Hey anonymous

Recently ananymous posted this in the comment section. I am going to reply to it here:

I am glad I found this site. It is very helpful. I can relate to your
problem. I have bipolar disorder(not sure if it is I or II) and
schizophrenic tendencies(not sure if it is full on schizophrenia or
schizo-affective bipolar type).I need to ask my practitioner my exact
diagnosis. I take Depakote ER 500 mg tablets (1000 mgs at night) and Geodon
60 mg also at night. Then in the morning I take another Geodon 60 mg. The
medication works and keeps me out of the mental hospital. However, the biggest complaint I have is the side effect. Super low libido, shrinking johnson, and if i had to assign a percentage, I would say 75% Erectile dysfunction. I have called Pfeiffer Treatment Center and they said they really don't offer much in the way of help with this side effect.
I am reluctant to say I am satisfied with my medicine, but it works. I just want
to get the sexual dysfunction to go away. I am hoping that continually
decreasing the meds will help restore me to pre-drug levels. What is your
opinion? Once again thanks and any feedback is appreciated!

Ok, let me try to tackle this one. Honestly, I do not have expereince with anti-psych meds, but I know some of my readers do, and I hope that they will chime in here after I meatball this answer. Its a problem for a lot of people, and could have been one for me if, ironically, doctors had taken me more seriously.

depokate is an anti-convulscent. I dont know if doctors care really. It is my experience that they just give you medications, and if you respond favorably, oh goodie. Reminds me of that old Steve Martin Barbar skit: "years ago, we would have thought your stomach pain caused by a toad in your stomach, but today, thanks to modern medicine, we know it is a small dwarf in your intestine." Depokate is also, probably, when where the ED comes. It is a listed major side effect. This is important as it may be that this is the medication you need to focus on descreasing, or replacing with something else.

Caveat: dont do any of these without a doctor. I bet you know taht one. But the fact is that some meds, such as Geodon as I will discuss below, if quit, can really harm you. I dont know if Depokate is one of them. I only learned about it today.

Geodone, from what I understand, is considered a very mild anti-psychotic. It is, however, highly toxic. Furthermore, some people speculate that once it is begun, it cannot be quit. Long story. I hope that M, C's knowledgable mother, can lend us some knowedge on the subject. She is a pro. She is also, probably, wrapping up the school year, so we might have to wait.

My advice is pretty easy---people, like the PTC, who treat with orthomolecular nutrition, are addressing chemical imbalnces, just like the geodon. The PTC speculates that nutrients, which are already present in the body, are less dnagerous and more effective than pharmaceutical grade drugs. They often find that people can reduce, or quit, medications that were initially needed to treat a condition such as bi-polar, or schizoaffective disorder. This is potentially very useful to you if you choose to follow it up. I know C has reduced from 100 mg geodon a day to 20, or maybe now he is at 10. If you could find something that worked better than the Depokate, then your erectile disfunction, and associated johnson shrinking, might be easily reversed. Notice the words Might and Could. I dont know. But my experience with the PTC, and the experience of E, X, and C, have all been very good. I dont know anyone who has not seen thier health improve marketdly.


At the end, I have a question...have you ever tried Cialis or Viagra or similar. I am not recommending that you do. I dont know anything about them. I ask because in animal research, these drugs were found to make animals brains function better. People have speculated they might, in different forms, be interesting to study re schizophrenia and such. I dont know, but if you did get desperate and tried them, then I would be interested if they impacted your condition.

Glad you are enjoying the site. Keep in touch. let me know what you do and how you do.