Hey guys..

I was just at the doc's with my sister and he was asking me about my foot and RSD and what meds i am on. And he mentioned the medication called Geodon? I looked it up and its used for an Anti-psychotic and for schizophrenia. Any info would be appreciated!!

Hope everyone is stayin in from the heat bc its freekin nuts here and its making my foot and leg go nuts!!


Amber

You can wind up on some strange medications with RSD.

I tried the geodon but couldn't stay on it because it seemed like I was always on the verge of falling. Give it a try since medictions affect people differently. You never know what's going to help and geodon is a common one to help RSD.

I have to strongly disagree with the doctor and Imahotep. I was a psychiatric social worker at a state psych hospital and was involved in all discussions involving treatment for my patients, so while I don't have medical training I do have the benefit of learning a lot from medications meetings.

It has been 12 years, and new psychotrophic meds with fewer side-effects have come out, but reading the drug info available at the top of this page tells me that this is NOT the kind of drug you give a patient in the hope that it will help treat RSD.

Your doctor may need to change the doses of your medications or monitor you carefully for side effects ~ MedlinePlus. Nursing staff were always instructed to monitor patients during med changes; you can't get careless with something that can affect the brain.

Also tell your doctor if you have or have ever had heart or liver disease, breast cancer, heart failure, an irregular heartbeat, a stroke or mini-stroke, or seizures, the drug obviously can affect many parts of the body. I have no idea whether anti-seizure meds (such as gabatril, Lamictal and Lyrica) can mean an additional risk, but those drugs do affect the brain long after we stop using them.

you should know that you may experience hyperglycemia (increases in your blood sugar) while you are taking this medication, even if you do not already have diabetes The list of warnings is endless.

Listed side-effects are pretty much the usual suspects, except: unusual movements of your face or body that you cannot control. This is called tardive dyskinesia, a terrible -- and permanent -- side-effect of many antipsychotic drugs. Even involuntary psychiatric patients must be warned about this and have the right to refuse any medication that can cause it.

Antipsychotic drugs are always extremely poserful, come with lots of risks and side-effects, and should only be prescribed by psychiatrists (who are expected to know more about them than an anesthesiologist or pcp).

Imahotep, I'm shocked and sickened at the fact that a physician would prescribe Geodon for your RSD. Based on this alone, I'm convinced she/he is not just incompetent but downright dangerous. The risks of taking Geodon are far to severe to justify prescribing it in the hope it might help RSD.

If the doctor who prescribed this drug for you told you it is commonly used, he/she lied to you, It isn't, and thank God! If it were we can look to a future in which many RSD patients, still suffer from the disease and also suffer from obnoxious and uncontrollable lip-smacking and finger rolling (tardiive dyskinesia).

There is no nothing to link schizophrenia with RSD, and absolutely no reason to prescribe that drug to us...Vic

Hello Amber,

As VICC says there is nothing to relate RSD to schizophrenia but there are many meds that are being utilised in the treatment of RSD that are not actually being used for what they were originally developed for.
Anti epilepsy drugs such as Neurontin and Lyrica, hypertension and migraine drugs such as Clonidine, Alzheimers drug Memantine----so many that one would never have imagined could be or should be useful in a disease that seems to have no definites, yet many people report that they do help.
I suppose the question is whether you are willing to risk the possible side effects in the effort to gain pain relief ? You will know yourself if you think the risk of side effects is worth the possible outcome----Good luck with your decision.
Antipsychotics are not an uncommon drug here in Australia for the treatment of RSD- they seem to have mechanisms that allow us to lay down new memories and new learning, I guess this maybe the criteria that doctors are looking at when using it for the treatment of RSD.
Cheers and luck
Tayla

"Imahotep, I'm shocked and sickened at the fact that a physician would prescribe Geodon for your RSD. Based on this alone, I'm convinced she/he is not just incompetent but downright dangerous. The risks of taking Geodon are far to severe to justify prescribing it in the hope it might help RSD."

Frankly I was trying to damn the drug with faint praise. I changed doctors since the one that prescribed this. Most of what was being given me were psychotropic drugs and I've never had any beneficial effect from these except for depakote. Most of them just give me intolerable side-effects with no affect on me except to supress specific types of thinking. Some people are apparently helped by such drugs but, for me, only the lexapro came close.

I stand corrected on saying geodon was commonly used for RSD patients. I apologize for making the statement and was simply repeating what the doctor had told me. Since I have no medical training I try to choose my words very carefully and try not to encourage people to not follow medical advice.

One of the better doctors I've had told me early on to pick and choose drugs very carefully. If you miss a dose and there's no change, consider discontinuing it. Always try to reduce dosages to see if they still work. He went on to say that this disease tends to result in many doctors and many prescriptions. Be very careful about which you use; the best chance if you've had this too long for a cure is to find the right group of medications that work for you.

These are his words and I try to do this. I can't sugest to someone to ignore medical advice even where I think it's poor.

Vicc; Thanks for the information.

Imahotep,


You are right in much of what you have said and I don't believe there is anything in your post that could be mistaken for giving indescriminate medical advise at all.You have simply shared a story in response to Amber's question about anyone having had heard of it's use. If your doctor prescribed Geodon for you I would doubt very much that he prescribed them for any other reason other than he hoped you maybe one of those who did benefit from it. There is documented and anecdotal evidence that some people do well on them and in my opinion we may just well refuse a medication or treatment that may just be the answer for us due to fear.
These drugs are used quite commonly in the treatment of RSD, maybe not Geodon so often but certainly many other similar antipsychotics and where you had intolerable side effects, many others don't.
I have had some shocking side effects from things I have trialled, I have watched people have terrible reactions to medications but I have seen many successful outcomes and had successful outcomes myself ----It is all about what each of us thinks is a considered risk to take in the search for a better quality of life.
Cheers
Tayla

Hi Imahotep,

Just to clarify, what I said was: If the doctor who prescribed this drug for you told you it is commonly used, he/she lied to you, It isn't, and thank God! If it were we can look to a future in which many RSD patients, still suffer from the disease and also suffer from obnoxious and uncontrollable lip-smacking and finger rolling (tardiive dyskinesia). I didn't think you would make up such a claim, but some doctors have been guilty of making ex-cathedra pronouncements based solely on flatulence

You said: I can't sugest to someone to ignore medical advice even where I think it's poor. Well, I can. When I do, I rely on scientific evidence, known facts and common sense to point out what's wrong with it.

Tayla, in your first reply you said Antipsychotics are not an uncommon drug here in Australia for the treatment of RSD. You said much more, of course, and I will discuss that in greater detail in a future reply, but those words led me to think warm, fuzzy thoughts about the AMA (possibly the most reactionary organization in the world), and that doesn't happen often.

I guess I'm glad in some ways that the AMA was able to maintain a tight discipline for so many years among physicians in this country; it probably prevented many from from emulating what appears (by your statement, at least) to be happening in Australia: chaos and anarchy.

My next reply (I'm just too tired to try to write it now) will discuss in some detail the differences between the drugs you mentioned as being used off-label in the treatment of RSD (and some others), and prescribing Geodon.

You wrote: If your doctor prescribed Geodon for you I would doubt very much that he prescribed them for any other reason other than he hoped you maybe one of those who did benefit from it. I agree, but doctors are supposed to provide safe, scientifically sound medical advice and treatment, not "hopes" and "maybes"; that a truly dangerous drug will do the job.

I hope you will be able to provide some of that documented evidence that some [RSD] people do well on them...because I intend to introduce evidence, facts and logic that I hope will persuade everyone who reads it that this drug is so dangerous that they should run from any doc who tries to prescribe it for RSD.

Finally (for now): It is NOT about what each of us thinks is a considered risk to take in the search for a better quality of life. That's why we're not allowed to go into pharmacies and pick things off the shelf. Physicians are supposed to consider the risks, THEN offer us that opportunity, after they have exercised their judgement.

Any physician who prescribes an antipsychotic drug -- or any drug with such severe side-effects -- without substantial evidence that it has been shown to be efficacious, is too dangerous to be allowed to write prescriptions.

Finally, finally, I believe I read that you are a nurse: In your professional experience, have you ever treated a pt with tardive dyskinesia? I have worked with many such pts, and if forced to, I would be hard-pressed to choose between it and RSD. I am shocked and sickened at the knowledge that any physician would suggest such a choice even exists. The best outcome would be RSD alone, the worst: RSD plus TD...Vic

Vicc,


In answer to your question whether I have treated anyone with TD ---no I haven't but I have seen people with it years ago when doing a psych rotation and I am by no means making light of a very disturbing problem. It seems however, that you are insinuating that this is a common response to the drug . I would be very interested in seeing the actual percentage of patients who do have this complication.
I have no intention of arguing the point, we are clearly poles apart in our thoughts, I respect yours but they are coming from a very different place to mine.
Cheers Tayla

It is good to see both sides for information on many topics including any pros and cons of meds.

I think Amber {RSD_Angel} was possibly looking for any personal stories if anyone has tried the med Geodon.


I found out recently that my sister in law has TD {not from this med though}.

Vicc; I appreciate your candor nearly as much as your indepth knowledge. You don't need to sugar coat anything for me and I have extremely thick skin.

The closest I can come to candor on this subject is that I immediately discontinued the geodon. The only effect it had was to put me in a slight daze and turn me into an accident waiting to happen. NONE of my symptoms were improved though, of course, there might have been an effect if I stuck with it. I'm sure I'd have fallen and been hurt if I tried though.

This was the second worst drug this doc prescribed. The worst confused me so much that I don't think I was even dosing it properly.

This doc did get me on one good medication (gabapentin), so there was probably much more good than harm done.