Cariprazine (Vraylar) is a new medicine that is used for bipolar depression. Here I would share my own experience with the drug. Whenever I spoke to my psychiatrist to prescribe me something for depression, he would advise me to stick with what I was currently taking as any anti-depressant drug might trigger mania. And this is the bad luck with the bipolar patients that they remain depressed more often. Over time we tried several medications but it would disturb my sleep and would drift to mania or hypomania. In our recent encounter, my psychiatrist prescribed me Vraylar.
Initially, I began by taking 1.5 mg and after one week now I’m on 3 mg. On the first day, I was very tired in the morning. Next night I took the capsule at 7 pm as advised. I saw its benefit from day one. However, I wake up several times at night. In the morning, I’m more motivated for my work. I also finished several of my weekend projects. Normally, I’m very depressed on Monday and remain in a low mood until Friday. Only Saturday is somewhat better. Generally, the whole week is miserable due to low mood. But now I’m more motivated. Normally I would spend most of my weekend in bed, but now either I’m reading or writing. I published several short reads on amazon.
Speaking of its side effects, in the first week I had nausea and diarrhea. At the same time, I was also taking Risperidone which might be interacting with the drug. Now I’m off the Risperidone and found no other apparent side effects. I still wake up several times at night and then go to sleep.
Disclaimer: This blog is not intended to endorse the medicine or therapy.
Mr. Monologue 
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