Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 12

My dose stayed at 100mg again last night. My sleep keeps improving. Last night, I fell asleep easily and slept about 6 hours without waking up. When I woke up, I was tired, but had no other symptoms. I guess my body is getting used to the medication.

Yesterday, after taking a showing and getting dressed, I had to rest for couple hours before running errands. I seem to get tired very easily. After resting, I ran some simple errands. I came home from that and ended up crashing on the couch. I napped for about two hours; however, I could only sleep 5 or 10 minutes at a time. It appears that I get exhausted very easily after any physical exertion.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 11

Yesterday, I thought that it was going to be a great day because I felt pretty good when I woke up. However, I think I did too much. I ran some errands and went to visit a friend. When I got home, I crashed on the couch for about 2 hours, but I could only sleep about 10 minutes at a time. I didn’t expect to have this much exhaustion. I need to learn to only do a little at a time and allow myself to rest in between activities.

I stayed at the 100mg dose last night, but my psychiatrist also had me go off my Seroquel completely. I ended up sleeping pretty well, probably about 6 hours. I was worried I wouldn’t sleep because of my naps, but that wasn’t a problem. I did wake up with a lot of muscle soreness, but it was gone only an hour later. I was also unsteady on my feet, but that also went away quickly. I have no chest or throat pressure today. Right now, I feel pretty good. I have a lot to do today, and I’m going to do it one step at time, making sure I get to rest in between.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 10

Today, I feel the best that I have felt since I started taking this new medication. Last night I took 100mg again and my Seroquel is also down to 100mg. I woke up in the middle of the night, but only because the dog started barking continuously at some random loud noise, but he was doing his job. So I decided to sleep out on the couch in case it happened again, that way I could calm him down quicker. Other than waking up because of his barking, I slept through the night from about 2:00am until 8:00am. Every day, my sleep is improving. I was pretty unsteady on my feet in the middle of the night and when I first woke up, but that went away within 30 minutes of waking up. The pressure in my chest and throat has almost disappeared. My temperature is still doing well at 98.1. I haven’t been experiencing any other side effects today.

I am ecstatic that I’m doing so well. The first time I tried Clozapine last year, I had such a difficult time with it. My biggest issues were dizziness and sedation. I’m doing really well with those issues. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I really think that it might work this time.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 9

Last night, I increased my Clozapine dose to 100mg and decreased my Seroquel dose to 100mg as instructed by my psychiatrist. I fell asleep last night around 2:00am and I was in and out until 8:30am. I probably got a total combination of 5 1/2 hours, which isn’t that bad. I woke up with sore muscles and I feel pretty tired, but it’s not as bad as it has previously been. I’m a bit unsteady on my feet, which is a new side effect for me. I still feel pressure in my throat, but it appears to be getting better. The chest pressure is there again, but very minor. And my temperature is 97.7. So I guess I do have a lot of side effects today, but I think they will go away as the day goes on, just like it has been happening every other day.

I have a busy day today that I’m looking forward to. My step-son, who is 24 years old, is coming over to visit. I love spending time with my step-kids. Then we’re going to dinner at my step-daughter’s house, she is 22 years old, which means I get to see my granddaughter again. We saw her this past Sunday, but I felt so weak from the medication that I was afraid to hold her; I didn’t want to drop her if my muscles gave out like they have a few other times. I’m going to continue to try to think positive even though it’s extremely difficult, at the very least, it can’t hurt.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 8

I slept approximately 4 hours, but I don’t feel too exhausted yet. I just couldn’t fall asleep for some reason. My psychiatrist had me cut my Seroquel in half since I slept almost 12 hours the day before. I was happy to do so; it just made it difficult to fall asleep, but the sleep I did get was good. Physically, the only problem I’m feeling is a sore throat. It’s more like a small lump in my throat on the right side that I feel as I breathe in. Other than that and being somewhat tired, I feel perfectly fine. I think that I’ll feel better as the day goes on, that’s how it usually goes. I have a lot to do today, hopefully my body can keep up with me.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 7

I fell asleep on the couch last night in the middle of doing something. I slept about 2 hours on the couch then woke up and we to bed. Then I slept 9 hours in bed, without waking up! I can’t believe I slept that much. I assume it’s because of the Clozapine; it does have a sedation side effect. I know that it’s not technically possible to catch up on missed sleep, but I really needed that.

I have some pressure in my chest and throat when I breathe deep, but that’s all. I don’t think it’s worse than yesterday. I tend to get tired easier than I normally would. Taking a shower and getting dressed yesterday wiped me out. I was going to go to a friend’s house, but I didn’t have the energy to do it. However, my temperature is still good at 97.0, so I think I’m doing well. Today, I go pick up my prescription for this coming week, since I can only get one week at a time.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 6

My psychiatrist is having stay at 75mg for a bit because of the side effects I’ve been having. Last night I only woke up once, at 3:00am, and then I was able to go back to sleep without a problem. That was amazing! When I woke up this morning, I didn’t have any of the side effects that I’ve been having previously.

I actually feel pretty good, except when I breathe deep, my chest hurts a little. I don’t think it’s anything. I got my blood test back, there are a few things that are above normal, including my white blood cell count, but I don’t know what that means. I will just have to wait to find out from my doctor. I tried to do research to figure it out, but I still don’t know what it all means. No matter what, I feel better today than I have since I started this medication.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 5

Today is day 5 of the Clozapine rechallenge. I took 75mg again last night as instructed. My psychiatrist didn’t want we to increase the dose because of yesterday’s side effects. I’m sleeping a little better; I slept for a couple hours in bed and then I came out to the couch where I was able to sleep a couple additional hours straight through. Then I also dealt with sleep on and off for a few hours, but this is still improvement from what it used to be, and that’s all I care about.

Today I have some muscle soreness again, but not as bad as yesterday. My soreness did improve yesterday as the day went on. My psychiatrist had me take my temperature to make sure there was no fever, and it was low at 97.2, which is good. My temperature today is 98.3, which is still good. I get a little dizzy if I stand up to quickly, so I just need to be cautious.

I go and get my weekly blood work done again today. My psychiatrist wrote me a new lab form to hopefully prevent the issues we had last week with my pharmacist obtaining the results.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 4

Last night I increased my dose to 75mg, per the request of my psychiatrist. I slept a couple hours in the bedroom before coming out to the couch; at that point, I was in and out for the rest of the night. At least I’m getting 6 or 7 hours of sleep each night, even if I can’t sleep through the night, it’s better than nothing.

The only side effect that I seem to have today is that my whole body is sore. Every muscle hurts, as if I just did a major workout a couple days ago, but I didn’t. It seems that this rechallenge is going pretty well. I will schedule an appointment with the lab to get my blood work done again tomorrow.

Clozapine Rechallenge – Day 3

I told my psychiatrist yesterday about the side effects I experienced. Even though they were getting better as the day went on, he decided that he did not want me to up my dose for day three. I ended up getting dizzy and weak feeling yesterday, but I think a lot of that had to do with the combination of the medication and anxiety; I went to a birthday party for a family member and felt a bit overwhelmed. Because of the side effects I had, I took 50mg again last night as instructed.

I had some trouble sleeping, but ended up getting a total of 6 or 7 hours. I wish I could sleep straight through the night, but I guess that’s not how it is for me. When I woke up for the last time this morning, I felt normal. I don’t notice any side effects or problems at all. I can’t wait to tell my psychiatrist. This is great progress and now I’m excited to continue the Clozapine instead of being nervous. My body is adjusting, it’s a good sign.

My Side of the Pole

Bipolar – Mental Health

Tag: Clozapine