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Is Latuda more sedating at higher doses?


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I see pdoc tomorrow to see if I should be taken off Latuda because it's causing me akathisia and hypomania at 20 mg but if at higher doses it gets sedating that would be great. Latuda has been great for my depression and clearing my mind. I really hate that it's making me feel awful side effect wise now.

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I found that increasing the dosage - from 20mg to 40mg - increased both the activation AND the sedation effects. The activation bothers me enough that I went back down to 20mg. I've found I need 1mg ativan a few hours before bedtime to help with sleep issues.

 

For me the activation effect feels like:

- It was hard to fall asleep for the first month. The ativan helped. That's mostly better now.

- I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night for hours - especially if I forget my ativan. Never used to happen.

- I sleep less, sometimes just 6 or 7 hours, and can't just roll over and get back to sleep like usual.

- It increases my energy during the day to do stuff, but it usually feels kind of jittery and irritable, not smooth and positive.

 

The sedation effect increased slowly, after about a month. It feels like:

- During the day I feel kind of stupefied, kind of like I did on Zyprexa, but not blissed out and pleasant. My mind is quieter, which is nice.

- I usually feel sleepy a few hours after I take it and I can sometimes doze off early. (But if I forget the ativan I'll probably wake up in the middle of the night)

 

So based on my experience I'd say if you want sedation wait a month or a month and a half for that to kick in. Increasing the dose increases the sedation but, for me, it also kicks up the activation. Hope that helps.

 

I wish I could still be on Zyprexa. It didn't fix my depression but I felt pretty good on it. Unfortunately, I gained 30 pounds and it messed up my lipids. I've been able to lose weight on Latuda. It doesn't fix my depression, but it does make it easier to bear. I'm still isolating and somewhat negative, but I have enough energy to get up and function. So it's not great for me, but it's ok.  I tried Seroquel (the dry eyes and mouth were unbearable), Abilify (hot flashes and muscle aches), and Geodon (mixed states) but those didn't work. So Latuda is the best there is for me, I guess.

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