Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 1

Last night was my first dose for the Clozapine rechallenge. I took 25mg at bedtime (10:00pm), and I fell asleep quickly, probably within about 45 minutes. That’s a huge change for me, especially since I’ve been falling asleep anywhere between 2:00am and 5:00am for the past week or two. The pharmacist told me to make sure I take this medication close to the same time every night.

Falling asleep quickly is awesome, but the rest of the night was fairly awful. I woke up after about 1 hour. Then for the rest of the night, I slept approximately 20 minutes for every hour. So I spent the night falling asleep, then waking up, and then doing that all over again many times. I came out to the couch because laying in bed, feeling exhausted, but not able to sleep, is extremely frustrating. Waking up was very difficult; my eyes had a hard time staying open, but I think I’m fully awake now. I slept a total of about 3 1/2 hours, that’s not that bad for me.

The best part is that I have no dizziness, at least not yet. The last time I tried this medication, I had a lot of problems with dizziness. I think that it’s a good sign that I don’t have any dizziness issues at this time. I’m really hoping that my body will adjust to the medication better than it did last time. In my opinion, I feel like I’m off to a good start. My psychiatrist is increasing the dose slower this time than he did before, and I’m grateful for that.