panic attacks in son with schizophrenia

Posted by mlor @mlor, May 28 8:30pm

Greetings - my son has been diagnosed with schizophrenia; on injections of INVEGA SUSTENNA, plus 600 ml SEROQUEL, and 50 mg ZOLOFT. Initially he was reasonably ok, but now I find that he has frequent panic attacks that last for hours. Was prescribed (reluctantly) clonazepam, when needed. Could the Invega be causing these? I'm not even sure the clonazepam works, but doctor is adamant it's very addictive. Don't know what to do....

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kb2014 | @kb2014 | May 29 12:33am

I do not have schizophrenia I have ptsd. Psychiatry has a long history of polypharmacy. Can you check with the prescribed about the side effects of the drugs given?

dlydailyhope | @dlydailyhope | May 29 7:11am

@mlor
What types of specialists are you and your son working with? Does he have a psychologist and psychiatrist? Has he had inpatient treatment?

It would be good to look at medication interactions to see if something we’d to change rather than throwing on a 4th medication to manage the panic attack side effects. I took Zoloft for panic attacks so it sounds like your son’s medication combination may be an issue.
1. https://www.drugs.com/sfx/invega-sustenna-side-effects.html
2. https://www.healthline.com/health/drugs/invega-sustenna-side-effects
3. https://www.medicine.com/drug/invega-sustenna
4. https://www.drugs.com/drug-interactions/seroquel-with-zoloft-1979-1274-2057-1348.html
5. https://statcarewalkin.com/info/can-you-take-zoloft-and-seroquel-together.html
6. https://www.medicine.com/interaction-checker/result?drugs=seroquel%20zoloft
7. https://www.ehealthme.com/drug-interaction/zoloft/seroquel/

dlydailyhope | @dlydailyhope | May 29 7:19am

In reply to @dlydailyhope "@mlor What types of specialists are you and your son working with? Does he have a..." + (show)

@mlor
*Correction: something “needs” to change (not we’d)

You can also talk to a pharmacist about these medications to get their expert opinion on side effects and combination interactions (do a drug utilization review).
https://www.amcp.org/concepts-managed-care-pharmacy/drug-utilization-review

mlor | @mlor | May 29 8:57am

In reply to @dlydailyhope "@mlor What types of specialists are you and your son working with? Does he have a..." + (show)

Thank you kindly! Will look at all of that and will share...

frouke | @frouke | May 29 2:28pm

I’m very sorry for your troubles, I truly understand what you’re experiencing, I also dealt with someone I loved who was diagnosed with this disease. It isn’t easy to find answers for what your son is coping with and comparison to others will not really help, the medications are numerous to enable him to cope with what he is feeling, it’s also difficult for him to explain how he feels. I can only say that he will need lots of support and care to help him get through everything, it’s a full time job for the caregiver. I know that the medications needed are improving with better results and you will have to change some of them periodically when you notice changes in his behaviour, I remember that anxiety is very prevalent with schizophrenia because the patient knows that there’s something wrong with them, it’s not always drug related. I hope you find a good doctor/
therapist to treat your son and also help you with your own issues because it will make things somewhat easier for you, best wishes.