Hello everyone.

I feel I'm back to square one when it comes to the medication department. About 2 weeks ago my cogentin was decreased from 2mg/day to 1mg/day because it was making me constipated. Then I started getting increased restlessness from the Abilify 5mg. So I called the doctor and she told me to take half. I did for 2 days to my appt and I told her I'm still restless. She took me off of the abilify and increased the Zyprexa I was on from 2.5 to 5mg. The appt was on Thursday.

Since Friday, I've been having "bad thoughts". I'm only tolerating it because I want to see my doctor because for some reason the "stupid" insurance needs an authorization before I go to the hospital. I feel like I want to OD on either my Zypexa or Lunesta. I've been having mom handle my meds lately so I don't do something like that. She makes sure I take my meds in front of her so I've not skipped a dose.

I'm on Lexapro 20mg, Zyprexa Zydis 5mg, and Lunesta 3mg.

I still get anxious and panic attacks even on Lexapro and I've told my mom and doctor but they insist I take it, so I do.

Also, I'm still having the restlessness and I'm having some hallucinations even with the Zyprexa Zydis. I know I've got a "hospital" situation but I wanted to share my thoughts and feelings.

Thanks for reading,
Andy...

I haven't been to the forums lately, and just saw this. I hope you're okay. You should be very firm with your mother and your doctor about explaining what's going on and that you're hallucinating. It is so frustrating when people don't listen. You did the right thing in asking your mom to hold on to your medications- it's a good way of protecting yourself from the irrational side in every bipolar mind. Please keep us posted on how you're doing. I hope they can figure out a good med combo for you at some point. Being psychotic is exhausting and miserable (at least in my experience) and you shouldn't have to live that way.

To me it sounds like you need to stop taking that med combo.. if you're having those kinds of thoughts. I know you know this..or you wouldn't have posted. Your doctor should realize this.. especially if you've told him/her the same concerns. How soon can you get that authorization from your insurance company?

Is there a free clinic that could be of assistance in your area? Maybe they can help... since your doctor doesn't seem to be listening.

Do you have the number for the suicide hotline in your area? Just in case you might need it. Along with a list of other emergency contacts?

I had hallucinations and bad anxiety once on DepaKote. My doc had me stop taking it immediately. I had to wait before it was all out of my system before starting something new. That was a really bad couple of weeks.

Bottom line is if you're having these reactions you shouldn't continue taking those drugs or at least find out which one(s) is causing the hallucinations and bad thoughts.The doc should be more responsive to your description of what is happening. There are lots of meds out there, sometimes finding the right one or combination of drugs that work together is hard. But it's even harder if you have a doc who doesn't listen.

Well, on Monday, I went to the ER with my mom and was admitted to the psychiatric unit. What the doctor did was because of my past history with other antipsychotics, figured it best to try upping the dose of the zyprexa zydis. Now I'm on 10mg instead of 5mg. I feel much better on the 10. I have less anxiety, I'm able to sleep better and I have clearer thoughts. I'm really glad to have gone to the psych unit because I don't really know what would've happened had I not gone. I have either a psychiatist or thearapist appointment on June 30th at 9:00am.

Update: Had an intake today. Made appt. to see my regular pdoc on July 30th. I have scripts to last me till then. The higher dose of Zyprexa Zydis is making me a bit sedated during the day but I'm waiting it out to see if it improves over the next few days. I will keep you updated.

Update: Well I'm in "trouble" again. The Zyprexa 10mg is making me restless. At this moment that I'm typing this (as best as possible), I'm rocking in my chair just to keep from getting up and down. Still feel sedated during the day. Feels like I'm on Invega + Abilify combo. (Invega's sedation and Abilify's restlessness). I'm told I have to call in to the doctor of course instead of just going to her office, which I understand but I don't want to talk to her on the phone. I'd rather see my pdoc in person with Mom. I'm afraid to tell my mom what's going on because she'll just think I'm trying to change my medication. (I'd rather be on Abilify to be honest)

What do I do? I know if I have to wait to see her, I'll be safe as I'm not having the negative thoughts but I do feel like crying a bit...

Sometimes a good cry does wonders. Sometimes a great laugh does, too.... do you have comedy channel, per chance?

Or maybe try some journaling here in the forums ... I find writing helps wonders, when I can't calm down.

What channel is the comedy channel? I might have it. I know comedy central is channel 50.

Went to see pdoc today. I told her about the rocking and the sedation and I told her I wanted off of Zyprexa. For right now, she decreased the dosage to 7.5mg and told me to see her on Monday. I'm not very optimistic about this. She also told me to increase the Cogentin (which doesn't work) from .5mg/day to 1mg/day.

My thoughts is that I'd like to be back on abilify and try artane for the restlessness. That's my ideal...

I looked up Lunesta on the web and found this:
side effects:
abnormal thoughts and behavior. Symptoms include more outgoing or aggressive behavior than normal, confusion, agitation, hallucinations, worsening of depression, and suicidal thoughts or actions.
memory loss
anxiety

Could that have something to do with it?

I don't know. I've been on Lunesta for over a year on and off, and I never noted a change in my mood or behavior when I take it, but anything is possible. Only thing is without Lunesta, I've sometimes been up till around 2 to 3am thinking and thinking and never could get my mind to rest...

Well saw my pdoc yesterday and she decreased the Zyprexa from 10mg to 7.5mg. She also suggested I increase the Cogentin but since it doesn't help with Abilify's restlessness I don't think it will help my current restlessness. I told my pdoc I didn't want to be on Zyprexa anymore. I've been wanting off the Zyprexa since starting it. It has made me gain weight. In less than 2 weeks from being in the hospital I've gained 2 pounds and all I was doing in the hospital was walk around and around and around, and I still gained weight. I'm 5' 8" and 159lbs right now and my pdoc says not to worry about my weight but I was 140lbs before so I know the medicince is partially responcible for some of my weight gain.

She told me there is a new doctor at the partial program I was in and instead of taking the opertunity to meet with the new doctor and see if he/she could help me get off of the Zyprexa and onto another controller medicine, I told my doctor I didn't want to do that. Now I wish I'd said to do that. I have an appt to see my doctor on Monday.

My current pdoc wants me to try one of the older anti-psychotics, like Moban, Prolixin, Mellaril, Stelazine, Haldol, but I refused because of their severe side effect profiles. Side effects are bad enough on the atypicals, I'm not going to risk worse effects on a typical.

Like I mentioned before and I told my pdoc this and my mom, I'd rather go back on the Abilify as I liked how I felt on it. Only problem is the restlessness. But I feel that there is a med out there that could help combat that, like Artane or Amantadine.

Thanks for taking an interest and reading my posts,
Andy...

I can empathize about having medication difficulties. I had the severe restlessness problem with Abilify; however, it made me feel the "best" mentally of all the atypicals. I think I remember you saying in one of your posts that you had tried Depakote and that you couldn't take it, but perhaps I'm wrong.

After going off atypicals completely due to elevated prolactin and the risk of heat stroke, I was taking Depakote and while my mood was better, I started sinking towards my usual July depression. My psychiatrist wanted to add an anti-depressant but since I've had such horrible reactions to all of them, I refuse to try any more of them, ever. Since the Depakote eliminates my restlessness, I asked if I could try the low dose of Abilify to see if it would work as an anti-depressant for me. I started at 2mg. in the pm and had trouble sleeping, so switched to taking it in the morning. The Depakote was keeping me up as well, so I now take it in the AM also. I take the extended release version but my moods were still uneven so I now divide the dose and take 500mg at 8am and at 4pm. I also added another 2mg of Abilify in the afternoon and I'm feeling much better.

Have you tried any other of the anti-convulsants besides Depakote? What about Lithium? Of course I'm not a doctor, but perhaps it's the Abilify in conjunction with the other medications that are causing the restlessness and if you took it in conjunction with something else you would be okay.

My psychiatrist did mention putting me on Zyprexa when nothing was working for me before, but I flat out refused as I found the possibility for weight gain to be unacceptable.

Hang in there, Andy, and keep us posted. I hope you can get all your medications straightened out soon so you can enjoy life and won't have to suffer so much.

Just to clarify, I was never on depakote or any anti-convulseant for that matter. I don't really know how an AC would affect me but if it would combat the restlessness I'd be willing to give depakote or another AC a try. I just hate the idea of having to have my levels checked. Once stabilized, how often do you go for testing of your depakote levels? I've heard of depakote being used off label for restlessness so it may be a "golden ticket" for me.

Saw pdoc today and for right now we are leaving everything as is until at least next week. I'm still having thoughts of going off the Zyprexa and back onto Abilify. I know I felt better on Abilify. All I need to find is something other than Cogentin to counter restlessness. Then I'd be all set for the switch.