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Aimless
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23 Oct 2010, 3:13 pm

I have been complaining (my whole life) about not having the will do to any more than is necessary to get through the

day. Antidepressants and meds for AD-PI have made significant improvements, but nothing gets rid of the

overwhelming ennui and mental fog. My new pNP suggested low dose Geodon and I did see some improvements for a

few days but not enough to merit the dosing hassles and the side effects. She said to go off immediately if I saw

signs of Tardive Dyskinesia and I have so I did. Also it's making my heart feel weird. Little did I know that only after 2

months of very low dose Geodon the withdrawal would be so awful. According to what I read online this could last for

2 weeks. I feel like I have the flu sort of and my head has waves of fogginess. My teeth are clenching involuntarily as

well as my tongue is making odd movements. I've been asleep on and off all day. I've also lost most of my natural

voice, it comes out higher in pitch and has a weird warble-y sound to it. So if I seem off today, I am.



Aimless
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23 Oct 2010, 4:56 pm

Well what I'm experiencing with my voice seems to be Spasmodic Dysphonia, so now I have neurological damage. My voice sounds like it does when you speak directly into a fan. It's the same thing Diane Rehm has which she has to periodically have shots of Botulism injected into her throat for. :evil:



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23 Oct 2010, 5:07 pm

Oh, I'm sorry you're having such a rough time. :( I know two weeks is a long time when you're poorly, but at least things should improve when the withdrawal is over.



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23 Oct 2010, 5:11 pm

mgran wrote:
Oh, I'm sorry you're having such a rough time. :( I know two weeks is a long time when you're poorly, but at least things should improve when the withdrawal is over.


Thanks for responding mgran. At this point I don't know if the damage to my voice is permanent or not or the tardive dyskinesia either. I hope so. I feel like I can't speak anymore. My voice sounds really weird. My vocal chords are vibrating too much or something. Strange to think that it's from neurological damage.



mgran
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23 Oct 2010, 6:11 pm

How long were you on this stuff before the TD and voice problems kicked in?



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23 Oct 2010, 6:24 pm

mgran wrote:
How long were you on this stuff before the TD and voice problems kicked in?


About 2 months total. I started on 20 mgs twice a day for a week and then was on 40 twice a day for a month. I went back to the 20 mgs twice a day about 2 weeks ago. So all of this is showing up early. I took a dose Friday morning and decided to discontinue and did not take the evening dose. My voice problems just started today. It seems to come and go but mostly it stays.



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23 Oct 2010, 7:10 pm

I am really sorry ((((((((Aimless))))))))) perhaps wait and see, it may not be permanent, I dont think 2 months is so long... I had awful problems with the meds I was on, though I took those for one year...

I hope you feel better. What could help is to find some webpages with people who took the same drug and see how they are faring after withdrawal and see if they had similar effects. That is what I did and found there are many people out there with similar side effects to what I suffered.. and mine was quite a commonly prescribed drug. Apparently most people dont get the problems I did from it, but I am in that minority and it certainly doesnt feel like the drug has "few problems" as I was told by the GP.

Anyway I hope you feel better soon and these effects fade...


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24 Oct 2010, 10:47 am

My voice is back to normal today, thank heavens. I hope it doesn't come back. The best way I can describe it is I sounded like a Wookie. I sounded like I was talking while I was gargling. I felt bad and out of it this morning but just got up from a nap and I feel pretty good. It's scary to think a short time on a low dose of something could temporarily change the way my vocal chords worked. I've read on line it's happened to others too.



mgran
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24 Oct 2010, 12:28 pm

I'm glad you're feeling better... it worries me when I hear about these kinds of effects... I wonder how common they are?

It must be a relief to have your voice back, you never realise how much a part of yourself your voice is until something goes wrong. Hope that you don't have any further unpleasant symptoms.



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24 Oct 2010, 1:47 pm

Thanks. :)



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24 Oct 2010, 4:32 pm

Wow. I knew you had been feeling a bit odd, but I just now saw all of this ... and I am sure glad to hear it seems to be going away. I had a little trouble like this after flushing my Thorazine many years ago, but it did not leave me with any permanent harm.


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24 Oct 2010, 6:18 pm

Thanks leejosepho :) My voice has been hoarse off and on (kind of going in and out) but not like it was doing before. The involuntary mouth movements have lessened considerably too. The whole reason I was put on low dose Geodon was to enhance my anti depressants. I was complaining about feelings of inertia and she was thinking I still had some residual depression. Perhaps the problem isn't depression but just the way I'm wired. Life wears me out quicker than the average person.



zen_mistress
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24 Oct 2010, 6:51 pm

Im glad you are feeling better, Aimless. :)


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leejosepho
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24 Oct 2010, 7:23 pm

Aimless wrote:
Life wears me out quicker than the average person.

Ah yes ... and if we had only know that years ago, eh?!

Keep hanging in there ...!


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