Today I met with my pdoc and we talked for about 15 minutes I have seen her for many years now....told her that I was on the fence with hypomania, she told me to call her if I fell off the fence.
and then left the room....she came right back in and asked if I was taking the geodon with food. I told her never....she said that I should be talking it with food, the bottle always said that but I thought it was for GI upset(it has never upset my stomach)...but no...it is for better absorption! She told me about 200 calories of food at bed time. So I guess a cup of fat free milk and a piece of cheese will do the trick, EVERY NIGHT!!!
I wonder if beer would count? I forgot to ask her that
bizi

Dear Bizi,

Geodon needs fat to be absorbed according to this site:
http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2007/...s_not_bid.html
This site says you need 500 calories when you take Geodon.
http://journals.lww.com/practicalpsy...opment_.5.aspx
You can also check with your pharmacist.

Mari

PS
Whoops I just saw that I typed the header wrong.
I would ask the pharmacist to look it up for you.

thank you mari...
I jsut sent an email to my pdoc asking her about this.
I take my meds at night to help me sleep, geodon is sedating. so I guess I would have to take them at my dinner meal. then deal with the sedation???
I can't see eating 500 calories before bed...so much for my diet....
I will wait to hear from her...I have been taking it with out food all of these years....
sigh
bizi

Dear Bizi...

ack!

i wonder if this means you will be able to decrease the dose when you are stable... or now... because you were not absorbing most of what you were taking...

a lot of meds whose absorption is modified/enhanced by food also do not peak as fast or as high when taken with food. (Cmax could be less even with greater AUC.) so it may not knock you out as fast, if it does, and perhaps not as much. your pdoc should be able to give you some indication of this. but you will need to experiment a bit methinks. you could try taking it right after dinner one night when it's ok if you crash out early.

good luck!

~ waves ~

THIS med apparently peaks higher with food. arghh

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsa...483s003lbl.pdf

i will see if i can find something on time to peak fasting vs fed.

~ waves ~

well I jsut had a big dinner and took the 80mg of geodon so we will see if I get sleepy.....sigh
waves maybe you are right that I won't need as much of it.
She said that it was safe to take up to 240mg a day.
I read 160mg. maybe she is thinking 80mg 3xday????
See if I can get to sleep and sleep thru the night...with jsut the 1mg of klonipin....
I am very leary of this experimant.
I hate change!
bizi

Dear Bizi

i know what you mean. i am not crazy about change myself. and i hate med experiments!

i really hopes this works out for you.

~ waves ~

Dear Bizi,
I hope that your trip goes well.
When you get back, I hope you can update us about how eating food with Geodon has made a difference in your moods.

M.

Thanks Mari,
I keep forgetting to take the geodon with my dinner...
sigh
when I was..it did not make that much of a difference...so will have to do better from now on....to give it a good chance to make a difference.
bizi

Dear Bizi,
Taking the Geodon with food is kind of like taking a new med (or certainly with boosting a dose).
You might have to do it every night for 7 nights or more in a row to notice a difference and to get over the side effects.

I used to carry my meds in my purse and take them if I was out in the evening --- instead of waiting until I got back home late.
M.