my pdoc put me on it if he knew risperidone didnt work?obviously if they are the same drug if one didnt work the other wouldnt either? right?

[DarkendHour]

They are not the same exact medication but they are similar. My pdoc switched me between the two a few times. Pdoc ended up taking me off both of them because the dose I needed to be on was too high for her (and I'm assuming my) comfort.

I hope you find a medication that works well for you soon.

[vanderk]

You'll really need to ask your doc about this. Invega is to Risperdal as Pristiq is to Effexor. It's the active metabolite. The biggest advertised advantage to Invega is that it's easier on the gut. I have seen people do better on Consta vs oral risperidone, though.

And if you did well with Zyprexa but had to quit because of weight gain, you might ask if Zydis is available to you. The weight gain with this version seems to be much less of an issue. It's just insanely expensive.

[CrazyCatLady]

You should just ask your pdoc, s/he will be able to tell you whey they chose to do that. I just switched to Invega from Risperdal, but it was because Risperdal was too sedating for me when i tried to increase my dosage. Invega is working better for me than Risperdal did, but I think that just has to do with being on a more effective dose.

Like Vanderk said, maybe you should ask your pdoc to consider Zydis. My pdoc gave it to me (PRN) and said that people typically don't have the major weight gain issues on it. If you have insurance, it might not cost too much. My insurance covered it.