I have been on Geodon for five years. Am currently on 20mg twice a day, but in the past have been on as much as 60mg three times a day. Three times in the past eight months I have tried to go off of the Geodon. I have tapered my dose over the course of several weeks or a month until down to 20 mg twice daily; then I reduce it to once daily, or just stop altogether. However, I experience horrible "withdrawal" symptoms within 24 hours of my last dose. Shakiness, dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, blurred vision, and - worst of all - what feels like electric shocks in my brain. I'm wondering if anyone else has stopped Geodon and has experienced this. I don't want to be on this medication for the rest of my life, but I have no idea how to stop it without going through hell physically. Most doctors look at me funny when I tell them I experienced withdrawal from Geodon -- they say that is highly unlikely. Whatever.
Posts: 2 | Registered: Mar 2006
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Wow! This is scary. I currently take 160 mg of geodon and my doctor is wanting to start the tapering off process. This concerns me. I wish I could share an experience with you, but I can't yet. If you find a solution, will you please post it? Thank you and good luck!
Posts: 4 | Registered: Mar 2006
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Its not just you. I've tried three times to get off Geodon, and I was only on 40mg once daily. The first time I tried to quit, I just stopped taking it one day and three days later I was in the ER. I've never felt so miserable in my life, my whole body ached, I suffered from extreme depression, and I was sleeping about 1 hour per night. This time I dropped down to 20mg a couple weeks ago and I've decided to just tough it out this time. So far, daily excercise, sleeping pills, and two glasses of wine per night have helped immensely. I also decided to tell my friends about my situation and they've been pretty supportive, which is helping. All in all, I still feel like trash though. These next two weeks or so are gonna be rough.....
Posts: 1 | Registered: Mar 2006
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Man, i was on Geodon for 4 days i took 160 mg nightly, and i decided that wasnt the answer i was looking for, and last night i didnt take any, it is now 10 AM and i havent slept yet, thoughts are racing through my head at an insane pace, my happiness levels are rapidly going back and forth from high to low, and i can vividly feel my happiness go back and forth, i hope i dont go through weeks of withdrawl from my 4 days on Geodon
Posts: 2 | From: las vegas | Registered: Mar 2006
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I took Geodon at varying doses for 7 years until I was down to taking just 20mg because of tardive dyskensia and bruxisim (jaw clenching). The Dr. had me quit cold turkey. My brain felt like it was going haywire, my legs spasmed and the stomach pain and headaches were so bad I went to the ER 5 times in 6 weeks. They couldn't find anything physical wrong with me. It was 6 weeks of pure hell. If I wasn't asleep 18 hours a day on Vicodin, I was screaming in pain the rest of the time. Nobody thought about withdrawal effects. New shrink put me on Klonipin and I am alive and functioning and happy for the first time in 7 years. Geodon is an evil, dangerous med.
Posts: 1 | From: washington | Registered: Apr 2006
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I am 23 years old, and I have been taking geodon now for over 2 years to treat bipolar disorder. I have been taking 160mg/night for awhile, but recently I Have been experiencing some problems. I feel absolutely horrible after I take the medication - I feel like I want to scream!!, an angry rage...I feel absolutely vile. And, every afternoon about 4-6pm I start to get unstable, like an angry nervous tension building up in my body, which is only calmed 2 hours after I take my medication at night (which I have to take with a full meal of food). I called my doctor yesterday, and his recommendation was to go up to 240mg/night (3 80mg caps) and see how that works. I had the worst night of my life last night - it was horrible - and my whole body ached this morning. Overall, I feel that the geodon is doing me more harm than good. I don't even see that it is doing me any bit of good. I already take lithium which is to control my manic symptoms. I just want off of this medication, and I want off NOW!! I have some 60s, 40s, and 20s, and I am going to try a taper down to 80mg just to see if I can do it...I hope it works. I just can't go on living like this, this is absolutely horrible - I have no desire, no motivation, no drive, no care - I wish I had the want to care about things, but I just don't. I have no love life, I don't even have a desire to date. I believe this medication has comepltely killed my drive and pleasure in living - nothing in life excites me anymore - and guess what- I am technically not 'clinically depressed' - I am just 'here' - why does life have to be like this?
Posts: 2 | From: Fort Worth, TX | Registered: Apr 2006
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I am currently on geodon and was on 240 mg and recently have had all sorts of paranoia and didnt think it was helping me any so I went down to 160 mg and have been feeling better..I also went from 800mg seraquil to 600mg...have had no side effects from it..however I have been feeling depressed, my therapist tells me I have a "flat affect" and I have no motivation to do anything and dont' care to do anything but I do not have the paranoia I had when I was on it. I'm wondering if this is going to creep up on me in a week or two and I'm going to have some rude awakening and have alot of withdrawal symptoms that haven't happened to me yet from going off the geodon.
Posts: 1 | From: Nebraska | Registered: Jun 2006
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I HAVE HOPE!!!!!!!!!i completly stopped a month ago and i never had anything serious. i felt a little airy kinda loopy but thats about it. for once in my life i woke up easlily and happy!! on the downside i relized i was really crazy and probly needed it so i got back on 2 days ago.
Posts: 6 | From: texas | Registered: Jul 2006
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GEODON SAVED MY LIFE!!! IT CURED ME OF SEVERE DELUSIONS AND PSYCHOSIS. I AM NOW TRYING TO GO OFF OF IT TO HAVE A BABY SINCE IT MADE MY LIFE NORMAL AND HAPPY. WHEN MY DOCTOR AND I REDUCED THE DOSE I HAD VOMITING AND DIARRHEA BUT BEING NORMAL AND HAPPY WAS WORTH A NIGHT OF THROWING UP.I WOULD RECOMMEND GEODON TO ANYONE WITH PSYCHOSIS OR DELUSIONS. THE NURSE SAID I WOULD BE INSTUTIONALIZED FOR LIFE, BUT NOW I HAVE NO SERIOUS SYMPTOMS. GEODON PULLED ME OUT OF IT.
Posts: 2 | From: Illinois | Registered: Oct 2005
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I have been on 320mg of Geodon for about a year now for anger. I made the decision about two weeks ago that I wanted to get off the medication because it was causing my legs to shake and causing me to grind my teeth and clinch my jaw all day long. It also was making me really sleepy in the mornings. I was taking 3 pills at night and 1 pill in the morning. My Dr told me to first take away the morning pill for 3 days and then knock off one pill at night every third day.. I could tell immediately that the withdrawals were going to be bad. I was real shaky, dizzy, nauseous, hot but cold and had this weird tingling feeling in my head. I finally got to the day that I was not going to take any pills. By that day the withdrawals got gradually worse each day that I was already feeling horrible. The night I didn't take any pills I think I may have slept about an hour. I felt like I was on speed or something. Everything in my body felt as if it were racing. The next day I felt so bad I ended up taking a geodon just so my body would calm down and I could get some sleep. My Dr prescribed me with Ambien CR to see if that will help me sleep. I tried that last night and my Adrenaline was racing so bad that it made the sleeping pill ineffective. So I have failed twice so far trying to get off this horrible pill. My Dr also told me that I should experiance no withdrawals when I stopped. Yea right.. I would rather go through stopping smoking again then feel as bad as I do when I stopped taking Geodon. Hopefully the third time is a charm for me.. Good luck to anyone else trying to get off this pill.
Posts: 1 | From: Austin | Registered: Aug 2006
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I took Geodon for "mental clarity" for about 1 1/2 years after switching different medications for about 3 years. I weened my self off it & Lexapro over the course of 10 months. I didn't have any withdrawal effects for 6 months until October when I started having very negative thoughts & feeling disturbed. It was just like when I was put on Wellbutrin a few years ago. I've been taking supplements to try and combat the feelings (omega 3s & sea buckthorn oil) & drinking water. I think it could be one of one two things: there was some leftover drug stored in some tissue that was recently released or 2) after 4 1/2 years of taking drugs, they have finally left my brain.
I was just wondering if anyone else had had any experience with this?
I have been on Geodon for about a month. 20 mil 2x a day. Last week I decided to stop the night time one. At $360.00 a month and NO insurance, I figured I could get away with once a day. Wrong thing to do. Ended up in the ER with all the signs of withdrawal. You name it, I had it. This drug is evil. I'm wanting to know before I stop taking the one in the morning is there any better way to stop this without the BAD withdrawal, and is there light at the end of the tunnel?? Every morning I feel like death, won't do this again until I feel better.
Posts: 1 | From: Michigan | Registered: Dec 2007
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I have been Geodon-free for almost three weeks now, but I am still having trouble sleeping and controlling my thoughts. The first few days were typical withdrawal, but the sleep problems and "full head" persist. I obtained a prescription from my GP for Ambien to help me sleep, but the most sleep I get from it is three to four hours. I feel like I am going insane! When will this end????
Posts: 1 | Registered: Dec 2007
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Antipsychotic drug withdrawal. Jenny from the U.K. here: Hi... any other people withdrawing from Antipsychotic drugs.
This is the first time for me on this site. I am coming off a drug called Fluphenazine or Moditen in the U.K. and Prolixin and various other names in the U.S. obviously not the same as Geodon.
Fluphenazine has the most horrendous withdrawal effects coming off them, having been on them for 30 years. I was wrongly put on them for post natal depression. The only way to come off for me and others on a similar drug and withdraw safely is by reducing by 1 milligram per month in my case, and even this is fraught with difficulties. People over here who have not managed to get enough stock of this pill, as Sanofi Aventis U.K. have run into manufacturing problems so they say, and they are being discontinued in June 2008. People who have stopped abruptly have experienced many side affects like Tardive Dyskinesia (involantry mouth and body movements and drug induced Parkinsons) when the medication is stopped abruptly.
I have been tapering off now for two years and will take me another year or so to get off it as I can't risk the horrendous and irreversable side effects discontinuation would cause.
I purchased from the U.S. milligram scales which for me have been a life saver, as they are twice the price over here and worth their weight in gold. The scales have enabled me to grind the pills down and reduce the dosage by 1 milligram per month. Any other way is impossible with a drug of this potency to reduce accurately. I am, down from 75mg to 20 mg (pill weight not drug content)
The scales will weigh 1mg in 100,000 and are incredibly sensitive.
Good luck if you decide to withdraw from the medication you are on but be careful and do it very slowly. I know from experience, it has been far from pleasant!
Best wishes to every one going through withdrawal from any prescription drugs. Please feel free to contact me through this site if you would like to.
Jenny - from the U.K.
P.S. please excuse any typos, as it’s midnight…yawn!!
Posts: 1 | From: U.K. | Registered: Mar 2008
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I currently take Geodon, and I can say. I hate it. They up my dose to 160mg a night, and i just felt Medicated all day long. Irritable, depressed, and now I want off of it. My doctor cant see me for four damn days, tells me to keep taking it. I went back to my 120mg dose, w/o he consent, cause it was working. Anxiety, depression, and a host of other BS for an anti-derpressant? What a crock. I do NOT recommend this drug for anyone.
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