Posted by Brainbeard on July 29, 2009, at 15:28:16
In reply to Re: Geodon 1x or 2x a day?, posted by SheilaC on July 29, 2009, at 11:06:01
Interesting question!
I'm on low dose Geodon myself, and I've been asking myself this very question.
There's the drug's half-life, which is only about 7 hours, but the most prominent effects of the drug in the brain (5HT2A-antagonism and D2-antagonism) last much longer, close to 24 hours.
Geodon also does some noradrenalin and serotonin reuptake inhibition (SNRI), reportedly about as potent as amitriptyline, which means this would probably become really significant only at doses of about 80mg and higher.
Anyhow, I think that the SNRI action in the brain is more short-lived and is the reason that people may experience unpleasant effects when their dose wears off.The Geodon can also mess with blood pressure and pulse, and fluctuations in this area can be highly unpleasant too.
Now for the sedation. I had no idea that Geodon would be so sedating in low doses; but I completely recognize the need to get back to bed in the morning! The studies I've seen swear that this effect wears off soon. I'm not so sure. A friend of mine is on the stuff for a longer while and she says the sedation can be 'brutal'.
Now, your suggestion that Geodon could sedate you in the evening doesn't work for me. I now take my Geodon with dinner, and it totally doesn't sedate me. I tried taking it with lunch, and then it did sedate me. Not surprisingly, it also sedated me when I took it in the morning. More than that: I tend to be sedated in the morning no matter if I take the drug in the morning or the evening before!
If it wasn't for the sedation, I would definitely dose both with breakfast and with dinner to have more steady blood levels. I'm on 25mg now and I do have the feeling that I experience mild withdrawal effects in the hours before my dinner dose.
By the way, in low doses Geodon can act more as an activating antidepressant (which is why I take it). The antipsychotic effects only come to the fore with doses of 80mg and up.
And, perhaps superfluously: don't take Geodon without a meal, since it won't be absorped half as well!
poster:Brainbeard
thread:909142
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20090721/msgs/909181.html