My son has just been put on clozapine and after a few days, he is so ill. I have never seen him so tired and wiped out. Yesterday, the doctors took him off it as it made his blood pressure go too high. Now he is back in stellazine but they said it wasn’t helping him. I just wonder what can help. Has anyone experienced this before ? He has been in hospital for 9 months now. And only 20 yrs old .
Clozapine did that to me too - it made me into a zombie needing 16 hours sleep and always tired. It made me drool too and once I wet my bed in hospital. The side effects weren’t worth it. Then I tried Risperidone and it did a lot of good. I went into remission. That was in 2005. Since 2012 I relapsed, but just want to say there are good meds out there. Hope your son finds one that works for him!
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I LOVED clozapine! It made me gain weight and that is the only side effect I had.
My dr. said everyone is different and will react differently. I switched because of the weight gain.
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@Magicplz There are many antipsychotics out there, and I’m wondering why the doctor would use a typical antipsychotic (1st generation) vs. a atypical antipsychitc (2nd generation) since atypicals have known to have less side effects.
Atypical antipsychotics are abilify, risperidone, olanzapine (zyprexa), geodon, etc…
The side-effects like drowsiness and weight gain usually go away. Us sz patients don’t get enough credit when we go through this pain, but please realize this is only temporary… It goes away, and the human comes back.
Best of luck to your son, and please be glad he is still young, because if he was older, it may be harder for him to fight back.
I was on clozapine…it screwed me round…went off it…then I tried clopixol…I got better results with that.
Thank you for your replies. I am grateful for any help with this complicated condition. Xx
What about the atypicals , other than clozapine. There are a lot to choose from. They are quite expensive so maybe this is why they will not move him to them.
What atypicals has he tried?
There are a number of anti-psychotics for your son to try. They ought to be able to find something that works for him.
Interestingly, we discovered yesterday that he has been taking steroids which he has hit from the gym. No wonder he had a nasty reaction to the SZ meds. It accounts for the s grange behaviour too. Re admitted to acute psych unit last night . Thank you for your posts . Xxx
Steroids are known to turn people into temperamental people. It’s called “Roid Rage”.
Been on clozapine 10 years
Not totally symptom free but am at uni now
I haven’t found any of the drugs worked perfectly
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Actually it is my understanding that clozapine is one of the first atypical antipsychotics. Other than weight gain and monitoring WBC, which is probably something everyone on antipsychotics should be monitored for, clozapine side effect panel is less than most and can actually be used for EPS.
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Magicplz,
is your son doing better?
my Son has been also in Hospital for 7 months and now he is in locked facility ( Conserved)
he is taking invega-sustena. he was on 117mg . he was still delusional…
Just increase his medicine dose to 156mg.
Hoping for him to get better by the next monthly shot.