My experience with the drug Vraylar. (It’s not a good story)

Last night I watched the latest episode of Elementary (aired July 30, 2018). As I was fast forwarding through the commercials, an ad caught my eye and I backed up to see it. The ad was for the drug Vraylar. The commercial listed three different ways the medication can kill you, along with the all the horrible side effects that can happen, including two of the extreme side effects I experienced. I was shocked that two years after I stopped taking the drug, it was not only still on the market, but being advertised on TV. Let me tell you why.

Before you read the next paragraph I will state that this is my experience with the drug. It must work for some individuals and that makes me happy. It’s good to have a medication that helps one with symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar 1.

After the birth of my second son and shortly after my stroke, I developed postpartum psychosis (again). I asked my doctor if there was any new medication on the market to help me out and he mentioned Vraylar. The medication was for schizophrenics and bipolar people whose common types of episodes were mania or mixed. This sounded like me in a nutshell and the drug seemed to be too good to be true. It was.

The case study for the medication was only three week long. When I read that in the pamphlet that comes with the medication (I encourage everyone to read the literature that is included with any new prescription), it set off a red flag but I was willing to give it a try anyway. I felt great for the first four weeks I took Vraylar. Then the confusion set in. I blamed the stroke I had a few months before as to why I was confused. Then it felt like my thoughts had become fluid, like liquid. My spending became out of control as I stopped tracking my money. I bought everyone’s Christmas presents and it was only August. This isn’t normal for me. I do my Christmas shopping in October. The liquid thoughts and confusion became so intense that I stopped driving. As I was also experiencing postpartum psychosis, I blamed that for the spending. I was too confused to really understand that this wasn’t how I felt the first time I had postpartum psychosis. That brand of mental state was known to me and that wasn’t what was happening. I just was having a hard time believing I was having such a bad reaction to a drug.

Then early September brought on the stroke like symptoms. I was feeding my son in his high chair and suddenly I felt like I was going to fall off my chair and I did. I couldn’t move a muscle. My husband freaked out and called 911. After my neurologist ordered a contrast CT scan and the test came back negative, he strongly felt it was the Vraylar that caused the loss of muscle movement. I went home after a just-in-case night in the hospital and proceeded to lose complete control of my muscles several times a day for three weeks.  The side effect lingered long after I stopped taking the medication. I kept falling randomly for another month. Now you may be asking how I took care of my children during this time and I shall mention I have fantastic in-laws who watched the boys while the side effect was running it’s course through my system. I’m very fortunate in having awesome in-laws. Let me continue with the Vraylar story…

I’ve had bad reactions to medications before and have gone through several drugs trying to find the right combination. However, Vraylar takes the top spot in being the worst I have ever taken as far as side effects are concerned. According to my psychiatrist, I have taken all the anti-pshycotics on the market. I currently take three anti-psychotics and one mood stabilizer to lessen the severity of my disorder. Like I mentioned, this drug may work for other people, and that’s great, but the lesson for me is to not take a medication that was only studied for three weeks. Any drug can work for a few weeks. It’s been two years since that bad experience and I vowed to be more careful in taking a brand new medication that come with so little evidence of being effective.