My son’s pdoc is pretty insistent that only 1 antipsychotic be used. I have seen here that many people on this site are using multiple APs.
Anybody have any input on how helpful multiple APs are?
i heard that its actually dangerous to use multiple APs at the same time. some people have died because of this.
Meds are so individual… I have a bigger problem with the negative symptoms… (more then the positive)
I have two… Seroquel and Latuda… they balance each other out. Seroquel is sedating…
(which slows down the wheel in my head and stops the racing thoughts)
The Latuda is more activating… so it helps counter the negatives… it’s a constant balance…
I’ve never been on this combo… but I’d imagine if I was on something like Haldol and Seroquel… I’d most likely be a drooling zombie in the corner. Both hit me pretty hard.
Good luck and I hope your family get some ideas that help… 
Thanks -
Son is actually doing real well right now, but during a bad spell he was asking about another med that he had got concurrently when he was last in hospital, and the doctor’s response was that he didn’t intend to prescribe 2 APs. Just wondered why, since I see several people here note that they are on multiples.
I find my son does best on lower doses of two AP’s rather then a higher dose of one. I think a lot on here are on more then one. One AP may treat some symptoms while another AP will seem to target the other ones.
It’s been decades since I was on multiple antipsychotics(a depot and oral). The combination compared to originally being on just one med didn’t make much difference therapeutically. I qualify that by saying they were typical antipsychotics and that the atypicals are/may be more varied in their effect.
I’ve taken Geodon and Seroquel for over ten years. They’ve kept me from getting symptoms, and side effects are minimal.
I’m taking two AP’s- amisulpride and olanzapine. My pdoc also wants me to be on one only, but I function better on two. The amisulpride counteracts the voices and agitation, and the olanzapine counteracts the depression. My pdoc wants to try me on only olanzapine, but so far it hasn’t worked.
My son was on Geodon, but it was not being very effective. My son does research meds, and was asking to be put on Seroquel as well, but the doc said no.
Currently an AP by injection and a mood stabilizer are working pretty well.
Different med’s effect people differently. I don’t know why the doctor wouldn’t put him on Seroquel. Keep looking for med’s that work. You might have to put your son on typical AP’s, though I hate to say that because they can be very unpleasant.
Uhhhhh. Can you point me to the evidence? (Or is this just something you heard?)
How old is the p-doc, and when did he/she graduate from school? I ask that because the prevailing point of view during the “typical anti-P era” was that “polypharmacy” was “bad.”
Times have changed, however. I have dealt with pts who were taking =15=. (Not recommending that, but it’s what that particular pt needed because of all the stuff she had going on.)
there was a case of 21 japanese schizophrenics dying of paliperidone because it was given with a combination of APs
I am on a typical depot and atypical oral. I have used each one on their own and can say the combination of the two is greater than the sum of its parts.
“Although a causal link between Xeplion and the deaths has not been established…” – 21 users of schizophrenia drug dead - The Japan Times
I was unable to find anything else to confirm or deny this newspaper story. And I have never seen anything about this in the professional literature – much of which is not all that drug-maker friendly – I read every fucking day. (One would think Clinical Psychiatry News or Current Psychiatry – not mention the pharma journals – would have carried story after story about a deal like this.)
well i read a news article that actually said that the deaths were caused by a mix of xeplion with other APs. why else would they die if the only link is found in them taking paliperidone and i believe other meds aswell.
The pdoc is actually pretty young. For now, my son is improving, so I’m not going to pursue it. If we see deterioration of his status, I will probably go to another doc for a consult.
Vallpen I see that your son was pretty much stable on injectable and mood stabilizer. Then he was changed to clozaril. So what were the problems that the doctor changed the meds.
All the evidence I’ve seen suggests that polypharmacy with multiple antipsychotic medications is not supported by the evidence. This has been confirmed by researchers and clinicians I’ve talked to - but things may have changed since the last time I spoke to people about this:
and
and
here is the google search I did: