Dearangelou: Tapering down from Invega

[dearangelou]

Hello! I have played with my meds far too much in the past, so I found your site and am following the rules you suggest.

 

Over the past year, I've gone up on anti-psychotics, which has changed my hormones and made me sick. I want to go down on Invega from 12mg to 6mg.

 

Anyone taken this? Any advice?

 

Angelou

Edited September 10, 2017 by baroquep

[scallywag]

dearangelou

 

I'm glad you found this site before starting to reduce your invega dose. We have several active members who are tapering Invega and others who are tapering "anti-psychotic" medications.

 

A request:  Would you summarize your history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly?

• Any drugs prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years.
• Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago)
• Spell out months, e.g. "October" or "Oct."; 9/1/2016 can be interpreted as Jan. 9, 2016 or Sept. 1, 2016.
• Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses.
• A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs.
• You can find instructions in this topic: Please put your withdrawal history in signature.
• Link to Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

Here is some information relevant to your situation:

1. Before you begin tapering -- what you need to know.
2. Why taper by 10% of my dosage?.
3. Tips for tapering off Invega.

In the topic #2 above, we present our best suggestion for minimizing the risk of withdrawal symptoms -- decrease dose by no more than 10% per month. Just a note, the decrease in mg changes each time because what seems to be most effective is to calculate the 10% on the dose at the time, not your starting dose. So your decreases and doses would be:

12,

10.8 (12 - 1.2),

9.72 (10.8 - 1.08),

8.73 (9.7 - 0.97)

 

Some people find they need to make smaller adjustments: 7%, 5%, or even as little as 2%. To assess whether you are someone who needs to make smaller adjustments it's very important to pay attention to your symptoms. Please keep notes on paper of your symptoms and the times of your dose(s). This post has a useful format for a daily log:

Take notes of doses and symptoms.

 

To get a list of intro topics of others who are taking invega, you can click on the invega tag you added to your topic.  There are others posting about tapering this class of medications in the topic: Being on or tapering neuroleptics ("anti-psychotics").

 

I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but am glad that you found us.

x

Edited June 13, 2017 by scallywag
remove multiple unnecessary blank lines

[dearangelou]

Scallywag,

 

Thank you so much! I am not sure what I've taken when, but I'm back on track now.

 

I'm curious about this: have you all noticed symptoms from coming off meds that resemble an allergic reaction?

 

Angelou

[KarenB]

Hi Angelou,

 

There are many different types of withdrawal symptoms, including some that could resemble an allergic reaction.  What are the symptoms you are having?

 

You don't need to remember all your drug history for your signature, but if you can put in things that have happened recently, with dates and doses, that would help. 

 

Welcome to SA,

Karen

[dearangelou]

I am attaching my med history. It is detailed by day.

 

The abbreviations are: P for Paxil, S for Synthroid (which I suppose I will stay on), I for Invega, and R for Risperidone, and Z for Zyprexa. 

 

There are a few Gs, and they are Gabapentin.

 

I hope you all can give me advice. I am so sick of taking the meds when they seem to make me feel "out of it."

 

Angelou

Meds.docx

Edited September 10, 2017 by baroquep

[DMV64]

I just wanted to post and say I am here and I am sick of it too. I just found this place and I am hoping to find help here. I hope you will too.

[baroquep]

Dearangelou, re Sick of med roulette post - I have merged your this post back into your introduction topic and would ask that you post all of your questions here.  There is only one thread per member and it is important to keep all of your history in one place.  Thanks.

[baroquep]

Hi Derangedlou, Sorry to hear that you are still not feeling well, it's been awhile since you last posted.  Unfortunately we will not be able to give you any information until we have a clearer picture of what you are presently dealing with.  Can you tell me what your current symptoms are?  I see you have attached a document but we asked that every member complete a withdrawal history signature and would ask that you provide the information that Scallywag requested below.  Thanks.

 

On 2017-06-13 at 1:09 PM, scallywag said:

dearangelou

 

I'm glad you found this site before starting to reduce your invega dose. We have several active members who are tapering Invega and others who are tapering "anti-psychotic" medications.

 

A request:  Would you summarize your history in a signature -- drugs, doses, dates, and discontinuations & reinstatements, in the last 12-24 months particularly?

• Any drugs prior to 24 months ago can just be listed with start and stop years.
• Please use actual dates or approximate dates (mid-June, Late October) rather than relative time frames (last week, 3 months ago)
• Spell out months, e.g. "October" or "Oct."; 9/1/2016 can be interpreted as Jan. 9, 2016 or Sept. 1, 2016.
• Please leave out symptoms and diagnoses.
• A list is easier to understand than one or multiple paragraphs.
• You can find instructions in this topic: Please put your withdrawal history in signature.
• Link to Account Settings – Create or Edit a signature.

Here is some information relevant to your situation:

1. Before you begin tapering -- what you need to know.
2. Why taper by 10% of my dosage?.
3. Tips for tapering off Invega.

In the topic #2 above, we present our best suggestion for minimizing the risk of withdrawal symptoms -- decrease dose by no more than 10% per month. Just a note, the decrease in mg changes each time because what seems to be most effective is to calculate the 10% on the dose at the time, not your starting dose. So your decreases and doses would be:

12,

10.8 (12 - 1.2),

9.72 (10.8 - 1.08),

8.73 (9.7 - 0.97)

 

Some people find they need to make smaller adjustments: 7%, 5%, or even as little as 2%. To assess whether you are someone who needs to make smaller adjustments it's very important to pay attention to your symptoms. Please keep notes on paper of your symptoms and the times of your dose(s). This post has a useful format for a daily log:

Take notes of doses and symptoms.

 

To get a list of intro topics of others who are taking invega, you can click on the invega tag you added to your topic.  There are others posting about tapering this class of medications in the topic: Being on or tapering neuroleptics ("anti-psychotics").

 

I hope you'll find the information in the SA forums helpful for your situation. I'm sorry that you are in the position that you need the information, but am glad that you found us.

x