Loxapine

[Arj72]

After several failures, I have returned to Zyprexa as my AAP.  Zyprexa works, for the most part, but it makes me super hungry and I have a family history rich in diabetes 2.  In short, I'd like to avoid that.  However, it seems that the other AAP's kind of hate me.  I've tried all the other Seroquel (agitation at therapeutic doses), Risperdal (agitation), Vraylar (agitation and insomnia), Abilify (agitation, insomnia and akathisia), Saphris (depression worse), Rexulti (agitation and insomnia), and Latuda (agitation and panic).  I fall back to Zyprexa every time because it doesn't seem to cause those problems.  Problem is, it doesn't solve all my problems (still mildly agitated and mildly depressed) either and this is with the risk of weight gain and other metabolic nasties.

I'm trying to target agitation, weight gain and low mood.  Current rx's are Lamictal 150mg, Lithium 900mg and Zyprexa 10mg.  I'm still pretty agitated, and while I wouldn't call myself depressed, I'm not happy either.  Who knows, maybe getting rid of the agitation might make me a little happier.

Any way, the root of this post is this: how well does Loxapine treat agitation symptoms, and seeing as its metabolite is Amoxapine, does it have any benefit to mood as well? Has there been any weight issues associated with it? Are you able to get away with once a day dosing?  My agitation is the worst in the morning and am hoping with an evening dose I can get some good deep sleep and maybe wake up in a better mood.

I have a message in with my pdoc right now about increasing my Lamictal, but I want to also have a suggestion for a new AP as well for the agitation.

Thanks in advance.

Forgot to add @jarn I seem to remember you being on it.

Edited February 24, 2020 by Arj72

[Iceberg]

26 minutes ago, Arj72 said:

After several failures, I have returned to Zyprexa as my AAP.  Zyprexa works, for the most part, but it makes me super hungry and I have a family history rich in diabetes 2.  In short, I'd like to avoid that.  However, it seems that the other AAP's kind of hate me.  I've tried all the other Seroquel (agitation at therapeutic doses), Risperdal (agitation), Vraylar (agitation and insomnia), Abilify (agitation, insomnia and akathisia), Saphris (depression worse), Rexulti (agitation and insomnia), and Latuda (agitation and panic).  I fall back to Zyprexa every time because it doesn't seem to cause those problems.  Problem is, it doesn't solve all my problems (still mildly agitated and mildly depressed) either and this is with the risk of weight gain and other metabolic nasties.

I'm trying to target agitation, weight gain and low mood.  Current rx's are Lamictal 150mg, Lithium 900mg and Zyprexa 10mg.  I'm still pretty agitated, and while I wouldn't call myself depressed, I'm not happy either.  Who knows, maybe getting rid of the agitation might make me a little happier.

Any way, the root of this post is this: how well does Loxapine treat agitation symptoms, and seeing as its metabolite is Amoxapine, does it have any benefit to mood as well? Has there been any weight issues associated with it? Are you able to get away with once a day dosing?  My agitation is the worst in the morning and am hoping with an evening dose I can get some good deep sleep and maybe wake up in a better mood.

I have a message in with my pdoc right now about increasing my Lamictal, but I want to also have a suggestion for a new AP as well for the agitation.

Thanks in advance.

Forgot to add @jarn I seem to remember you being on it.

Have you tried any other typicals? 

[Arj72]

12 minutes ago, Iceberg said:

Have you tried any other typicals? 

Perphenzine a long time ago.  Can't remember what it was like.  It was prior to my bipolar dx and was on an AD at the time, so my results at that time would be unreliable any way.

[jarn]

I am currently going off of loxapine (I expect I'll go off it entirely) and onto zyprexa.  But, with that said - loxapine has worked the best for me out of any antipyschotic I've ever taken in terms of long-term stability.  And it worked wonders for agitation.