Latuda Experiences

[IcePrincess88]

I'd like to know everyone's experience with Latuda. I was very hesitant to even try Latuda and switch off my staple Seroquel XR. Considering I've gained 40 pounds in this year alone, my weight was a major contributing factor to the switch. I've never been on it before, but my best friend said it was the best Bipolar medications she's ever been on. Thoughts?? Experiences??

[carlossong]

1 hour ago, IcePrincess88 said:

I'd like to know everyone's experience with Latuda. I was very hesitant to even try Latuda and switch off my staple Seroquel XR. Considering I've gained 40 pounds in this year alone, my weight was a major contributing factor to the switch. I've never been on it before, but my best friend said it was the best Bipolar medications she's ever been on. Thoughts?? Experiences??

I took Latuda for at least 6+ months. I take it in the morning and at bedtime. They say you have to eat 350> calories with the med for proper absortion. 

When I took seroquel I gained like 90 pounds. After I changed to Latuda I was able to lose weight again. Made me a happier person. I hope it works for you.

[IcePrincess88]

9 minutes ago, carlossong said:

I took Latuda for at least 6+ months. I take it in the morning and at bedtime. They say you have to eat 350> calories with the med for proper absortion. 

When I took seroquel I gained like 90 pounds. After I changed to Latuda I was able to lose weight again. Made me a happier person. I hope it works for you.

It sounds hopeful!! She asked about Abilify first, but I have taken that before and it made me really drowsy during the day. My pharmacy won't have the Latuda until Monday sadly. I'm prescribed to take it in the morning, but I could switch it to bedtime if it makes me drowsy during the day. Does it make you sleepy? I'm weaning off the Seroquel XR and slowly increase the Latuda. The current dose, I believe(I could be wrong), i around 20mgs. Of course I can't start it until Monday. I really need to lose the weight and be happy would be awesome too. I'm on Wellbutrin too, but I didn't experience the amazing experience most people experienced. Whats the normal dosages? If anyone know.

[Wonderful.Cheese]

I took 140 mg for SZA bipolar. It did help the psychosis a small bit but did nothing for mania for me. I found myself full blown manic unfortunately, and was put IP after nearly 2 years free from IP. 

I took it along with abilify as a second AAP, if that matters. 

I get sick of seroquel side effects too. In fact I just inquired about trying to get off it and try zyprexa prn. But pdoc didn't want to change anything and I changed my mind anyway.

But I just can't risk going off it because I get manic too easily. 

Good luck with it. Ymmv of course. So I hope it turns out to be a great med for you. 

[AnnaBanana]

I am on Latuda 60mgs. I have been on it for 3 or 4 years now. I started out of 40mgs, and after a year went to 60mgs, I've been on it every since. I'm bipolar II, leaning more towards depression. I take 60mg Latuda and 200mg Lamictal. The Latuda makes me sleepy, so I take mine at night with dinner. When I first started taking it, it IMMEDIATELY made  me sleepy and I absolutely had to take it at bedtime, but now it takes a while for the sleepy to kick in, so I take it with dinner. For me, it's not as sedating as Seroquel, it just makes me sleepy enough to actually go to sleep. I can power through it if I have a need too, so it won't like knock you out for the night or anything. As far as weight, I haven't gained and have actually lost weight, but I went through a period of really trying. I lost about 26lbs. I gained 45lbs on seroquel. I could probably lose more, but I have so much going on, it's hard to find the time to exercise. I intend to do something about that soon. Me and a friend were on it at the same time and we both had horrible heartburn. I had horrible heartburn before Latuda so I'm not sure I can blame it solely on the drug, but I have to take prilosec to keep mine in check and she had to switch drugs because it wasn't controlling her symptoms and she said that as soon as she quit, her heartburn went away. It has a strong possibility of causing some type of gastro system upset, so that could be the Latuda or not. I also have high blood sugar, and there is absolutely no history of diabetes in my family. NONE, but I did have gestational diabetes when I was pregnant and they said if I didn't watch my weight it could turn into type II diabetes. THEN I went on seroquel and gained all that weight. Even though I've lost weight, I'm still probably 30lbs over weight. So, again that could be the drug, or it could be nature. Right now I take 750mg of Metformin once a day and it pretty much keeps in in control, so it's not something I'm overly concerned with right now. But overall, I love love love Latuda.

[IcePrincess88]

3 hours ago, AnnaBanana said:

I am on Latuda 60mgs. I have been on it for 3 or 4 years now. I started out of 40mgs, and after a year went to 60mgs, I've been on it every since. I'm bipolar II, leaning more towards depression. I take 60mg Latuda and 200mg Lamictal. The Latuda makes me sleepy, so I take mine at night with dinner. When I first started taking it, it IMMEDIATELY made  me sleepy and I absolutely had to take it at bedtime, but now it takes a while for the sleepy to kick in, so I take it with dinner. For me, it's not as sedating as Seroquel, it just makes me sleepy enough to actually go to sleep. I can power through it if I have a need too, so it won't like knock you out for the night or anything. As far as weight, I haven't gained and have actually lost weight, but I went through a period of really trying. I lost about 26lbs. I gained 45lbs on seroquel. I could probably lose more, but I have so much going on, it's hard to find the time to exercise. I intend to do something about that soon. Me and a friend were on it at the same time and we both had horrible heartburn. I had horrible heartburn before Latuda so I'm not sure I can blame it solely on the drug, but I have to take prilosec to keep mine in check and she had to switch drugs because it wasn't controlling her symptoms and she said that as soon as she quit, her heartburn went away. It has a strong possibility of causing some type of gastro system upset, so that could be the Latuda or not. I also have high blood sugar, and there is absolutely no history of diabetes in my family. NONE, but I did have gestational diabetes when I was pregnant and they said if I didn't watch my weight it could turn into type II diabetes. THEN I went on seroquel and gained all that weight. Even though I've lost weight, I'm still probably 30lbs over weight. So, again that could be the drug, or it could be nature. Right now I take 750mg of Metformin once a day and it pretty much keeps in in control, so it's not something I'm overly concerned with right now. But overall, I love love love Latuda.

I gained 40 pounds alone this year from switching from immediate release Seroquel to 400mgs of Seroquel XR. Odd, because I've heard Seroquel XR doesn't make you as hungry as the regular kind. I was on 50mgs of the immediate release Seroquel, but it got upped to 150. I can't tell you how embarrassing or horrible it was to be taken off my go-to medicine because they "don't want my weight to get any higher". And "how weight as high as mine can effect your heart". I would love to lose the weight, but I've never heard of someone being taken off a medication because they're essentially too fat. I'm worried about the making me sleepy thing. I'm going to try it in the morning, but I have a feeling I'll be switching it to night-time. I also found it odd that she kept me on 300mgs of Wellbutrin XL and added Latuda along with everything else I'm on, I can't wait to see how it is. I've heard pretty good things. But then again, I heard great things about Wellbutrin too and it's just kinda like meh to me.

[crtclms]

I was on Latuda for about 10 mo, until I had to stop it because we couldn't afford it. I was on 80 mg. I agree that it is the best med I have been on, and am still pissed, and sometimes cry, because I can't be on it anymore, and since I quit, I've become depressed.

But I loved it. When my husband goes back to work (he's on SSDI as well, but his condition is corrected), I'm hoping his insurance will cover it.

[San]

I was on latuda 120mg for a few months and it didn't help my psychosis much (seroquel is pretty much the only AAP that will, in high doses) and I had akathasia from hell about 1/2 hour after taking it.. I generally took it around 5-6pm with supper and literally couldn't function after from the akathasia.

[AnnaBanana]

I don't know if you've been told, but it has to be taken with at least 350 calories. That's why I take mine with dinner, but 350 calories is not all that hard to reach, but I hated eating late at night just so I could take my meds. But I didn't gain any weight from it. I was on Seroquel XR. I didn't have cravings, I didn't eat any differently at all. Well, I actually probably ate less than normal because it so completely knocked me out that I was basically nonfunctional for 15 hours a day, that's why we took me off of it. I would sleep 12-13 hours and then be so very groggy when I did wake up that it would literally be like 3 hours before I felt awake. And it did nothing for my mental symptoms. But I gave it 4 months effort anyway.

[IcePrincess88]

15 hours ago, AnnaBanana said:

I don't know if you've been told, but it has to be taken with at least 350 calories. That's why I take mine with dinner, but 350 calories is not all that hard to reach, but I hated eating late at night just so I could take my meds. But I didn't gain any weight from it. I was on Seroquel XR. I didn't have cravings, I didn't eat any differently at all. Well, I actually probably ate less than normal because it so completely knocked me out that I was basically nonfunctional for 15 hours a day, that's why we took me off of it. I would sleep 12-13 hours and then be so very groggy when I did wake up that it would literally be like 3 hours before I felt awake. And it did nothing for my mental symptoms. But I gave it 4 months effort anyway.

Wait, so Latuda knocked you our and Seroquel XR didnt? My pdoc is gradually decreasing the Seroquel XR and increasing the Latuda. I took it for the first time today like an hour or two ago. I ate 3 giant cookies, so I basically doubled the calorie requirements. It does seem kind of odd to me that you have to eat so much just to take some medicine. I was told to not eat with my Seroquel XR an hour before or after taking it. Of course, I never followed that because I'm basically eating all day nonstop. I'm starting on 20mgs of Latuda. I really hppe it doesn't make me drowsy, but that was one of the warnings on the bottle. The only reason she wants me to try to take it during the day is because I take ALOT of medication at night. Seroquel XR, Amitriptyline, regular Seroquel, Xanax for psych and for pain: Norco and Robaxin.

 

 

[IcePrincess88]

By the way..... I just picked up my prescription today. And holy shit!! $1,095.99 for a 1 month supply of 20mg Latuda?!? This is robbery. Thank god for Medicaid

[inmyhead]

18 hours ago, IcePrincess88 said:

By the way..... I just picked up my prescription today. And holy shit!! $1,095.99 for a 1 month supply of 20mg Latuda?!? This is robbery. Thank god for Medicaid

Yeah. I don't have insurance. Last year I spent over 20k on rx. 

[Emily1684]

I'm pretty much going through the same thing as you right now. I switched from Abilify to Latuda about a week ago. Well I'm in the process--still on a low dose of Abilify and will begin to taper off of that in a few weeks as long as all goes well with the Latuda. I'm not BP but have treatment resistant depression, so I take an AAP with my 20 mg of Lexapro. Anyway, I was put on Abilify after the birth of my first child. I had been severely depressed and anxious throughout pregnancy (and periodically throughout my whole life). The Abilify was literally a miracle. I finally understood what "typical" people feel like and I realized how sick I had been my whole life. 

But of course nothing comes for free. Along with my newfound happiness came 30-40 pounds which have crept on in the past couple years. Since the birth of my 2nd kid 4 months ago I have been serious about losing weight. I've been doing an hour of seriously hard sweaty cardio 3-4 days a week, plus heavy lifting 2-3 days a week. I track every damn calorie i put in my mouth and have limited carbs and sugar. In two months of hard work I haven't lost an ounce. It's REALLY hard to stay motivated when you're not seeing any progress. My dr is great and took my concern seriously. She switched me to Latuda to see if that would make a difference. 

So now I'm just waiting. I'm starting at a really low dose, 10 mg. because i'm pretty sensitive to a low dose of AAP's (Abilify was effective for me at only 1.5 mg). I'm going up to 20 mg tonight. The only side effect that I've had has been a couple nights of restless leg syndrome, which is pretty horrible. I'm hoping that I adjust to the med and it goes away or I can get another med to treat it. 

Please keep this thread updated with your progress. It seems like 1/2 the stories I read people lose weight and 1/2 gain weight. I have all my hopes riding on this.

[IcePrincess88]

52 minutes ago, Emily1684 said:

I'm pretty much going through the same thing as you right now. I switched from Abilify to Latuda about a week ago. Well I'm in the process--still on a low dose of Abilify and will begin to taper off of that in a few weeks as long as all goes well with the Latuda. I'm not BP but have treatment resistant depression, so I take an AAP with my 20 mg of Lexapro. Anyway, I was put on Abilify after the birth of my first child. I had been severely depressed and anxious throughout pregnancy (and periodically throughout my whole life). The Abilify was literally a miracle. I finally understood what "typical" people feel like and I realized how sick I had been my whole life. 

But of course nothing comes for free. Along with my newfound happiness came 30-40 pounds which have crept on in the past couple years. Since the birth of my 2nd kid 4 months ago I have been serious about losing weight. I've been doing an hour of seriously hard sweaty cardio 3-4 days a week, plus heavy lifting 2-3 days a week. I track every damn calorie i put in my mouth and have limited carbs and sugar. In two months of hard work I haven't lost an ounce. It's REALLY hard to stay motivated when you're not seeing any progress. My dr is great and took my concern seriously. She switched me to Latuda to see if that would make a difference. 

So now I'm just waiting. I'm starting at a really low dose, 10 mg. because i'm pretty sensitive to a low dose of AAP's (Abilify was effective for me at only 1.5 mg). I'm going up to 20 mg tonight. The only side effect that I've had has been a couple nights of restless leg syndrome, which is pretty horrible. I'm hoping that I adjust to the med and it goes away or I can get another med to treat it. 

Please keep this thread updated with your progress. It seems like 1/2 the stories I read people lose weight and 1/2 gain weight. I have all my hopes riding on this.

Your story sounds very similar to mine! Except I tried Abilify years ago, but it made me way too sleepy during the day. Anyway, to the weight thing. I got really hardcore about losing weight a couple months ago. I mean I literally only ate like 2 apples, and 2 yogurts a day in combination with walking everyday. I didn't weigh myself during any of that time because I didn't want to get discouraged. Fast forward two weeks, and I finally got up the courage to weigh myself. I just KNEW I had lost at least 10 pounds. Boy was I wrong! I actually gained 3 pounds! How?!?! But the regular Seroquel I take at night, mainly just for sleep purposes, makes me soooo hungry. Every time I get up to use the bathroom throughout the night, I will eat like bowl of cereal or more before going back to sleep. I could chalk it up to not taking my thyroid medicine, but this Seroquel weight just seems IMPOSSIBLE to lose!  

[Emily1684]

I have noticed that I'm thinking about food less. I'm not snacking as much because I just don't think about it. Not sure if it's a coincidence or not. But like you said, you can practically starve yourself and still gain weight on these meds, ugh. 

[IcePrincess88]

42 minutes ago, Emily1684 said:

I have noticed that I'm thinking about food less. I'm not snacking as much because I just don't think about it. Not sure if it's a coincidence or not. But like you said, you can practically starve yourself and still gain weight on these meds, ugh. 

I know! It's insane!

[Anna Least]

I've been on Latuda for a while. I think about a year and a half, maybe a little less. I was on 80mg and then bumped up to 120mg. When I first started taking it, in the evening, I had some nausea which lasted into the next morning, and a few nights of twitchiness and lack of sleep combined with this awful leaden fatigue. But that resolved. Along with Wellbutrin it has helped me loose a decent amount of weight- went from a size 16 to a size 8. I have SZA and it's been very effective in stamping that down. No psychosis the whole time I've been on it. I did have one week where because of insurance bullshit I couldn't get it. I deteriorated pretty rapidly- but was better within a couple days of resuming.

I think it's a good med. It's one of the most effective meds I've been on. I kind of want to make a plushie of it to cuddle at night. That said, it's expensive as hell, and doesn't work for everybody. Good luck!

[IcePrincess88]

27 minutes ago, Anna Least said:

I've been on Latuda for a while. I think about a year and a half, maybe a little less. I was on 80mg and then bumped up to 120mg. When I first started taking it, in the evening, I had some nausea which lasted into the next morning, and a few nights of twitchiness and lack of sleep combined with this awful leaden fatigue. But that resolved. Along with Wellbutrin it has helped me loose a decent amount of weight- went from a size 16 to a size 8. I have SZA and it's been very effective in stamping that down. No psychosis the whole time I've been on it. I did have one week where because of insurance bullshit I couldn't get it. I deteriorated pretty rapidly- but was better within a couple days of resuming.

I think it's a good med. It's one of the most effective meds I've been on. I kind of want to make a plushie of it to cuddle at night. That said, it's expensive as hell, and doesn't work for everybody. Good luck!

I hear alot of people say it's a great medicine. I'm also on Wellbutrin. However, since I just started Latuda, I'm only on 20 mgs. My pdoc wants to slowly decrease my Seroquel XR and slowly increase the Latuda(mainly for weight reasons). But I do believe I was in some kind of psychosis yesterday. And yes, it's RIDICULOUSLY expensive. $1095.99 for a month's supply of 20mgs. 

[AnnaBanana]

I wonder why yours is so expensive? Mine is $900 for a month of 60mg

[IcePrincess88]

21 minutes ago, AnnaBanana said:

I wonder why yours is so expensive? Mine is $900 for a month of 60mg

Perhaps different pharmacies charge different prices? That's the only thing I can think of. I get mine filled at Rite-Aid.

[snarkygirl]

It may depend on dose. My 20mg is more expensive than my 120mg. I don't have the paperwork handy but I remember thinking it was weird the lower dose cost more.

[IcePrincess88]

1 hour ago, snarkygirl said:

It may depend on dose. My 20mg is more expensive than my 120mg. I don't have the paperwork handy but I remember thinking it was weird the lower dose cost more.

That is odd. If you don't mind me asking, what dose did you start on? And how long did it take to get worked up to your current dosage?

[IcePrincess88]

http://www.goodrx.com/latuda?form=tablet&dosage=20mg&quantity=30&days_supply=&label_override=Latuda

Found a good pricing website. And of course, with my luck, Rite-Aid charges the most for it!

[AnnaBanana]

Yeah, I get mine filled at Kroger. I started out on 40mg and stayed on it a year. I then went up to 60mgs, but now looking back, it would have probably been better to stay at 40mg and just increase my lamictal. I was suffering from low grade depression and we increased the Latuda. I've noticed much more instant and better response to depression by raising the lamictal. Oh well.  The combo works and has for years, so no complaints.

[snarkygirl]

Hmmm... I can't remember how long it took to work up to 140mg. I see my pdoc monthly and if I recall we were bumping up a little every 4 to 8 weeks. My depression was very stubborn and she wanted to try going to 140mg. It did seem to overall make a big difference in my symptoms. Though now my depression is returning a bit. I like Latuda though. It pulled me from a bad depression.

[Emily1684]

Well I've been on Latuda for maybe 3 weeks and I've gained 3 lbs. It may be from the holidays though--I haven't been as strict with my diet. Anyone who has lost weight on it before, how long did it take to start? I'm going to give it 3 months of hard work before I consider other options.

[IcePrincess88]

1 hour ago, Emily1684 said:

Well I've been on Latuda for maybe 3 weeks and I've gained 3 lbs. It may be from the holidays though--I haven't been as strict with my diet. Anyone who has lost weight on it before, how long did it take to start? I'm going to give it 3 months of hard work before I consider other options.

When I started taking Topamax, which I learned from here can act as some kind of mood stabilizer, I as taking it for pain and migraine prevention. It made me not hungry at all. Along with diet and exercise I lost 30 pounds. However, after stopping Topamax, I gained back the 30 pounds with 10 extra pounds added to that.

[Emily1684]

7 hours ago, IcePrincess88 said:

When I started taking Topamax, which I learned from here can act as some kind of mood stabilizer, I as taking it for pain and migraine prevention. It made me not hungry at all. Along with diet and exercise I lost 30 pounds. However, after stopping Topamax, I gained back the 30 pounds with 10 extra pounds added to that.

My dr considered topamax for me to help me get a handle on the weight but she said it makes you "dopey". Did you notice that or any side effects?

[snarkygirl]

Topamax made me dumber than a box of rocks for a long time. That's just my experience though. I take it as a last ditch effort for mood stabilization. It helps my ragey anger symptoms a lot. The side effects have lessened with time but I still forget words all the time. I also had really tingly hands and feet for a while but that went away.

I lost weight on it. I've slowly gained what I initially lost back though. I don't really exercise much. I think I could lose more if I tried. It really isn't my favorite med. It makes food seem unappetizing to me and soda taste weird. Some people have good luck losing weight on it. Your doctor is right though. Be prepared for a possible case of the stupids if you take it. It's nickname  is dopamax for a reason.

 

 

 

 

[IcePrincess88]

1 hour ago, Emily1684 said:

My dr considered topamax for me to help me get a handle on the weight but she said it makes you "dopey". Did you notice that or any side effects?

I can't blame the Topamax, but some people call it "Dopamax". I have horrible memory and bad word recall. However, I no longer take it. I attribute it to 10+ years of being on various psych meds, and about 4 years of pain meds.

[in_media_res]

37 minutes ago, IcePrincess88 said:

I can't blame the Topamax, but some people call it "Dopamax". I have horrible memory and bad word recall. However, I no longer take it. I attribute it to 10+ years of being on various psych meds, and about 4 years of pain meds.

Can't help with the Latuda, but given the discussion of topamax... 

I've been titrating up on topamax for around a month. At 100 mg. It's not much of a mood stabilizer for me...my symptoms (depression, paranoia, anger, etc.) are worse. I've become quite lethargic and apathetic a lot of the times. So not much of a mood stabilizer. The cognitive issues are mostly around word recall -- I lose words (I'm primarily a writer. It's a problem) and I forget peoples names (including individuals I've worked with for years). I'm not a fan, but I haven't met a med yet that's worth a damn, so not especially surprising.

Oh...I've gained about 4-5 pounds, which I'm sure makes me about the only person in the world whose gained weight on topamax.

As always, your mileage may vary. Hopefully.

[Emily1684]

Well I went to pick up my first bottle of Latuda for the year (my last one was post deductible) and its $1000. I simply cannot afford it. And we don't qualify for any aid from the company. I'm pretty devastated because I had actually lost a few pounds and it was working. Back to the drawing board...

[Emily1684]

I've been off Latuda for four days and I'm feeling significantly better. So odd! And I haven't even increased the abilify. These meds are so confusing.