Have you taken Amisulpride? Did you have any side effects?

[daffy]

As some on here know ive not been too good for a few weeks and today my psych has increased the Depakote and also put me on Amisulpride at night. He wanted me to go on Olanzapine again but i refused outright as i put on massive amounts of weight. He said there might be slight weight gain but of all this was prob the least likely of anitpsychotics to do it.

When ive looked this med up tho it says its for schitzophrenia and thats never been mentioned to me that this was my prob (always been told bipolar)
I do see things on occasion, and this has happened recently, but ive had no voices recently and i thought that was more schitzophrenia.

I have suffered with rapid cycling recently and was considered a danger to myself at the time but seem to have recovered slightly and can manage again.

Just wondered if anyone knew of this med or had taken it and had any side effects etc. I just seem to be getting diagnosed with more and more probs instead of getting better. I have been told i have bipolar, psychosis, anxiety, avpd, and seemingly now schitzophrenia. Im beginning to wonder if they have any idea at all

 

[jamesdean]

hi daffy

when i 1st was prescribed olanzapine my psyc told me 2 ignore the notes leaflet because that 2 said it was 4 schizophrenia, n i was given it 2 lessen the voices, sorry 2 hear u havent been 2 good but honestly theres been a lot of postings about psycosis with depression it seems its quite common. take care best wishes jd

 

[Apotheosis]

Hi Daffy - I've been on this drug 10 years. I was originally put on 1200mg of Amisulpride at 25. I spent a year in bed & my weight ballooned. After a year I stopped taking it. I ended up back in hospital & refused meds. I eventually agreed to take 200mg Amisulpride & no more. My present does is 175mg. Given my present circumstances, & history I accept having to take it, & there is no accessible alternative; although I believe that there are effective alternatives out there, it is just that I do not have the resources to access them.

I have tried twice again over the past 7 years to come off this med. I can't without becoming very ill. I tend to think that with other more holistic & psychological help, early on in my illness, when I was 17; & with practical help addressing addiction & life problems - that I could have recovered med free. However, this has not been the case - the system gives meds as its primary & often sole treatment.

I have a present diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia (in remission), & poly substance misuse (presently abstinent). Over the past 3 years & at other times in the past; manic depression & schizo affective disorder have been given as possible diagnoses. I have also been diagnosed with at one time & another with - drug induced psychosis, psychotic depression, depression, the resurfacing of a (undiagnosed) psychotic illness, & just plain schizophrenia.

I tend to look at things from other perspectives, & I consider that all the main diagnosis share similar traits. I would go as far as to say that there could well be very similar causes underlying allot of peoples experiences of the main diagnoses. I have met many people over the years who appear to have no discernible difference in symptoms to mine, & yet have been diagnosed MD. Go figure? The psychiatrists simply do not know what they are dealing with, & most of them will feely admit this when questioned. I have been told that I know more than they do about my condition; by a psychiatrist, & at my last appointment I asked the psychiatrist what schizophrenia is. He started to reel off the hypotheses on cause, to which I replied I knew the theories; I asked, but what is it in its essence. He replied that they simply do not know. You can describe it in terms of cause, or in terms of symptoms, or even go as far as hypothetical theories concerning biological brain disease, which still is unproven. But there is nothing concrete & no test to say anyone categorically has a mental disorder, or either what that thing is in it's essence, except what is labelled as based on observation.

I try to keep what meds I take to a minimum & all I take is the one med. I try to look at this med positively; & I think it does help keep me on a level on which I can & do function relatively well, & still allow for growth.

Meds are a very complex issue & contain a minefield of individual circumstances & experience, in regards to whether they are beneficial or not. I don't think there are any simple answers surrounding them.

Try not to get too hung up on diagnoses, personally I don't lay much importance on whatever someone has been labelled with. It is a case I think of finding the "right" med or number of drugs which work & you are comfortable taking. Some people seem fine without meds, others do not function without them.

Amisulpride does seem to be a lesser one for side effects. I have had allot of symptoms which I have blamed on this med. But as "major tranquillizers" go - in which this group of anti psychotic fall, I do think that they are among one of the "Better" meds to take.

I hope that something of that could be helpful. Please ask anything specific about amisulpride if you need to, either here or PM me.

 

[daffy]

Thanks for your replies. I took the first one last night plus the increased Depakote and i dont know if its meant to help you sleep but had quite a good night and woke up at a reasonable time this morning.

Anyway ill see how i feel in a few days. My SW is phning on monday then coming out on wednesday to see how things are. Fingers crossed i wont end up looking like mr blobby

 

[Apotheosis]

Thanks for your replies. I took the first one last night plus the increased Depakote and i dont know if its meant to help you sleep but had quite a good night and woke up at a reasonable time this morning.

It does appear to help with sleep; I take mine at night also. Like any drug - it takes time to build up in the system & reach full potency.

 

[ramboghettouk]

I'm on sulpiride, i think it's similar, i've had various diagnoseses, the psychiatrist said "why did you tell the police you were schitsoprenic when i say your not" i said they asked me what the drugs were for, i've since returned to been diagnosed schitsoprenic.

I take a large amount, i can't help feeling that social problems are been treated as well as the illness, however i'd rather not end up in prison due to some explosion

My friend who was in that hostel with me all those yrs ago is on amisulpiride, like me he gets little support from anyone, maybe that was the idea when we were in that hostel, sometimes wonder how much money has been saved, i don't know if sulpiride and amisulpiride should be congratulated or cursed.

 

[daffy]

I think it must have been a coincidence that i slept the other night, cos i didnt sleep last night and im not very tired tonite. Will give it another and then go off to bed hopefully

 

[ramboghettouk]

i have 3 cans of guiness to get me to sleep.when i had a CPN she said it was better than sleeping pills, medical opinion as always is devided, i tend to be woken up in the early hrs by banging and wouldn't like been woken up from a sleeping pill

Told the yobs banging on the window aren't a mental health issue

 

[lost]

Hi,

I've been taking amisulpride pretty much every day for the last 8 years (apart from a few periods of trying to come off it, which all ended very badly). It totally kills my paranoid delusions - in fact they went away within a couple of days of first trying the drug - but I'm left with all the usual side-effects of anti-psychotics; granted some overlap with symptoms of the illness. The worst side-effect is weight gain, something quite definitely associated with the drug. I'm sure others are worse however and different individuals will respond differently.

Yes, the label says "for chronic schizophrenia" but that is only because after years of extensive cross-checking of numerous official tests that is all the government has approved it for. In italy it is freqiently used at low doses for depression, and it might well go the way of certain atypicals in the US of being prescribed for bipolar disorder and OCD. Anti-psychotics are increasingly being recognised as a catch-all "cure" for a number of conditions, even if the doctor has to prescribe them "off-label".

Like everyone-else I have a love-hate relationship with my own drug-buddy and would gladly throw away my pills for better treatment. However after 8 years I suspect I am hooked on this stuff and rather gloomily predict spending the rest of my life on it. One ray of hope is the research that is always going on into new medications and treatments, but this is under-funded. One can hope though..

If I get frustrated enough I'm telling myself - half in jest - that I'll book a one way ticket to the depths of Patagonia and leave my pills and 'script behind..

 

[Apotheosis]

If I get frustrated enough I'm telling myself - half in jest - that I'll book a one way ticket to the depths of Patagonia and leave my pills and 'script behind..

Hi Lost - I feel pretty much the same way as you.

I often think about escaping to the South American Jungles. I could paint myself Blue when I got there & hide up a tree.