Coming Off Invega Sustenna (Page 18)
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Hi,

I was given Invega Sustenna at 100mg a month for 10 months since Dec 5th. My last shot was on August 29th 2013.

The medication gave me severe anhedonia and I have lost the motivation and willpower to do anything. I can no longer experience joy, happiness, or pleasure from anything I do and I have no interest in doing anything. I constantly feel restless and uneasy and I just can't shake this feeling away no matter what. All of these started about a week after my first IV.

I have been off this medication for almost 3 months now and I have yet to feel any improvements. I have read that it has a long half life of 25-49 days and that it can stay in your body for 300 days. So does that mean I will have to wait a year to start feeling better?

Any info on someone who has been off this med would be greatly appreiciated. I am interested to learn how many months it takes to feel better after invega sustenna.

Thank you

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Yes normal sex life, ability to get aroused easily without a woman touching me. I had a very bad sexual dysfunction, everything came back 100%. I don't know why people wouldn't recover honestly. You only got 2 shots, give yourself at least 6-7 months, in my opinion you have very good chances to recover from this.

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Totally. You can detect it with your prolactin level in the blood. It will rise once you get the inj's. and come back to normal when you stop. The only reason I post on forums is to give hope to people as I never read anything positive about people getting back to a normal life after taking invega sustenna. I run about that, 8 miles a day right now. When I was on this, I could not work out at all, I was a total waste. I did not feel human at all and I was just thinking about the past. I had a job for 3 months and got interned in an hospital because I wanted to suicide. I received about 10 shots. It took me about 7 months after the last inj. to feel better. The recovery is pretty drastic, 1 day I had suicidal thoughts, the following day I started feeling better and it went uphill in a matter of two weeks until I felt like I used to be. For the guy that did not recover after 11 years I don't know what to tell you, this med is hell on earth I don't wish that to my worst enemy but it worked out for me. If you only got two shots I don't see how you won't come back to normal. When I say normal I mean complete recovery. No anhedonia, no suicidal thoughts, libido, ability to work out like you were capable before, self confidence, ability to socialize with people. The only thing for me is that I now have high cholesterol but I also have hope it will go back to normal with time. Also don't forget, you will unlikely read positive things on the matter because when you feel good you don't necessarily search on forums about invega and suicide or what so ever. I however told myself I would give a message of hope if I felt better and that's the case. Don't give up, you'll feel human again.

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How many miles are you able to run? Also, when you say libido, do you mean your sex life...? How is your sex life? Is it back to normal? Are you able to get naturally aroused when you think of beautiful women without having to touch your genitals? I still have sexual issues and can't run.... Do you know why there have been some people who never recovered? I know a guy who got 1 year of inj's. and is not normal after 11 years.

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How many shots did you get? I got a total of 2 shots... Is there any way to see if its in the blood... Also, are you able to work out like normal? Also there was a guy who got a 1 year worth of shots and did not recover after 11 years... Are you sure it will get better?

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It does get better! I used to be tired, not able to run or do anything. No libido, severe anhedonia. Severe suicidal thoughts every day. Not able to get drunk. Sleeping 18 hours a day. Weight gain. I took inj's. for about 8 months and I stopped taking it about 8 months ago. I AM COMPLETELY BACK TO NORMAL. Don't lose hope. After about 6-8 months you'll be back to normal, i swear it has been the worst time of my life going through this waiting period time wondering if I would ever come back to a normal life. {edited for privacy}. I have been through this, you'll be able to recover.

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Hi I took invega sustenna. Are you feeling better after a year? I can't run more than a mile no more and I used to do 8.

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Hi. Its 2016. Do you feel better? My last shot was march 25 2016.... Did you get better?

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I took Invega in pill form for one week, then my therapist gave me a shot with 234 mg. I've been bed ridden for the past 4 weeks. Went to emergency room last night because there seems to be no subsiding of the symptoms...slurred speech, blurred vision, walk and talk like a zombie, very week, stiff jaw, shaking. They checked all my vitals in the hospital, EKG, cat scan, blood work and u/a all came back normal. Basically they wanted to rule out that I wasn't a crack head. This feels like rock bottom. I hope and pray no permanent damage has been done, but judging from the other posts it looks like recovery from this drug is going to take time.

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Just starting to come off invega. Been on community treatment order for three years. Had server tiredness. Felt like a zombie. Lack of libido. Weight gain. And loss of period. Have been on a high dose and hated ever second of it! Scared how long it will take to get out of my system. Also trying for a baby for last three yes and not sure if I will ever have another one! If so would really like to sue the company who makes it. It is the worst antipsychotic on the market. Been of for two weeks now. Still feel the same except I have headaches, dizziness and nausea! If anyone recommends you go on this I strongly recommend not to. Still had all negative thoughts only stopped them racing!

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I have been off of invega sustenna for three months now. I received a 234mg loading dose and a week later a 156mg initial dose. So basically im screwed. Ive been reading up on it a lot and people who've just received the 117mg doses take anywhere from 5-7 months to get better and its probably going to take longer for me since i had close to 400mg in my body. I suffer from severe anhedonia, loss of interest in life, i am practically impotent. I cant feel any feeling in my shaft and only a tiny bit on my tip. I can climax, though it is really weak. The issues haven't gotten any better, neither has my apathy. Its probably going to take a year for me to recover enough to where i can function and get feelings back. But probably longer to fully recover back to my old self. God be with all of us who have had this horrible inj. I pray that we all recover and are able to lead our ordinary lives once again.

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I'm coming off invega sustenna now. This was the medication from hell. It made me severely depressed & lethargic, not to mention it increased my prolactin levels which made me gain 30lbs, has given me acne and caused hair growth on my face (I'm female, so it's embarrassing) thankfully my last shot was the beginning of December, however my blood levels still show high prolactic, so all I can do is wait. Unless it's absolutely necessary I wouldn't recommend anyone take invega sustenna... At least just take the pill form, so if you have negative side effects yiu can get it out of your system quicker... Oh yeah, not to mention, the drug companies make a killing of this drug- it's super pricey.

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Hello My daughter had Invega injection beginning off this month. It has stopped her psychosis and gotten rid of her anger. The first 12 days much pain in her neck and stiff ness could not stand it. She is motivated more, but a lot of restlessness cant sit or stand long.Also high prolactin level.Feels unbalanced. She does not have a psychiatrist yet after hospital trying to find one for Medicade.Dont like this med got it in hospital. Will try and change soon. just cant go through this again with other ingection No

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I'm on invega sustenna now but I'm stopping it doctor has me on a few other meds I'm hoping I'll be fine with just the other meds I have a lot of restlessness and nightmares every night from shot I'm up half the night and when I'm awake I can't sit still I've lost interest in everything but I still get pleasure from some small things like going for coffee with my friend and meditating which both help I was on the shot for sometime I was able to quit cannibus and alcohol and have relative success with progress but its to the point where I need off it and the doctor was going to ween me off it but I can't take another shot I can't Stan it anymore I don't want to wait six months to a year to see improvement plus I'm worried about the fatal side effects of the drug as my family genetic are pron to strokes. Its has been hard dealing with the effects of the drug but I have had some good days due to meditation also I've noticed that whenever I get progress with meditation my voices become more bareable and nicer but the restlessness is hiddering any further progress with the mwditation. But the one most important thing I did with surviving the mental illness was taking a warrior mind state not aggression toward people but the will to see it through till the end and see and meet each daily challenge as it comes and I've had so pretty bad days that I'm surprised I got through my mom and dad help me when they could which helped a lot they helped more with financial things though and making sure I was on my meds with talking to the doctors with me the last time I went off invega I was hospitalized because I didn't have the right pills as a back up not that I was taking them too so this time I'm going to keep taking my pills and I have two antiphycotics in pill form so I should be alright and I'm a lot more experienced with dealing with symptoms I'm hoping the doctor will accept this and work with me to keep Me afloat

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I have been on invega sustenna for 8 months and was wondering when my anxiety and restlessness and suicidal thoughts where going to go away, and I am not talking another drug for the complaining of the drug, that is all psychiatrists know is to write another prescription for how you feel, I am on a community treatment program that says I have to get my IV for another 3 months but I am stopping it because I feel like crap, total crap, no energy or even feel good about anything, these are antipsychotic drugs and they are not ment to be taken when they make you feel bad. But the biggest problem is that there are only a few of these drugs and the doctors do not ask if you have been on the same drug if your in their care, they just give it to you so you have to lump it when you take these medications.

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You only had 1 shot of it? What was the reason and what was the dosage? Did you take any other antipsychotics before the shot?

It has been 3 months since my last shot and I still haven't felt any improvement. I am scared to death that I have been on this drug long enough for it to have caused permanent damage. I have yet to find a success story of anyone coming off this drug.

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I can't promise it will get better but I can say I'm right there with you. Today is 12/6 and my last and only shot was 10/30. I have the same effects - anhedonia, constant depression, restlessness (has worn away now), no pleasure or interest in anything. I'm glad to find I'm not alone but it's only been like a month for me and I only had one shot. I was never like this before so I'm pretty sure it's the drug

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Hi,

Thank you very much for your response. I have told my doctor everything about how I felt and that was why he let me off the medication. I was diagnosed with schizophrenia last year and now my doctor thinks that it may have just been a cannabis induced psychosis.

This medication has ridiculously long half life. I have never felt this bad before and it really has been the worst form of torture I have ever been through. It is not even funny how difficult it is to get through a day feeling like this. And I have been feeling like this for almost a year now. I am really hoping that you are right that I will start feeling better in a couple of months and not a year.

I have been trying desperately to find a success story of anyone coming off invega sustenna but I have had no luck. The drug is rather new. I am so scared that this could be permanent though I know I might just be too pestimistic. But at the very moment, this feels permanent. It's horrible.

I have read many posts where people who were on the pills version of antipsychotic took about 3-4 months after their last pill to start feeling better. The pills usually have a half life of 24 hours and is cleared by 5-6 days. With invega sustenna having such a long half life I am scared that it will be 5-6 half lives PLUS 3-4 more months afterward. That's more than a year!!!

I really don't know what to do. I have never contemplated suicide as often as I have been after this medication. I want it all to end.

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Hello, Narshe81! How are you doing?

The full elimination time from your body usually takes 5 to 6 half-lives, so that would range from 125 days to 294 days.

However, over that time period, more of the medication is gradually eliminated, so it likely will not take a year for you to start feeling better, but it could take several months.

Have you consulted your doctor for assistance?

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