Generic Name: Ziprasidone
Brand Name: Geodon
Geodon Drug and Medication User Reviews
I see this thread is a few years old, but hoping someone can shed some light on what I’m going through. I was prescribed Geodon 20mg for my bipolar disorder and having frequent mood swings. After about 3 weeks, I wasn’t feeling any better, probably worse than before I started this drug. I stopped cold turkey not realizing the consequences of doing so, my psychiatrist never informed me of the dangers of possible withdrawal symptoms. I should have educated myself more on this drug or at least read the reviews on this horrible drug. I see it does work for some people. So do not get discouraged reading all the negative reviews. My psychiatrist decided I take one weeks worth of 20mg. I feel like I’m going crazy.. horrible panic attacks, constant anxiety. Super depressed. I’ve dealt with anxiety and depression since I was a teenager, I’m 26. But this is a whole different level of anxiety and depression. I’m also on 25 mg 2 times daily of Lamotrigine, .1 mg twice daily of clonidine. And I was taking 40mg adderall but have recently tried tapering off the adderall Thinking that is a factor to my debilitating anxiety. I’ve been to the hospital 3times already for severe panic attacks and my BP was so high 170/110. I feel like this drug is killing me. I can’t sleep, I’m lucky if I get 2-3 hours of sleep each night. I have 3 little children that need me and I just can’t get out of this dark dark place. I’ve made so many lifestyle changes nothing is easing these symptoms.. And another awful symptom of withdrawal is the uncontrollable body movements (TD). I’m also wondering, me being on this medication for a short period of time, why are my stmptoms so severe and prolonged. Other people that have gone through this, please share your experience and tips on how to deal with withdrawal from Geodon. Does it get better???!?!?
Tried different meds to help with schizo / bipolar / mood and this one seems to work the best for me thus far. I noticed being more sluggish/ tired, and gets harder to get a good exercise/ sweat while on this. Which frustrates me the most. It also caused an initial mania / episode of voices before adjusting to it. But once that hump is over, my mind is cleared. I may be on edge to end this med, cuz it just doesn’t feel quite right being on it. But it’s better than taking the others that were giving me muscle pains.
Avoid this medication at all costs. It will stabilize you from mania without a doubt, but it will be VERY painful. I had constant headaches, short term memory loss, couldn't pay attention to anything, would fall asleep all the time, had really bad akathisia, was hot and sweaty all the time. I was only on 40mg as well and I couldn't stay awake to save my life! Dropped down to only 20mg and had HORRIBLE anxiety in the afternoon because the dose was too low. The drug has a very short half life to boot, so you will constantly feel like you are withdrawing from it which is the WORST PART BY FAR. There are MUCH better medications out there, and the fact they still charge so much for a drug made in 2001 is criminal. It's the WORST atypical antipsychotic in my opinion. It will make you feel awful while you are on it, and even worse should you decide to come off the drug entirely. I cannot stress this enough.
I have taken 20mg twice a day for several years. A month ago my doctor increased it to 40mg twice a day and it has been a life changer. I have energy every day and no longer lay down every day with depression. I personally haven’t had side effects. I’m thankful for this drug.
Gave me very intense suicidal thoughts and made my blood pressure drop immensely which caused me to go to the ER.
I was on this and it totally destroyed me. The third day I saw my feet were shaking every time I sat down. Didn't think anything about it. Within a week I was shaking every where on my body My restlessness was the worse ever. There was this "go go go"all day and the night. I got no sleep. When to the ER twice because of walking fast around the house. My blood pressure was out of the world. The ER docs did the best they could. They don't understand mental health issues. My doctor stopped this as fast as she could.
this prescription drug....i don’t even know where to begin. i was so scared i was going to kill myself on this drug. this drug amplified my depression to the worst it has ever been in the past eight years that i’ve struggled with depression. my doctor said it helps a lot of people and i am so happy for those it worked for, so please do not be alarmed by my experience with it. every one is different and we all require a certain medication that works for us and that’s different for all of us. i never, ever want to be put back on this drug. i have tried many many drugs for my depression, bipolar disorder, and anxiety, however this was just not the one for me. i really hope whoever tries this medication that it works for you and you don’t have to go through what i went through.
PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ THIS. NO ONE SHOULD GO THROUGH WHAT I WENT THROUGH. Taking this drug at the beginning worked for me was very beneficial. When I missed a dosage because I had to work or slept over at a friends house. It was bad. I couldn’t sleep until I took that med. I was on it for a really long time so my dosage was fairly high. But I’m a red head and red heads always need higher dosages of any medication and since I have been on meds for adhd since age 3 and half-4 and was bullied and harrsed severely in school my depression, and a lot of other stuff was extremely high. So I needed extra dosages of a lot of stuff that worked for me. My doctor who prescribed it knew I smoked weed. Knew I had substance abuse when I was very very young and was born drug addicted. Your not suppose to take that med if u have done a lot of that. Or are still doing them. So around October I got pregnant and had to stop my adhd meds. So they stopped those. I felt better. But they didn’t wanna stop the geodon right away bc how much I acted up. So I’m like ok that’s understandable just wean me off of everything and I’ll just smoke weed. My tolerance was very low for weed at the time because of the hormones of being pregnant. I’m 8 months pregnant now and since 2-3 month of my pregnancy weed had not have the benefits as it used to. A lot of my friends are like this after being pregnant. So I was smoking weed and being on geodon for about a few weeks after the adhd meds stopped. My psychiatrist then informed me that it’s not ok to take geodon anymore because of being pregnant. So she surely stopped it. Didn’t wean me off of it like most medications she just stopped it. And not taking that med once or missing it once and not being able to sleep. Stopping it for good was awful. I didn’t sleep for about 3 months. It wasn’t like a meth withdraw where your it just your joints and vibrations. This was worse. How a cow twitches his muscles to get flies off. It felt like that but made me freak out so mad I couldn’t control it. Also felt like a codeine withdraw as well, (which basiclly opiod withdraw once it hits ur brain) with the constant sweating the clammy ness, throwing up constantly. Yes I was pregnant yes I did have morning sickness. But I did not stop throwing up for a really long time. My OB said it was extreme for me to be this much. Especially because I’m having a boy and they tend to come with less morning sickness. I also had sweating, memory loss, headaches, my skin had this weird thing to it. Where sometimes it would feel as if it was twitching on the outside but tired on the inside when trying to sleep or vise versa. During the day I twitched all day. I had extreme dizziness, fainting, falling. A lot of that. And I came on here because alot of my feelings are not getting validated about alot of stuff at home. So I was like maybe it was one of the meds I’m not taking. Now I have long term side effects. The rapid heart beat, high blood pressure, I now I have extreme diabetes. And To inform yes I am pregnant alot of these are pregnancy symptoms. But mine are extremely high. And they tested me for being pre diabetic when they first found out I was pregnant. And they said I was no where close to even being considered for pre diabetes. My sugar ranges anywhere from extremely low to extremely high. But is normal when I eat sugar. But I also have extreme lock jaw, my pulse is around 130. For even pregnancy that is very high. The memory loss. Blurred vision, fainting falling over, muscle stuff. And I have alerted my OB and been to the hospital about 20-30 times this week with fainting and pain. They tested my baby my urine, did a cat scan for stroke and heart attack and mri. Exrays.ultrasounds. Tested stuff over again. Gave me IVs. They told me I was drinking too much water too. Which crazy because I’m always thirsty. But that’s when it clicked in my head. Everything was fine with baby everything was fine with all my scans. And since this drug a
This has been a wonder drug for me in combination with Lamictal. I was able to lose over 100 pounds while taking this medication. I've not had any mood swings but still suffer at times with depression. My dr. put me on some vitamins that help with anxiety, depression, and mania. I highly recommend Geodon,
So I just started taking Geodon 40mg at night about 2 weeks ago. I feel better overall except the first few days I had severe nausea and just didn't feel right. I know alot of people take it twice a day but I am scared that if I take it in the morning that it will make me super tired. I was on zyprexa before this and gained a bunch of weight and my total cholesterol and LDL shot through the roof and I wound up in the hospital due to heart palpatations and chest pressure. I am only 52 and my stress test was negative but that was why my medication was changed. I have bipolar 2 not 1 and have some hypomania but no full blown manic episodes. I do feel like my muscles hurt but they also put me on lipitor because of my cholesterol being so high which it wasn't prior to taking zyprexa. I got really bad tartive dys with abilify and rexalti. I was smacking all the time like a little old lady with no teeth. No TD so far with the Geodon but I really want to keep my dose low if I can so that does not happen again. Ingrezza did nothing for me at all. I am also on lamictal and effexor and have to take meds for sleep as well or I would be awake 24x7. I am very hopeful for weight loss on this medication and for my cholesterol to improve. I don't feel as flat and tearful as I did on zyprexa so that is good. My appetite is much less and I try and drink a Gatoraide or poweraide daily to make sure to get some electolytes in me. It seems to help. Anyone else taking it just at night or should I take 20mg twice daily for better effect? Thoughts...
Good drug to use. Keeps me alert
Worst drug I've ever had to take made me forget everything.
Honestly, I really hate this medication and I've only been taking it for FIVE DAYS. I'm a junior in high school, which means homeroom starts at 7:30. My bus comes at 7, so I wake up at 6, using my alarm. Not only have I nearly missed the bus because when I get up to turn off the alarm I fall back asleep, but I can barely keep my eyes open! My friends have even commented that I randomly fall asleep for a few seconds on the bus and I have nearly fallen down the stairs at school! At my school, there are eight classes, each split into two mods. During 1-2, I don't have a class. I have had to use this time to SLEEP instead of WORK. I got marked absent because I was so tired I couldn't stay at my homeroom to wait to check in and I just had to go to the school cafe and sleep. I was OUT. My friends barely roused me in time to go to class and I was still late. Not only is this pill hindering my schoolwork, it's making things DANGEROUS! I can barely keep my eyes open when going up or down stairs, walking up the hill to the bus stop, and trying to sit down. I would NOT recommend this pill AT ALL unless you ABSOLUTELY need it!
Avoided this drug for years cause of negative things I had heard but my experience for the past year taking it has been great. Total game changer. Sorry I didnt take it sooner. Its stabilized my mood better than any antipsychotic Ive been on and makes a marked difference controlling and dialing down hallucinations. The main side effect for me is drowsiness but over time that has faded.
I took this in the morning and by late afternoon early evening I tried to kill myself.
It took about a month for it to start working great.give it time.
Be careful. I was given this medication for allegedly being bi-polar by the VA. Started with 80 mg. then went to 160 mg. a day. I developed tardive dystonia. Not curable. I have been weaned down to 60 mg. a day working toward zero with no replacement med. Makes me wonder why they ever put me on it in the first place. Tardive dystonia and Geodon. Look it up.
My psychiatrist prescribes me Vitamin E. He informed me that Geodon depletes it from the body.
This medicine in combination with Depakote and Prozac and wellbutrin has finally made the difference. I'm functioning very well and rarely miss out on life due to symptoms related to my bipolar anymore.
I took it for two days abd I was so out of it that I passed out on the bus going to the dr