CLOZAPINE...no way.

Steel Maiden · 30-05-2009, 02:03 PM

Has anyone ever been on Clozapine before?
Clozapine is for treatment-resistant schizophrenia.

I have been on it. Its horrible.
- couldn't walk very far.
- couldn't run (I am a club-level cross-country runner so that was horrible).
- drooled all over myself at night.
- gastrointestinal disturbances.
- lost 3kg in 2 weeks (not good for me as I'm already borderline underweight).
- stiff all over.
- lost most of my immunity.
- blurred vision.
- zombified.
- SLEPT 14 HOURS A DAY! I HATE HATE HATE SLEEPING AS IT IS.
- twitches.

And guess what...it didn't do much for the psychotic symptoms.

Has anyone else taken Clozapine and has anything to share?

tweety pie 84 · 30-05-2009, 02:29 PM

i havent taken it but i have heard of friends of friends being on it. In particular my friends sister who is in a picu unit because of non compliance and given that list of side effects im not suprised! It sounds horrible

Ami · 30-05-2009, 02:30 PM

i know someone who has and says it keeps her symptoms under control.

if a few more old antipsychotics dont work or produce introrrable side effects, i think ill have to go on it x

Steel Maiden · 30-05-2009, 02:41 PM

I think I made this post twice by mistake (i.e. I posted about this issue a while ago). Sorry.

I'm just waiting to hear from anyone who's taken Clozapine and it actually works ok with them! Because my experience was terrible and it didn't help psych symptoms.

Ami · 30-05-2009, 02:45 PM

steel, do they use it in other psychosises or just schizophrenia?

i dont have schiz, just a crappy diagnosis of "psychosis NOS".

BTW i think there are a few people who clozapine has worked wonders for floating around on here!xx

lostandalone3 · 30-05-2009, 07:59 PM

My partner takes this and it works for him. Most of the side effects will wear off in time. He drools alot at night but there is a med for it if it bothers you that much. The sleepiness should wear off too, and you prob dont like sleeping because your symptomatic at the moment.

Clozapine although in rare cases like less than 1% of the population can lower your white blood cell count thus affecting your immunity, it prob was not the clozapine which caused your immunity to drop. The drs. prob look at it by judging the benefits versus the harm. And as they see it if you drool a little more at night its got to be better than what you are experiencing now.

Clozapine is like any other anti psychotic with time, the side effects should lessen and may disapear completely. I have not met anyone yet whom after many diff drugs not working clozapine worked for them.

At the moment you are in hosp right? So i guess you arent doing much running anyway. If you allowed clozapine to take effect and help then you would be able to do all the things you want to do in life... like go to med school.

I know side effects are horrible. But after reading many of your posts i think you need to ask yourself if you are now comfortable with the voices, the restraints, having drugs forcibly injected into you and all the hospital admissions? and by allowing Clozapine to make you symptom free you will lose all that. Sorry if this sounds harsh.

Like most psychiatric medications you need to give them time to work, like weeks or so. And you have to remember they have to get it up to a theraputic level. So although it feels like you have been on the drug for ages it has to be titrated to the right dose and then give it a few weeks. As i remember you werent on clozapine although that long and your dose wasnt all that high. Well in comparison to what the people i know take.

justapuppetonastring · 30-05-2009, 08:48 PM

I take it and it works pretty well for me. I used to get a lot of side effects but they ware off after a while. Sometimes ii have relapses if something stresses me out or worries me and i end up back quite ill again but mostly its good. Ive tried qujite a lot of anti psychs and its the only one thats made an impact xx Hope your okay Oly xx

And Ami ive just googled it and it looks like clozapine is only used in schizophrenia, but im not totally positive you need to ask a doc me thinks xx

Ami · 30-05-2009, 09:08 PM

^ shelley, just dr vivek said i need try old ones, i think he mentioned haloperidol and chloropromazine or summit xx

discovery_journey · 30-05-2009, 09:48 PM

a close friend of mine takes it. she had tried newer anti-psychotics for her schizophrenia and they didn't work.
she had side effects to begin with but they wore off
she has put on weight and got a tummy with this med
but atleast she is now out of hospital (she was inpatient for 10 months this latest time)

ThinkingofRecovery · 01-06-2009, 10:54 AM

Oly, I hope you aren't angry at this but have you tried reading your posts from when you were on Clozapine? I might be wrong but it seemed to me as though you were getting better but weren't quite up to the right dose. You changed back to a med you had already relapsed on and you are quite poorly at the moment. Maybe you could give the Clozapine another go? It would be worth it if it would make you well enough to go to uni this time round.