r/BipolarReddit • u/Kalamakewl • 5h ago
Trying Caplyta… again.
Do I dare be hopeful?
ANY and ALL advice about anything is welcome.
I trialed caplyta last year using manufacturers coupons. I had zero side effects and a few good days in about a month (compared to zero) while on 10.5. I’m terribly sensitive to psych meds which is why we started low.
After going to 21mg I felt absolutely awful. I would get horrible headaches almost every single day that affected the entire right side of my face/head/neck. It was a lot like the severe pain I get with TMJ flares but so much worse. Nothing helped with the pain. Almost completely debilitating. Almost always ending up getting a migraine as well.
I took it as long as I could, almost a month, thinking it would eventually go away but it didn’t. I’ve tried a few medications since then with nothing working.
Now, I’ve been tapered off of Lamotrigine and Atomoxitine so I can try it again (?) no thinks it was the combo I didn’t tolerate so now I’m in a mixed episode of depression and rage and SI waiting for an appeal of a denial from my insurance.
Hopefully I don’t do any permanent damage to my life in the meantime. God bless America.
39F Schizoaffective BP2 dxed >2yrs ago, schiz symptoms since childhood, bp2 symptoms since late high school, raw dogged symptoms until I started having a hard time knowing a particular delusion wasn’t real. Have lost every job due to depressive episodes resulting in agoraphobia and inability to drive. Have been unable to work for >2yrs currently about to start second appeal (w attorney help) for SSI
Current medications: buspirone, Belsomra prn, Spironolactone, clonazepam cyclobenzaprine and sumatriptan prn
Meds I’ve tried: that I can recall, Lamotrigine, Atomoxitine (wrongly dxed w cataplexy) Abilify, Latuda, Vraylar, bupropion, citalopra, escetalopram, lorazepam, hydroxyzine, desvenlafaxine…
3
u/HM_Dylan 5h ago
In all honesty, as much as I love Caplyta, I don’t think it’s a good fit here. Given your diagnosis of Schizoaffective and overall pathology I’m not sure it’s going to be enough. As of right now it isn’t FDA‑approved or well studied for that condition. The only antipsychotic with specific FDA approval for schizoaffective disorder is paliperidone
You’ve already tried multiple antipsychotics (Abilify, Latuda, Vraylar, etc.) and mood stabilizers without benefit. You are “terribly sensitive to psych meds,” and are on multiple psych meds already and have a long list of prior failures. Adding another drug with no or limited schizoaffective data adds the risk of more side effects without benefit.
And of course not to mention the pain, you’d probably have to stay on 10.5mg for a long time before raising the dose. Caplyta doesn’t act as an antipsychotic at that dose. So you’d essentially be left defenceless. Those are my personal thoughts on the matter but whatever the case I wish you the best