Experts says it's a trade-off between the efficacy and the side effects. Just see what the newest medication has to offer. I am NOT going to run out and get a prescription for this one. CLICK HERE to see what others say about Latuda's side effects and watch their commercial!.
What I'm Taking Currently:
Trazodone 100 mg at bedtime. Reason I was prescribed this: Lack of sleep. Many are able to sleep if they are on a good bipolar med, but not me. I need this as well. Efficacy: I'm up to six hours of sleep when I'm lucky. It's not so much sleeping, it's getting back to sleep after having to use the toilet at 4 am. That's when my mind starts racing.
I assumed the Trazodone Side Effects were virtually non-existent, or I just didn't want to know what they were. Here's the list and my relation to these most common side effects.
- Dry mouth (usually mild)
- For years and years. Keeps down the drool on the pillow, which was bad in the day, especially when I had to wear my retainer
- Muscle or bone pain
- My bones and muscles are killing me! I missed that side effect before! WTF? I've been blaming my mattress!
- Trouble sleeping
- I can't make this shit up. Take something for sleep and tell me if one of the side effects of it are that you have trouble sleeping?
- Trouble with remembering.
- I think everything I take affects my memory.
- Unpleasant taste.
- Of the drug or everything I eat? I swallow it, not chew it.
Buspirone HCL 15mg 2 times a day: Reason I was prescribed this: Benzodiazapines are bad for you long-term. Efficacy: Gotta take it twice a day and when I miss the afternoon by just a couple hours I'm in rough shape. But it works. The rebound effect? Bad news.
Buspirone Side Effects are relatively minor, but again, I don't really want to see what the possible side effects may be or I'll wonder if I have them.
Here's a list of my relation to some of these side effects. There's a pattern here:
- Cannot empty bladder
- So I have to get up at 4 am and then I can't get back to sleep? WTF?
- Cannot focus thoughts
- I thought I had ADHD, which I might have, but focusing and memory are a problem for me and I blame the drugs. Beats wondering if I'm losing my memory with age.
- Confused
- Yes I am.
- Nervous
- So I'll just take something for the nervousness? Wait, that's what this is for. Isn't nervous synonymous with anxious?
"The more commonly observed untoward events associated with the use of Buspirone not seen at an equivalent incidence among placebo-treated patients include dizziness, nausea, headache, nervousness, lightheadedness, and excitement."
I'm taking anxiety meds to fight anxiety, duh. So, the side effects can include excitement and nervousness? How do we treat that? Different drugs, or more of the same drugs? Check the list below and see how that's been working for me.
Depakote (Valproic Acid) 250mg 3 times a day.
Depakote Side Effects are news to me. It's only been a couple months so the jury is still out. I'm kidding, I didn't want to read this until now and I'm not happy with what I'm seeing here. Again, a pattern emerges!
- Chronic Trouble Sleeping
- "One pill makes you sleepy and one pill keeps you up..." Whit Rabbit" Jefferson Airplane?
- Weight gain or weight loss
- I can't make this shit up. Do "normal" people have these two side-effects? And what if you have both at the same time? Does that mean that keeping your weight the same is a side-effect of gain and loss?
- Mental Impairment
- Wow, what if I started out stupid to begin with?
- Mood Changes
- That's sort of normal, isn't it?
- Depression
- Oh, that ugly term. I don't know how much I suffer this symptom of my manic/depressive mental illness. I know others suffer that more than the manic side. Not me, I have denial working in my camp.
- Loss of Memory
- I can't remember how many times I've seen this as a side effect.
- Nervous
- So what, I have drugs for that.
- Thoughts of Suicide
- Those suck. Suicidality is an interesting term for that. I had suicidality in spades with Seroquel. (See below)
- Over Excitement
- Not to be confused with excitement, which I guess I can have without being self-conscious.
Past Prescriptions
Sleep Aids:
Ambien: Reason I was prescribed this: Wasn't sleeping well on Trazodone. Efficacy: Didn't work.
Ambien Side Effects How about sleep walking? Good times, eh? With a relatively new girlfriend who was as suspicious about me and my character as I'd ever confronted, this was not a good thing to have happen. I asked her what I was like when she came to take me back to bed. "Irritated when I tried to get you to come back to bed, but sweet," she said.
"See?" I said, trying to allay her fear that I was some sort of manipulative prick just waiting in the grass to pounce, "I'm even nice when I don't realize it!"
- Depression
- I can sleep better but I'll be depressed when I wake? I envy depressed people because they sleep a lot!
- Dry mouth
- Again with the dry mouth, but my pillows thank you, Ambien
- Joint and muscle pain
- Wow, it's the drugs, not old age and a bad mattress.
- Loss of memory
- Again? Still? Why?
- Extreme sense of well being
- Wow, I'm hosed. I'm not going to be on "The Tonight Show" or "The Colbert Report?"
- Perform complex natural behaviors while asleep
- Sleep walking!
- Cannot focus thoughts
- And I thought that was ADHD, or a myriad of other things.
- Chronic trouble sleeping
- This is prescribed for sleeping.
- Nervous or anxious
- Wow, this is disconcerting, eh?
- Loss of one's own sense of reality or identity
- Loss of reality but feeling an extreme sense of well being? Maybe Napoleon Dynamite should be my role model. Maybe under this facade I AM the original Napoleon Dynamite? WTF?
Halcion Side Effects I'm almost unable to work due to memory problems, but it seems all meds I've taken have an effect on my memory. The question I'm starting to ask myself is whether any of that memory loss is permanent even after switching to another. How would I know if I go from one med that affects my memory to another? Funny, right?
- Cannot focus thoughts
- Oh no!
- Loss of Memory
- Oh no! (Oh, I said that)
- Cannot Empty Bladder
- They have drugs for that. Urecholine is one Rx for this symptom, but side effects include frequent urination? WTF?
- Having Thoughts of Suicide
- Who doesn't? Really, who doesn't, if they are have no friends, no money, nobody calls, body falling apart, and is mentally ill? Well, I don't think about it. Really, don't call 911, I'm fine. Really.
- Increased Production of Saliva or dry mouth
- [Insert your own joke here]
- Feel like throwing up or throwing up
- Yeah, I hate when I throw up without feeling like I'm going to throw up. I'm standing there and "ralph...."
- False sense of well-being
- Moi? That's why I take drugs, not what I expect from taking them.
- Altered interest in having sexual intercourse
- Altered from what baseline? I'm suffering the side effects from a med used to fight the side effect of altered interest in sexual intercourse. Is Kama Sutra a bipolar thing, or a warning sign if you peek at Kama Sutra positions in the public library while taking Halcion?
Anxiety Meds:
Valium: Reason I was prescribed this: Anxiety has been a big part of my life, and being in sales makes anxiety a way of life. Efficacy: Good short-term but addiction is almost immediate and painful to quit.
Valium Side Effects Addiction and rebound effects are classic for Valium and others in its class of drugs. This is a class of dangerous drugs called benzodiazapines. And yes, I mean dangerous! The worst thing about these benzos is quitting cold turkey. Been there, done that twice.
Seroquel XR Side Effects were the worst thing I'd experienced. If not for my love for my mother and two daughters, knowing they'd hate me if I did the dirty deed, I would have ended my life in 2009, or maybe it was 2010. I can't remember due to the other drugs I'm on.
I'm using WebMD to share the side effects. It's worth noting that the ad across the top of that web page is for a medication that almost killed me with the suicidal side effects after being on it for 14 months.
I'm using WebMD to share the side effects. It's worth noting that the ad across the top of that web page is for a medication that almost killed me with the suicidal side effects after being on it for 14 months.
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