My doctor said olanzapine (zyprexa) has a similar efficacy to clozapine. I’m hesitant to try it though because I’ve heard the weight gain is really bad and it isn’t as effective as clozapine. Honestly the only problem I have with clozapine is the monthly blood draws. My main worry about switching is that is if I actually am treatment resistant, I will relapse right back into psychosis. I could always go back to clozapine, but then I would have to go back to weekly blood draws making the whole thing seem not worth it. My previous doctor determined I was treatment resistant, but I question if that is actually the case because I was not on a therapeutic dose of different antipsychotics for long enough to actually be able to make this call. I was put on clozapine just to get me out of the hospital as quickly as possible.

Anyone had any success switching antipsychotics from clozapine and remaining relapse/symptom free?

Fda panel voted against it- anyone know about changes?

It seems like everybody who goes on clozapine gains weight. However since starting it a few weeks ago, I have had virtually no appetite and have lost a few pounds. Anybody else experience loss of appetite as a side effect of this drug? Is this permanent? Scientifically, how is this possible?

Hi all! I am conducting research into hearing voices and social identity. I know that may not apply to everyone on this subreddit but if you experience voices, live in the UK, and are 18+, I would be very grateful if you could spare the time to fill out this online survey:

https://psychiatryoxford.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ctBxoOaGOkE4AiG

https://preview.redd.it/cbs9qrv80b3e1.png?width=1587&format=png&auto=webp&s=bd00b1b4f2d2fa356d5149fed76d396301355fef

Hi!, my normal dose was 50mg, and after two days on 25mg, I'm going to skip a day, possibly more, I want to stop taking this, so I'm stopping on my own, in this post, don't try to convince me not to, I appreciate any possible concerns, but the best way to help, is to share your experience or knowledge of withdrawals, how they work with this work, so if you ever got off of it, got any withdrawals symtomps, please share them in the comments below, it would mean the world to me.

Help me out on this lil journey, I need it.
Love you all

I was taking 50mg Clozapine (A while back I had a larger dose, we reduced it with my last psychiatrist, but he can't treat me anymore)
I was getting side effects like frequent urination for months, no one fucking believed me, I ran tests, came back fine, talked with my mom, my therapist, a few psychiatrists, no one took it seriously, and their idea of fix was "oh, just don't think about it so much"

So a day ago, I said, fuck this, and went down to 25mg or 1/4 of a tablet.
Anyone has experience going down and off Clozapine? It may have been placebo, but after just 1 day I felt that the urges went down.
I want to work, and be able to go out without having to pee every fucking second, If that means lying and doing stuff on my own, so fucking be it.

Any thoughts? When do you think you can go from 25mg to 0mg?

I increased to 50 mg something like 4 days ago and have been sleeping like crap, waking up 4 times a night with great difficulty falling back asleep. Weird, since clozapine knocks me out within a hour of taking it and used to made me sleep a lot at lower dosages.

I also have been taking pipamperone 40 mg for sleep for months now (before starting on clozapine) which has always worked great (until now).

I took clozapine 75 mg yesterday and couldn't sleep (same situation).

Did anyone see the FDA voted 14-1 against the Clozapine REMS? There was a meeting in DC yesterday and they voted to get rid of it but I don’t know when things will take effect. I hope soon!!!

Hi everybody! My name is Lily, and I am a pre-med student at the University of Colorado. I am currently taking a Writing in Sciences class where I am required to collect my own data. I am conducting a survey on medication awareness, compliance, and treatment for individuals with schizophrenia or their caregivers. This survey is completely anonymous and is for a class research paper only that will not be published. If you are interested in taking this survey, please click the link below or DM me, and I can send you a personalized link. Thank you so much for your time!

https://ucdenver.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2n2dRoC8zwZrBxI

im on 125mg atm comment!!

I was on Clozapine for a year(will be going on it back) and sedation became much less noticable after being on it for a year

My husband is on 100 mg clozapine and has been since the beginning of July.

The past few days he has cried a few times. Not anything that seems unreasonable, but he also has MS and gets emotional about what’s going on. This is the first time he’s been able to get teary eyed since being on the clozapine.

Is this normal? Does anyone else still cry and feel all the emotions even with the clozapine?

I’m new to this, so please be kind even if you think this is a stupid question.

• do your blood testing early in the week

     - if you do it on thursday/ friday they your doctor doesnt have time to approve it before the weekend starts (they will be out of office and you wont be able to get your meds!) 

• schedule psychiatrist appointments weeks in advance

    - sometimes i have three scheduled in                advance so that i am able to tritrate up and  meet with my psychiatrist more often.

    - at my doctors office, appointments are always booked quickly

• get your medication with a pharmacy that has late hours and credible staff

    - there is only one place that you can get your clozapine from so choose wisely!

• call your insurance when they receive insurance blocks so you dont pay out of pocket

• meet with your psychiatrist once a week

    - this is so you will be able to trirate up quicker!!

• take individual miralax packages if you have bowel issues due to the clozapine (they are more portable and easier than carrying around the bottle)

• have hope!! it takes six months to fully tritrate up and experience the full effects!!

• dont skip days, drink or do drugs!!

• see a cardiologist to make sure the clozapine isnt affecting your heart

• visit an urgent care to get a prescription for the clozapine if your doctors office is closed

comment if you have more tips i havent mentioned!!

What does the real molecule look like? Seems ti be different ones on Google. Thinking about getting it tattooed

I need to lose weight so Im starting on Wegovy. Any advice or suggestions?

clozaril makes me forget all of my dreams always. Whenever I fall asleep without taking it I have vivid dreams but when I do at night, I can never remember them. Also I have to take it at night because it knocks me out for at least 4 or 5 hours. No matter what I’m doing at the time, I will just fall asleep. Is this common or a thing with anyone else?

Not like tremors or shaking. But I will be holding my phone and my hands will spontaneously jump hard enough to throw my phone.

I have no fever but keep getting cold and having body aches when no one else is cold. Ive been on it for about 2 wks now. I have no fever. Is this normal or not even related to clozapine? It didnt start til after being on it.

Does anyone have any experience with being on clozapine and having surgery?

My husband is needing an emergency gallbladder removal. He takes 100 mg of clozapine nightly and is doing fantastic. I know anesthesia can make people feel a little loopy when they first wake up. I’m so so scared we are going to slip back into psychosis, even though he’s still on clozapine.

Any experience or positive experiences?

Thanks!

Started taking it a week ago (now at 18.75mg and slowly increasing dosage every 3 days) for bipolar (coming from a pretty bad manic/mixed phase). I noticed that, since I started taking it, I'm actually more aggressive/hostile towards people around me. Family noticed, so it's definitely real. I was feeling horrible before taking it, but this feels like a step backwards (no more euphoria and internal dialogues though). Does it make any sense? My doc says he doesn't think it's the clozapine. I also wake up in the middle of the night. What do you guys think?

Hello everyone,

I’m new to this board and reaching out for some insights. We live in an Asian country, and I’ve been hearing a lot about additional complementary treatments that patients in the US and UK often receive alongside clozapine, such as:

•	Psychotherapy (e.g., CBT, DBT)
•	Cognitive Remediation Therapy (CRT)
•	Psychoeducation and family therapy
•	Social skills training
•	Nutrition and exercise coaching

For those of you who have experience with these treatments, could you share your thoughts on which have been particularly helpful? I’m interested in creating a similar program in my town to support my relative’s treatment, and any insights on their effectiveness or challenges would be invaluable.

Thank you in advance!

Hi to all- My relative was on Resperidone for a year but the auditory hallucination didnt go away. Now he was switched to clozapine. The problem is he has fear of needles (trypanophobia). I know he needs regular cbc blood tests as he increases the dose. He wont do the blood tests i am sure. Has anybody ever heard of a similar situation or any suggestions how to address it?

Thanks

Note: please dont post about hoping im doing this with a doctor. I get it. I already know this is probably stupid. If those goes really badly I’ll go back on it and work with my psychiatrist to get off it.

I was on a dose of 150 mg and then dropped down to 50mg about 3 weeks ago (but still slept fine weirdly). Ive been on it for about 8 months, mostly at 250mg, and I dropped to 150 under my psychiatrists supervision. I stopped taking it on thursday and I’m not sure ive slept at all since then. I might have dozed off a few times while laying in bed but if I did then I would wake up like 10 minutes later. Some stuff is pretty bad like feeling off balance, trouble focusing and doing absent minded stuff. I actually feel surprisingly good otherwise. But It’s getting worse and I worry that im going to start falling over or hallucinating or something (i dont hallucinate otherwise).

So yea. My plan was to take some of it early tomorrow night and then sleep for like 14 hours and then go off it again (and repeat this if necessary). Would doing this reset the withdrawals? I would just tough it out if I could even get a few hours sleep but I can’t operate on no sleep at all.

Is it normal??? I'm bipolar currently going through one of the worst times of my life. I was su*cidal and depressed/manic to begin with but this feels different.

i just need to make ruse

I thought u were supposed to start at 12.5mg but the prescription bottle just says take one (25mg) tablet once daily

Is it ok to start at 25? Or should i cut one in half for the first night?

Hello people,

I got sick since October 2021. I quit job and studies because if violent delusions. Have tried many different antipsyhotics or combinations of them. Nothing was working. Either I wasn't drinking them not long enough cause I couldn't bear the side effects, and I was decreasing the dosage. Or they were not helping me. In the year 2022, I got treatment with clozapine (200 mg) and abilify (15 mg), in the clinic. This wasn't helping me, and then after 6 months I changed meds to olanzapine and abilify, but lower dosages. Nothing. I was totally dysfunctional. So the year 2023 was basically just wasted as well, I was laying in bed thinking about my delusions. And in October 2023, I was talking with the psychiatrist, and asked that maybe I can give a try to clozapine again. But monotherapy.

So, I started to take 25 mg in October 2023, and after maybe 6 months, I started to have some improvements in my symptoms. When I was trying to increase it, I felt worse and went back to the 25 mg. At that time I was also taking antidepressant, which probably was doing worse to my symptoms. Then I quit paroxetine, and was taking only clozapine. I finally could go and make groceries, I started to talk with my friends and so on. But I still had the feeling that those weird thoughts are sometimes there. And it was really hard to understand whether I think about them because of the whole trauma and having them for such a long time, or there is not enough of meds. How to understand this?

Finally, I have decided to give it a try and increase the dosage to 37.5 mg of clozapine. First week I was feeling terrible, now it's a little bit better, but it became harder to think and find the right words when I talk. But generally, I think my thoughts are more calm.

And now the question comes, is it too late to increase the clozapine as I did, after 1 year because I thought I still have some breakthrough weird stuff in my head? Cause it's already 3 years since I am sick and I started to take it only one year ago. And maybe 25 mg were fine, I just don't know what I am doing know and if it's bullshit and I should come to the previous dosage. Kinda confused and so tired after all this at the same time. And the stupid thing is that I wasn't increasing it since I started in October 2023. I have no idea why. Maybe because I thought that it is somehow helping and I felt probably that's enough. And i was always home, there was no pressure on me to find the job and start doing smth.

I just want to come back to work at least. And I feel to stupid now. About studies I am not sure yet. Almost all of these 3 years I spent at home.

Need some advice.

Could a anticholinergic like Benztropine work since antispcyhotic withdrawal causes cholinergic rebound?

What symptoms does clozapine exactly help with? Just the positive? Can it help negative ones like anhedonia, avolation, asociality, alogia too?

As far as my symptoms go, I personally only have paranoia (only at night) as my delusions COMPLETELY disappeared after 3 doses of Invega (bizarre, I know). But I’m hoping it would help with flat affect, anhedonia, and all the other negative symptoms.

I’m EXTREMELY prone to akathesia, but from what I read clozapine targets dopamine receptors least associated with movement (and therefore less likely to get akathesia).

Do you guys think it’s worth a shot? Especially if I’ve tried over 10 antipsychotics without ANY benefit?