I've heard of depressive patches.

My nemesis Haldol is an injectable.

Zyprexa, according to Google is also an injectable.

From what I've seen of institutional practice... whatever their diagnosis, people considered acutely psychotic are likely candidates for injectable neuroleptics -- especially if they're in hospital settings and considered aggressive or a "management problem." And if people are disinclined to take prescribed neuroleptics, there's a greater chance that the prescription (or forced drugging order) will be for a long acting form.

Injectables are equal opportunity for anyone loud, manic, screaming or asking too many agitated questions (like I want an attorney)inside psych wards...I've witnessed people of ALL diagnoses get shot up with Haldol, this just widens the choices to shut people up.

The pharma companies are broad-basing most ALL meds now to be watered down to "one for all ailments"--scary thing is most people don't understand antipsychotics.

How many people with bipolar dx have been sent home with Depakote or Lithium, Lamictal AND Geodon, Seroquel, Abilify, etc. most even end up on an anti depressant.

Sounds familiar: 1999 that's what the typical med cocktail was for Childhood Bipolar kids (as if that diagnoses is real) One or 2 mood stabilizers, 1 antipsychotic and 1 antidepressant.

Now people are being sent home with Abilify only, or Seroquel only. What a nightmare.

Every time I see something about an intramuscular being approved, all I can think of are the patients locked up in psych wards.It's crap!

It sounds like a horrible drug but I think it's the most common one for AOT regardless of whether the label is bpd or schizophrenia. I'll join you in the rage shake.

When I was a social worker I knew a number of people on maintenance injectable neuroleptics for bipolar disorder...

those pesky non-compliant types, you know...

though, oddly enough, compliant enough to go get the damn shot!!

Good to know!
Perhaps I'll by something to put under my clothes that prevent needles!
I always think: I won't feel sad, I will not feel sad anymore about it all.
I thought I knew me better!
Just saw the name of this post but I have no guts to go there now:
"Sedatives Being Used By Cops To Make Arrests"
Good!
They use it to rape, to arrest... to kill...
Yep, sometimes in mental hospitals, at least around here, they "mistake" the right amount of the dose and the patient end up.,..
dying of overdose. Of course it's not everyday not even every month or every year!
Once in a while!
One in a decade is already enough by MY standards!
But I've found out that My standards are quite different from some people.
WHO cares?
WHO?

PS:
I forgot to say that MY standards are wrong.
And you know that perhaps I'm lying for WHO knows I'm not a histrionic?
Or even suffers from any myth maniac or suffers from...
Bipolar disorder!
:)
hehehe
Bipolarity has become a joke for me!
If you really believe that this "disease" can explain all they are saying... something is going wrong with me.
I want Psychosis maniac-depressive back!
So does some of the people who suffers from this disease.
They don't want anymore being seen as a dangerous person who can even commit crimes that are not part of the symptoms.
What has happened to the world?
Guess I'm losing my mind!

It is my opinion that the injectables are a crime against humanity because, if the person has a reaction to the drug, there is no way to really get it out of that person's system. The injectables are meant to work for a week. The patient could easily die if some unforseen medical emergency happened to him/her.

All the pharms play copycat with psych drugs, it seems. I thought the newly approved Zyprexa injectibles lasted three weeks, which is what gave me the nightmare vision of Ichabod Crane.

I know the haldol injectable lasts more than one week...it may be three weeks as well...definitely more than one week in any case...

it's really frightening....how does it stay in your sytem for so long??

Gianna, I don't know, but I had 2 of them inserted via a pic line when I had Pneumonia this past March/April.

My experience with injectable antipsychotics was being repeatedly threatened with it as a teen.

After I flipped out on the ward my Pdoc had a manic episode to go alone with the OD attempt.

Thus the Bipolar label with psychotic features.

They told me I would be starting perphenazine.

I told them that I did not believe in drugs being raised by my parents to be staunchly anti drug.

They told me that if I refused I would be restrained and injected with it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perphenazine

For the first few weeks or months I don't remember anymore but I received liquid trilafon.

They gave it to me in a liquid so I would not play games with a pill version and because it is much more potent that way.

They kept a nurse ready to signal orderlies watching me the first couple weeks to ensure compliance.

They were not happy until I was taking the mind wipe and chemical lobotomy drugs without visible resistance.

Later, once I was sufficiently stupid and dazed they let me go on the pill version.

My Pdoc took my drug virginity from me at fourteen years old and I was not allowed to refuse.

Never trusted anyone in the mental health system ever again.

How does one quantify "frequently relapsing bipolar disorder"?

There is injectable Zyprexa and that is Zyprexa IntraMuscular (olanzapine for injection)

See for yourself: www.insidezyprexa.com Zyprexa site for healthcare professionals.

true eric, but the zyprexa is not approved for bipolar disorder nor has lilly sought approval for it for bp.

To answer your question in the original posting, Philip, there is no indication or need for a long acting antipsychotic depot drug for BPD. It is just another lame excuse to pursue an indication that will turn out to be more problematic than therapeutic. This is yet another reason why I dislike antipsychotics more and more. Did you catch the press about the company Vanda and its med Iloperidone and how the stock is crashing now that the FDA rejected the app for it as an antipsychotic. Clinpsych did a nice piece on it Monday, and was in the news today.

Too many psychiatrists seem to forget how there was a backlash with the use of the older antipsychotics for mood disorders back in the 79s and 80s as there was a greater risk of Tardive Dyskinesia when used in depression especially. So, just because these novel meds like Zyprexa, Risperdal, Seroquel, and Abilify have less risk for TD and other movement disorders, there won't be a catch as these meds are used more liberally? Boy, some people are just so stupid to forget history.

Hope this medical perspective is helpful.

I HAVE A 16YO SON WITH INSULIN DEPENDENT DIABETES AND DX: BIPOLAR AND ODD. HE IS NON-COMPLIANT WITH HIS INSULIN REGIMEN AND ACTS OUT ALL THE TIME IF HE CAN'T GET HIS WAY. SO HE IS NOW HOSPITALIZED TEMPORARILY. I'M SCARRED, ONE BECAUSE I'M A NURSE AND I KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE MENTAL HEALTH WORLD BUT WE CAN'T HANDLE HIM ANYMORE. HE IS NO RISPERDAL PILLS AND INJECTION. AFTER READING THE BLOGS, WHAT IS A GOOD REGIMEN FOR MY SON WITH THE ISSUES THAT HE HAS!

My son has been in three different hospitals in the last three weeks. the police put him in twice and we did once He is eighteen, and acting out dangerously(assault ,resisting,etc) He was diagnosed bipolar in June his first stay this year and prescibed geodon. The other day he was sent to that same hospital by the police and was rejected because the head psych doc refused his admittance because of his behavior in June. He talks suicide but has never attempted as far as we know. His manic phases have gotten worse. He refuses meds and therapy. "nothing is wrong with me" an injectable to get his mind set would be a godsend. we arealmost to the point of wishing he would make good on his personal threats so he could finally have peace of mind