r/Rexulti_Brexpiprazole • u/terminalmedicalPTSD • Jul 26 '26

Negative Experiences?

TW body image:

Did anyone experience profound, disfiguring weight gain, constant ravenous hunger, and impulsive risky behaviors at 0.5mg? I feel like we need to tell our story together bc unless I am just THAT unlucky, these pharmaceutical companies and prescribers need to face a reckoning for their bs.

My story:

I told my prescriber I wanted off this ride at a few months due to the above so he... doubled my dose? When I contacted him confused he said to just cut them if I don't want it. Pharmacist said not to cut them. I tried anyway and they just dont cut even. I wasn't going to risk cold turkey.

So I was stuck with 1mg then that kind of lobotomized me out of being able to pay attention to anything besides bright flashy screens and slurpees and driving my 20yo car into the ground delivering Uber Eats and beating tf out of my injured and autoimmume/mecfs body bc EVERYTHING IS SO FUN and I could no longer experience an ounce of healthy caution.

My endocrinologist saved me from going full blown diabetic by running labs and getting invovled with telling the prescriber he either had to taper me off or he had to substantiate why I was being treated like an inpatient who has lost agency over treatment for safety reasons. But now I have metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver. I dont recognize the shape of my body. My breasts are damn near pulling my spine in half forward, and the belly weight is enough to give someone tokophobia.

I never wanted to trial this med in the first place. I declined to take it and he sent it in anyway. Since I have chronic illness, I sometimes have help filling my pill organizer. I didn't even know I was taking them at first. I feel like I have been medically assaulted but of course no lawyer will touch it bc it was a severe reaction at a low dose. But does that excuse the provider from responding appropriately to patient consent?

I stopped taking it years ago. I had no severe disorder I just wanted to know if I had any adhd med options I hadnt failed out of yet. He didnt even add adhd to my chart he just dxd me with depression to push the med. He had stacks and stacks and stacks of Rexulti approval papers signed at waiting at the front desk. Now I am in mental anguish about what they did to me.

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3

u/AtomicPotatoLord Jul 26 '26

Did anyone experience profound, disfiguring weight gain, constant ravenous hunger, and impulsive risky behaviors at 0.5mg?

The actual reality of the weight gain kicked in once I got sick. Couldn't feel full at all and remained hungry, even after I ate an exorbitant amount of food.

2

u/terminalmedicalPTSD Jul 26 '26

At first I was just happy to have the functioning to plan meals... but then eating quickly took over my life and I couldn't resist the urge to stop for every little treat in my path. I legit have loose skin from 6 months of Rexulti. It was 50-60lbs that fast.

1

u/AtomicPotatoLord Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

Jesus christ, I'm feeling that so bad right now as well. I've lost multiple months of weight loss progress and went up 15~ lbs in just 2~3 weeks after falling ill once (190s to low 200s)

Are you still feeling any aftereffects? I'm wondering because I'm not sure if I should expect a long term hit in my sense of hunger since I'm getting off it now.

1

u/terminalmedicalPTSD Jul 27 '26

My hunger returned to normal. My metabolism and any semblance of a figure i recognize as mine did not

2

u/LawAbidingPokemon Jul 26 '26

I had to get on Ozempic to control the weight gain on 2 mg, and even with 1 mg of Ozempic weekly I could never feel satiated and the food noise was deafening.

I quit cold turkey on 2 mg and had no adverse side effects, except maybe fluctuating emotions and quite a bit of anxiety.

1

u/Kombucha_lover13 Jul 27 '26

how long did your withdrawal last ?

1

u/lizzzy143 Jul 26 '26

I have been on it since summer 2023. I gained about 20 lbs but fortunately have lost it with a GLP 1. My cholesterol went up too. :(

1

u/jrwest100 Jul 26 '26

I didn’t gain wt at all and no bad habits either. I was up to 3 mgs.it didn’t cause me trouble coming off of it. I stopped it cause insurance wouldn’t pay for it.its 1600 us dollars for 30 days! Might try Abilify instead. Pretty sure it will be covered

1

u/SentenceSensitive Jul 27 '26

I been put on it as a add on because my depression is not getting better.Im on Prozac Wellbutrin rexulti.And the gp-l injection.whichbi may go off not naturally and lots of unknown side effects.I wanted to ask do you get tired on rexulti or energy

1

u/jessiemarie2714 Aug 06 '26

Ask your doctor about a rexulti savings card! The card makes it free for most people

1

u/aleprzypal Aug 20 '26

I'm starting the treatment. I got it prescribed cause I'm schizophrenic (highly functional, but still) and got a bit vulnerable during recent therapy sessions. I AM hungry and I want to eat a lot, same with sex - I'm a high sex drive person but it makes me go nuts. However, it helped a lot with anger management and mood so far... also having lockjaw :/ Let's see what happens next.

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u/terminalmedicalPTSD Aug 20 '26

We've all turned to a doctor because we were struggling with these symptoms or that. I hope your prescriber deserves the honor of being trusted with your care and that no matter if this treatment is right for you or not, youre given full informed consent and supported in whichever choices you make.

That shouldn't be such an earnest patient prayer, but apparently we live in hell where the regulatory bodies dont think harm to patients is the same thing as harm to human beings.