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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Sheilac on July 18, 2016, at 12:45:01
My doc is recommending we switch Geodon to Rexulti due to side effects of Geodon.
Anyone try Rexulti? I heard it was similar to Abilify. I had weight gain on Abilify and didn't stick with it. Does Rexulti come with weight gain?
Posted by SLS on July 18, 2016, at 14:03:22
In reply to Rexulti anyone?, posted by Sheilac on July 18, 2016, at 12:45:01
I am severely ill. I have no life. It is frustrating. It is psinful. It is hard for me to survive independently. I am hard to treat. I have tried a great many drugs. I did not respond to them. I have all but run out of options. Abilify works. Abilify produces significant weight gain. I take Abilify. It is a simple decision for me to make. I am very lucky.
Reluxti is a sister drug to Abilify. Reluxti might possibly produce less akathisia than Abilify. I don't know anyone who has taken Reluxti, so I don't know how it affects body weight.
- Scott
Posted by sheilac on July 18, 2016, at 14:13:39
In reply to Re: Rexulti anyone? » Sheilac, posted by SLS on July 18, 2016, at 14:03:22
Great. Ugh! I gained weight on Abilify and stopped it because of that and choose to stay with Geodon. If rexulti makes me gain weight I will go back to geodon. We'll see.
I'm also very hard to treat. I have a painful bladder condition and many drugs hurt and cause pain in the lining of my bladder (SSRIs, a lot of mood stabilizers, etc). I seem to do ok with the APs & anticonvulsants, excepts Depakote gave me terrible cystits and made my bladder bleed.
Managing this and other conditions and side effects is awful.
Posted by Christ_empowered on July 19, 2016, at 14:13:17
In reply to Re: Rexulti anyone? » SLS, posted by sheilac on July 18, 2016, at 14:13:39
hi. I don't know much about Rexulti. It hasn't been on the market long at all, so its hard to predict what will happen with it.
If you choose to take an AP/AAP, I'd really, seriously, no: really recommend taking antioxidants. Nothing too crazy...just some c, b-complex, and natural form e w/mixed tocopherols (if you can).
There's some indication from the research that a lot of the problems with AP/AAP drugs is from oxidative stress. Tardive dyskinesia is basically obvious brain damage. Antioxidants and B-vitamins are used by some natural/alternative health people to both prevent and treat TD.
The newer, "atypical" drugs are assumed to have a considerably lower rate of TD. From what I've read, that may or may not actually be the case. Being female with a mood disorder puts you at a higher risk for TD. The longer you stay on the tranquilizer, the higher the dose, the more additional meds you're on, the older you get....the higher the TD risk becomes. One big problem is that the tranquilizers also suppress TD, so many people have TD but don't know it until they go off the tranquilizer (or reduce the dose) or it gets so bad that it breaks through the ongoing tranquilizer treatment.
I'm not anti-psychiatry, and I'm not trying to scare you. I take 30mgs/Abilify daily, and I do the Orthomolecular thing. Its been over 5 years; no tics, no twitches, no unusual walking pattern ("stiff gait"), no decline in mental abilities. I honestly think its the vitamins, because I was very, very prone to side effects before I started supplementing.
Just watch out for TD. Like I wrote above...by the time you get obvious TD, you may also have some reduction in mental abilities and...well, just general brain damage. Not fun. I do wish they'd find a better, safer way to handle severe mental illness, but...its psychiatry, not science.
Posted by jonhed on July 19, 2016, at 17:44:24
In reply to Re: Rexulti anyone?, posted by Christ_empowered on July 19, 2016, at 14:13:17
I just want to agree with what you wrote.
I think it's generally accepted now that AAP's have the same risk for TD unfortunately..
In the beginning of every medication or a completely new group of substances, there has always been talk about it being "much much" better than the older one, but we learn from history..
I say it again, if you can tolerate abilify, it is an amazing substance that doesn't cause that much weight gain and nor do it cause hypoglycemia, i think?
And why not try to bulk vitamins the same way that christ_empowered does, it won't hurt you, and if it not works the same way for you, then you have a lot of vitamins in you and that just can be good :-)
Kind regards / J
Posted by SLS on July 21, 2016, at 0:25:16
In reply to Re: Rexulti anyone? » SLS, posted by sheilac on July 18, 2016, at 14:13:39
> Great. Ugh! I gained weight on Abilify and stopped it because of that and choose to stay with Geodon. If rexulti makes me gain weight I will go back to geodon. We'll see.
I guess it is a question of establishing one's priorities based upon the evaluation of cost versus benefit. I did not choose to be skinny and sick. I would rather be skinny and healthy as I once was. Maybe there is a perfect drug out there for me. However, I have been searching for 34 years. So, I have decided to go with what works for now. I choose to be overweight and able to experience life with accomplishment and joy rather than be skinny and sick. Fortunately, the magnitude of weight gain does not impact my health significantly.
I forget... Why are you coming off of Geodon?
- Scott
Posted by Sheilac on July 21, 2016, at 8:08:22
In reply to Re: Rexulti anyone? » sheilac, posted by SLS on July 21, 2016, at 0:25:16
My doc thinks that I'm having too many side effects from Geodon. I did great for 6 months on 160mg. It helped my stability & depression. But over the past few months I've developed severe shakiness & tremors, insomnia, etc. so she had me drop down to 120mg and I've lost the stability, but still have some of the shakiness & insomnia. She added 300mg of lithium, which has helped the stability, but has done nothing for the shaking or the terrible insomnia.
She thinks after all these years I need to change to something else that might not have the side effects.
I take the max dose of Keppra (2500mg), but it doesn't totally fix my stability issues. Maybe it's because it's just not a very strong mood stabilizer or maybe it's because Geodon is making me so shaky and nervous.
Posted by Christ_empowered on July 21, 2016, at 9:52:55
In reply to Re: Rexulti anyone? » SLS, posted by Sheilac on July 21, 2016, at 8:08:22
hi. I'm glad your doctor is looking out for you. Rexulti might get the job done w/o so many side effects. It has a similar mechanism of action to Abilify, but...different. Different enough to be on patent and very expensive, anyway.
Lithium can kill your kidneys long term, just an FYI. I don't know why docs still use it so much.
Posted by porkpiehat on August 2, 2016, at 13:15:47
In reply to Re: Rexulti anyone?, posted by Christ_empowered on July 21, 2016, at 9:52:55
I've heard abilify works differently at different levels. When I took it at 2mgs I found it extremely numbing, although not terribly sedative. I was also taking with celexa 10mgs and lamictal 200mg.
Does it get less numbing at slightly higher doses? I'm off the celexa now and lamictal doesn't handle the depression. Need something that won't inhibit my cognitively or send me through the roof.
I have a trial of rexulti but I've been afraid to take it.
This is the end of the thread.
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