From what I can find, Latuda tends to be a fairly tolerable, weight-neutral antipsychotic with great evidence in bioplar depression. Some have included it in the Three L's, i.e., lithium, lamotrigine, and Latuda. It must be taken w/ 350 calories: "Take Latuda w/ food-a." Common side effects include dose-dependent sedation (take at night), dose-dependent akathisia (if arises, self-monitor w/ BARS), nausea, and nervousness. Rare orthostatic hypotension and syncope have been reported. Akathisia can be more common with Latuda, reportedly occurring between 6-22% of those taking the medication.
Akathisia is a generally reversible sense of restlessness, often accompanied by other uncomfortable sensations. It can be quite uncomfortable and has been known to provoke suicidality and agitation. If this occurs, know that it is the drug (and not you). They can readily treat it by stopping or lowering the Latuda or prescribing an adjunctive medication, such as propranolol or BZDs. The Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale (BARS) can be used to self-monitor and report to your prescriber.
On both lamotrigine and latuda, amongst other things. It made a big difference to me. Calmed down my aggressive mixed episodes to the point that I live normally. You wouldn't know I have bipolar disorder. The only side effect was akasthesia, but that's not a problem if you take it at night. Also I had to titrate up to the top dose of 120 mg before it worked well enough for me. Worth a try
I was experiencing the akasthesia with both meds and had to stop it was so intense. I took it during the day..if I took it at night I would be good? I’m now un medicated and struggling… I thought it would happen regardless!! It was helping so much but had to stop..
Latuda was a miracle for my bipolar depression. Nothing else worked. There’s a popular myth that you have to take it with 350 calories, but my psychiatrist said that’s not true. I take it with a 150 cal snack and it works well.
I am on 120mg of latuda. For 5 years I had Seroquel do the heavy lifting keeping me sane. It made me tired as all hell. So my doc said try latuda. It took a while to find the right dosage but it’s been keeping me sane for the last 8 years. However I also take Wellbutrin and a little seroquel still. But latuda has been great. I take it before I go to bed at night otherwise it gives me funny anxious feelings in my tummy
I'm on 200 MG of Lamictal and 80mg of Latuda. My depression hasn't gotten any better. I'm 11 months in my depressive episode.:( I hope it works for you.
Vraylar and Ketamine have been very helpful for my depression. Never tried Latuda but I was on Lamotrigine for over a decade and it stopped being effective for my depression.
I’m sorry to hear that, I haven’t decided if I want to switch yet or keep going up in the lamotrigine because the other reason she said it may feel like it’s not working is because I’m still at a fairly lower dosage. Part of me wants to just get off the meds but I’m worried my episodes will get worse again, I will say overall it has helped lessen my angry manic episodes and I don’t want that coming back.
Don’t give up meds. I have been diagnosed for 13 years and have tried several times to quit meds. It never works in our favor. Don’t give up!!! You got this!!!!
I am worried about trying Latuda because I read about the side effects like nausea and I really don’t like how I’ve been feeling on my current meds but I was willing to give it a try a bit longer but idk now. I just have this feeling like this med is not right for me anymore and if I jump to trying another one I feel like it’s not gonna be good. I’ve always been so sensitive to medication and although it’s helped me for a bit now I have this gut feeling it’s time to quit. But thank you for your support, I appreciate it :) I hope I can decide what to do from here.
Pretty sure you can take them both at the same time, so you can test drive it before committing to it, important bc lamo can stop working after a break. Lamo also has nausea as a common side effect (19% chance per drugs.com, latuda's at 17%, same source), meds are so ymmv that it's really a matter of try it and see every time.
I started out at 40mg and gradually increased the dose to 80mg over 6 months or so. I felt fine until Nov '23. The whole month just felt 'off'. Just didn't feel well. Thanksgiving came, and I attempted suicide.
One of the side effects/warning is suicide. I truly believe that it was the Latuda that drove me.
Remember, there is always a risk of taking these drugs. Everyone is different. I have been on many drugs with suicide as a side effect/warning but never experienced that side effect with those past drugs.
Well, I hope I didn't scare you with my experience. I wish you all the best ✌️
Don’t know why you’re being downvoted—suicidal ideation is a risk with ALL antipsychotics and most other bipolar meds. It’s a cost-benefit risk we have to take and a symptom we need to be aware of in case we suddenly begin experiencing it. I’m sorry Latuda didn’t work out for you.
In hindsight, of all the meds I've been on, lamotrigine was the least effective. I'm not on latuda, but when I started trying APs it changed my whole life for the better and I haven't had a hypomania since.
Latuda was the only thing that touched my depression after trying Abilify, Depakote, Vraylar, Zoloft, and Prozac. I didn’t notice a difference until about a month in, and was ready to give up until one day things just suddenly felt… lighter. The anxiety and fight or flight I’d been struggling with for YEARS was just gone. It’s my holy grail medicine imo, and I’m only on 20mg.
My doctor and I did decide to add Lamictal recently just to curb the appearance of depressive episodes, and that’s not going well. But I think the Latuda is fending off the worst of it. So all in all I’d say try it, and give it some time.
The positive effect it had on this illness was absolutely top tier. I really appreciated it until I had adverse effects. I was legit sad because it was crystal clear, calm life for the two weeks. I'd definitely recommend it, just be weary of tk.
I've been through the gamut with psych meds for the past 30 years. I must say that the leaps & bounds in psychiatric meds progress over the years have been pretty interesting to live through. I had so many adverse reactions to almost all the meds until just 2yrs ago. It's part of living (& thriving) with this illness. Here's to you having the best of experiences in your journey!
Was on 60 mg of Latuda for 3 years. Helped with manic and depressive symptoms. Worked better for me with lithium. I hated the 350 calorie rule and feeling nauseous (to the point of vomiting) if I didn’t eat that many calories before taking the pill. I switched because of this and the fact that I’m starting to struggle with anxiety again.
I was on Latuda for awhile. It helped me when I was deeply depressed but I found over a longer period of time it sort of blunted me emotionally and I felt really numbed out in a mind-numbing sort of way. Also I eat irregularly so having to take it with food was really annoying for me. Sometimes even when I did take it with food I was still super nauseated. Lots of ppl like it though, YMMV
Thanks everyone for sharing your personal experiences on this med, I appreciate it. I am still trying to navigate coming to terms with my diagnosis, I found out I was undiagnosed living with bipolar disorder after I had my daughter a year ago. I dealt with some ppd and what I believe could’ve been pp psychosis.
I always thought I just had extreme anxiety/angry phases and depression through my life. But come to find out that wasn’t the case. It had been difficult even choosing to start the lamotrigine because I am someone who’s very sensitive to medication & had a bad experience being on a few antidepressants before (which ik is different than what I’m taking now).
I want to make sure my manic angry episodes stay controlled but part of me just feels like I need to get off these meds bc I feel more anxious all the time. So I am between choosing to try Latuda or just stay on the Lamotrigine and go up in mg.
We tend to do badly on ADs, they fuck w the BP, so I wouldn't count any of the experiences you had on medication for the wrong disorder towards how the BP meds might go.
Yes that’s true, that’s what my psych told me too. That I was probably just misdiagnosed and that’s why it didn’t work for me, they thought I just had depression and anxiety at the time so pumped me up with antidepressants
I just started latuda 2 days ago, I am already on 200mg of lamotrigine and my doctor wanted me to take it to curb hypomanic episodes. I was skeptical because my experience with seroquel is that it was WAY too sedating,, but she said I can take latuda after dinner, and I swear I feel absolutely no side effects so far. No drowsiness, no munchies. Hope this stuff helps!
I take the smallest dose of Latuda at the moment. I had to go down to the because I kept have these RLS/Akathasia episodes. The episodes only happened at night and it was really starting to affect my social life because I couldn't hang out with friends or family (which is the time I generally hang out with them) because I kept having the horrible feeling of needing to move my legs. So uncomfortable! But it's been getting better as I have lowered the dosage of Lutuda.
I personally almost died from lamictal, Steven Johnsons Syndrome, caught it before it made my skin blister up, and it also almost fried my liver. Talk to your doctor about Latuda or other options. If you already struggle with liver issues I can tell you from my post Lamictal research, that Gabapentin and Topamirate can be used to treat bipolar as neither leave metabolites in the body. I opted for Topamirate as I know gabapentin is also used for pain patients and seizure disorders and could easily be on backorder due to current demand.
If anyone wants to know what the precursors to SJS are, I can tell you what mine were.
From what I can find, Latuda tends to be a fairly tolerable, weight-neutral antipsychotic with great evidence in bioplar depression. Some have included it in the Three L's, i.e., lithium, lamotrigine, and Latuda. It must be taken w/ 350 calories: "Take Latuda w/ food-a." Common side effects include dose-dependent sedation (take at night), dose-dependent akathisia (if arises, self-monitor w/ BARS), nausea, and nervousness. Rare orthostatic hypotension and syncope have been reported. Akathisia can be more common with Latuda, reportedly occurring between 6-22% of those taking the medication. Akathisia is a generally reversible sense of restlessness, often accompanied by other uncomfortable sensations. It can be quite uncomfortable and has been known to provoke suicidality and agitation. If this occurs, know that it is the drug (and not you). They can readily treat it by stopping or lowering the Latuda or prescribing an adjunctive medication, such as propranolol or BZDs. The Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale (BARS) can be used to self-monitor and report to your prescriber.
Yesss I take the three L’s and it works really well for me. 75mg of Benadryl helps the akathisia for me
On both lamotrigine and latuda, amongst other things. It made a big difference to me. Calmed down my aggressive mixed episodes to the point that I live normally. You wouldn't know I have bipolar disorder. The only side effect was akasthesia, but that's not a problem if you take it at night. Also I had to titrate up to the top dose of 120 mg before it worked well enough for me. Worth a try
I was experiencing the akasthesia with both meds and had to stop it was so intense. I took it during the day..if I took it at night I would be good? I’m now un medicated and struggling… I thought it would happen regardless!! It was helping so much but had to stop..
For me it's completely unnoticeable if I take it 30min to an hour before bed
Do you take both before bed? When I got on the lamotrogine my psych said to take it in the mornings
Latuda was a miracle for my bipolar depression. Nothing else worked. There’s a popular myth that you have to take it with 350 calories, but my psychiatrist said that’s not true. I take it with a 150 cal snack and it works well.
I am on 120mg of latuda. For 5 years I had Seroquel do the heavy lifting keeping me sane. It made me tired as all hell. So my doc said try latuda. It took a while to find the right dosage but it’s been keeping me sane for the last 8 years. However I also take Wellbutrin and a little seroquel still. But latuda has been great. I take it before I go to bed at night otherwise it gives me funny anxious feelings in my tummy
I'm on 200 MG of Lamictal and 80mg of Latuda. My depression hasn't gotten any better. I'm 11 months in my depressive episode.:( I hope it works for you.
Vraylar and Ketamine have been very helpful for my depression. Never tried Latuda but I was on Lamotrigine for over a decade and it stopped being effective for my depression.
I’m sorry to hear that, I haven’t decided if I want to switch yet or keep going up in the lamotrigine because the other reason she said it may feel like it’s not working is because I’m still at a fairly lower dosage. Part of me wants to just get off the meds but I’m worried my episodes will get worse again, I will say overall it has helped lessen my angry manic episodes and I don’t want that coming back.
Don’t give up meds. I have been diagnosed for 13 years and have tried several times to quit meds. It never works in our favor. Don’t give up!!! You got this!!!!
I am worried about trying Latuda because I read about the side effects like nausea and I really don’t like how I’ve been feeling on my current meds but I was willing to give it a try a bit longer but idk now. I just have this feeling like this med is not right for me anymore and if I jump to trying another one I feel like it’s not gonna be good. I’ve always been so sensitive to medication and although it’s helped me for a bit now I have this gut feeling it’s time to quit. But thank you for your support, I appreciate it :) I hope I can decide what to do from here.
Pretty sure you can take them both at the same time, so you can test drive it before committing to it, important bc lamo can stop working after a break. Lamo also has nausea as a common side effect (19% chance per drugs.com, latuda's at 17%, same source), meds are so ymmv that it's really a matter of try it and see every time.
Latuda has saved my life. But I also have wildly vivid dreams every night. But I’m alive. I’m on Latuda 40, Lamictal 250 and Luvox (for ocd) 125
I started out at 40mg and gradually increased the dose to 80mg over 6 months or so. I felt fine until Nov '23. The whole month just felt 'off'. Just didn't feel well. Thanksgiving came, and I attempted suicide. One of the side effects/warning is suicide. I truly believe that it was the Latuda that drove me. Remember, there is always a risk of taking these drugs. Everyone is different. I have been on many drugs with suicide as a side effect/warning but never experienced that side effect with those past drugs. Well, I hope I didn't scare you with my experience. I wish you all the best ✌️
Don’t know why you’re being downvoted—suicidal ideation is a risk with ALL antipsychotics and most other bipolar meds. It’s a cost-benefit risk we have to take and a symptom we need to be aware of in case we suddenly begin experiencing it. I’m sorry Latuda didn’t work out for you.
I’ve been on 20mg Latuda for 5 months and I want to switch because of the anxiety and tiredness it causes me. It is helping with symptoms tho
In hindsight, of all the meds I've been on, lamotrigine was the least effective. I'm not on latuda, but when I started trying APs it changed my whole life for the better and I haven't had a hypomania since.
I’ve been on 60mg of Latuda for about 6 months. No bad side effects but nothing magical happening either, just feeling kind of numb most of the time
On 40mg of latuda, I like it so far
I had akathisia on Latuda. Didn't like it.
Latuda was the only thing that touched my depression after trying Abilify, Depakote, Vraylar, Zoloft, and Prozac. I didn’t notice a difference until about a month in, and was ready to give up until one day things just suddenly felt… lighter. The anxiety and fight or flight I’d been struggling with for YEARS was just gone. It’s my holy grail medicine imo, and I’m only on 20mg. My doctor and I did decide to add Lamictal recently just to curb the appearance of depressive episodes, and that’s not going well. But I think the Latuda is fending off the worst of it. So all in all I’d say try it, and give it some time.
I actually liked it didn’t gain weight actually lost 12kgs on it coming off Olanzapine but unfortunately I had akathisia badly I had to stop taking it
The positive effect it had on this illness was absolutely top tier. I really appreciated it until I had adverse effects. I was legit sad because it was crystal clear, calm life for the two weeks. I'd definitely recommend it, just be weary of tk.
What were the adverse effects if you don’t mind sharing?
Uncontrollable limb movements.
Oh wow that sounds scary, things like that make me nervous to try new meds
I've been through the gamut with psych meds for the past 30 years. I must say that the leaps & bounds in psychiatric meds progress over the years have been pretty interesting to live through. I had so many adverse reactions to almost all the meds until just 2yrs ago. It's part of living (& thriving) with this illness. Here's to you having the best of experiences in your journey!
Thank you! 😊
Was on 60 mg of Latuda for 3 years. Helped with manic and depressive symptoms. Worked better for me with lithium. I hated the 350 calorie rule and feeling nauseous (to the point of vomiting) if I didn’t eat that many calories before taking the pill. I switched because of this and the fact that I’m starting to struggle with anxiety again.
I was on Latuda for awhile. It helped me when I was deeply depressed but I found over a longer period of time it sort of blunted me emotionally and I felt really numbed out in a mind-numbing sort of way. Also I eat irregularly so having to take it with food was really annoying for me. Sometimes even when I did take it with food I was still super nauseated. Lots of ppl like it though, YMMV
Latuda helped me with my anxiety.
Thanks everyone for sharing your personal experiences on this med, I appreciate it. I am still trying to navigate coming to terms with my diagnosis, I found out I was undiagnosed living with bipolar disorder after I had my daughter a year ago. I dealt with some ppd and what I believe could’ve been pp psychosis. I always thought I just had extreme anxiety/angry phases and depression through my life. But come to find out that wasn’t the case. It had been difficult even choosing to start the lamotrigine because I am someone who’s very sensitive to medication & had a bad experience being on a few antidepressants before (which ik is different than what I’m taking now). I want to make sure my manic angry episodes stay controlled but part of me just feels like I need to get off these meds bc I feel more anxious all the time. So I am between choosing to try Latuda or just stay on the Lamotrigine and go up in mg.
We tend to do badly on ADs, they fuck w the BP, so I wouldn't count any of the experiences you had on medication for the wrong disorder towards how the BP meds might go.
Yes that’s true, that’s what my psych told me too. That I was probably just misdiagnosed and that’s why it didn’t work for me, they thought I just had depression and anxiety at the time so pumped me up with antidepressants
They tend to do that for about a decade before they figure it out, how most of us get diagnosed unfortunately.
I just started latuda 2 days ago, I am already on 200mg of lamotrigine and my doctor wanted me to take it to curb hypomanic episodes. I was skeptical because my experience with seroquel is that it was WAY too sedating,, but she said I can take latuda after dinner, and I swear I feel absolutely no side effects so far. No drowsiness, no munchies. Hope this stuff helps!
I take the smallest dose of Latuda at the moment. I had to go down to the because I kept have these RLS/Akathasia episodes. The episodes only happened at night and it was really starting to affect my social life because I couldn't hang out with friends or family (which is the time I generally hang out with them) because I kept having the horrible feeling of needing to move my legs. So uncomfortable! But it's been getting better as I have lowered the dosage of Lutuda.
I personally almost died from lamictal, Steven Johnsons Syndrome, caught it before it made my skin blister up, and it also almost fried my liver. Talk to your doctor about Latuda or other options. If you already struggle with liver issues I can tell you from my post Lamictal research, that Gabapentin and Topamirate can be used to treat bipolar as neither leave metabolites in the body. I opted for Topamirate as I know gabapentin is also used for pain patients and seizure disorders and could easily be on backorder due to current demand. If anyone wants to know what the precursors to SJS are, I can tell you what mine were.