I found this site and hope I'm allowed to post on it. I'm a 33 year old bipolar patient who was put on Geodon 30 days ago. Shortly after being put on Geodon I read (too much) about the side effects of Geodon. One thing I read was the rare side effect of Long QT Syndrome. I have since convinced myself that I have long qt syndrome and am going to drop dead at any time now. I had an ekg back in February which was normal. This was prior to being put on Geodon though. I spent this weekend worrying and reading about long qt but have just been going in circles. I am posting here to hopefully hear from someone that knows what they are talking about. I have a follow-up appointment with my psychiatrist but I can't get in to see him for another few weeks. Any light that can be shed would greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.
Geodon Long QT Syndrome
- Thread starter tbh8644
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You will have to see your physician for questions related to your medication. No one here will (for legal-ethical reasons, including it being against the SDN terms of service) dispense medical advice to you.
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I'm not answering the person's request because it is asking for medical advice but I am going to address this as a general question only because this is a good question for medical students and residents.
The QT prolongation problem with Geodon is IMHO overblown. The CATIE trial showed Seroquel, not Geodon to be the worst offender among atypicals and Geodon's QT prolongation wasn't even that bad compared to other atypicals. There also was a lot of information put out by Geodon's competitors in an attempt to make the med look far worse than it was when it first came out.
For this reason, I don't think there's any reason to worry about it vs. other atypicals, but that doesn't mean don't worry about it at all. Any atypical could cause QT prolongation, and I have seen geodon-induced arrhythmias especailly when it's injected into a patient. Also the FDA guides on it specifically say to not mix it with certain typicals to avoid arrhythmia, and for that reason I don't like to give the injectable at all. Reason why? Any large dose and polypharmacy of antipsychotics should cause some concern. While Geodon mixed with Thorazine may possibly not put someone at worse risk than another atypical, if something bad did happen, and if that patient sued you, there'd be some stunning information to use against you with those FDA guidelines. There's plenty of other choices, I'd rather try those first. As we all know, you could inject someone and it might not do anything to slow them down, forcing your hand to possibly add more antipsychotic meds. I often compare Geodon to a very effective pistol where you got one shot. It's a nice shot but still one. Of course you could give more meds but now you're trapped yourself into a nice liability corner should anything happen where you need more antipsychotic than the one Geodon shot.
If anyone wants to start a separate thread about this go right on ahead. I'm going to lock this thread because it's asking for specific medical advice. As mentioned above, please talk to your treating doctor about this.
The QT prolongation problem with Geodon is IMHO overblown. The CATIE trial showed Seroquel, not Geodon to be the worst offender among atypicals and Geodon's QT prolongation wasn't even that bad compared to other atypicals. There also was a lot of information put out by Geodon's competitors in an attempt to make the med look far worse than it was when it first came out.
For this reason, I don't think there's any reason to worry about it vs. other atypicals, but that doesn't mean don't worry about it at all. Any atypical could cause QT prolongation, and I have seen geodon-induced arrhythmias especailly when it's injected into a patient. Also the FDA guides on it specifically say to not mix it with certain typicals to avoid arrhythmia, and for that reason I don't like to give the injectable at all. Reason why? Any large dose and polypharmacy of antipsychotics should cause some concern. While Geodon mixed with Thorazine may possibly not put someone at worse risk than another atypical, if something bad did happen, and if that patient sued you, there'd be some stunning information to use against you with those FDA guidelines. There's plenty of other choices, I'd rather try those first. As we all know, you could inject someone and it might not do anything to slow them down, forcing your hand to possibly add more antipsychotic meds. I often compare Geodon to a very effective pistol where you got one shot. It's a nice shot but still one. Of course you could give more meds but now you're trapped yourself into a nice liability corner should anything happen where you need more antipsychotic than the one Geodon shot.
If anyone wants to start a separate thread about this go right on ahead. I'm going to lock this thread because it's asking for specific medical advice. As mentioned above, please talk to your treating doctor about this.
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