Lurasidone and Mental Health: How Can It Help?
If you’ve been prescribed Lurasidone (brand name, Latuda) or you’re thinking about different antipsychotic medications, you might be wondering how they will affect you. Or, perhaps you’ve been taking it for a while but you’re thinking about ending your treatment.
Whatever your questions, we want you to know that it’s common to be asking them. So, we’ve put together this page to help answer your questions.
This page will explore what you need to know about Lurasidone. We’ll cover:
- What Lurasidone is used to treat
- How Lurasidone works in the body
- Side effects of taking Lurasidone
- How to withdraw from Lurasidone safely
- Alternative medications
- Common questions about Lurasidone
Let’s begin.
What Is Lurasidone Used For in Mental Health?
Lurasidone is a second-generation atypical antipsychotic (AAP) used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar depression. It was the first medication to receive FDA approval to be used both as a monotherapy (on its own) and in conjunction with specific mood stabilizers (lithium and valproate).
More recently, Lurasidone has been deemed safe to treat adolescents with schizophrenia and children aged 10 to 17 with bipolar who experience major depressive episodes. Off-label, Lurasidone is used to treat individuals with anger and irritability associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and bipolar mania.
If you’re prescribed Latuda for bipolar depression, your dose is likely to be between 20mg and 120mg per day. However, if you’re prescribed Latuda for schizophrenia, your dose can be higher, with dosages ranging from 40mg to 160mg per day. The maximum daily dose for adolescents, whether they have schizophrenia or bipolar depression, is 80mg.1
How Does Lurasidone Work?
While Lurasidone belongs to a group of medications known as second-generation atypical antipsychotics, it is also part of the benzisothiazole class. This means it works slightly differently on dopamine and serotonin receptors compared to other AAPs. Dopamine and serotonin are neurotransmitters, meaning chemical messengers in the brain, that help regulate your mood, thinking, and behavior.
So, while Lurasidone blocks dopamine receptors like other AAPs, it both blocks and activates different serotonin receptors. It also has lower activity at the muscarinic, histamine, and adrenergic receptors. This unique and extra action is what gives it antidepressant properties, less cognitive blunting, and reduced risk of low blood pressure, sedation, and weight gain compared to other AAPs.1
Latuda Side Effects
As with all antipsychotic medications, some adverse side effects are to be expected. Despite Lurasidone sharing some common antipsychotic side effects, they are much lower compared to other medications. As a result, Lurasidone is believed to offer ‘a safety advantage’.1
Nevertheless, those being treated for schizophrenia and bipolar depression can expect the side effects of Lurasidone to include:
- Nausea
- Light-headedness when sitting or standing
- Drowsiness
- Sedation
- Headache
- Parkinsonism
- Sexual and menstrual dysfunction
- Extrapyramidal symptoms1
More recent research has also found reports of patients experiencing thinning hair, low blood platelet count, restless leg syndrome, and hypersexuality after taking Lurasidone. More research is needed to get these effects officially ‘listed’, but you should always report adverse effects to your doctor.4
Let’s delve into a couple of side effects that people commonly ask about:
Latuda and Nausea
Nausea is a common side effect of Lurasidone. This may be due to the medication’s poor solubility in water. It’s recommended that you take your Lurasidone with a meal that is at least 350 calories.1 Lurasidone is also highly likely to adversely interact with grapefruit, so you should avoid this.5 If you’re struggling a lot with nausea, speak to your doctor. They might choose to adjust your dose or give you anti-nausea medication.
Latuda and Sedation
Compared with other antipsychotic medications, Lurasidone has lower activity on the brain receptors involved with sleepiness. As a result, its sedative effects are minimal. Sedation is not an uncommon side effect, it’s just that this is reported more frequently in treatment involving other antipsychotics.1 If it works better for you, you might prefer to take your Latuda at night time.
Signs Latuda is Working
Whether you’re being treated for schizophrenia, bipolar depression, or an off-label purpose, you’ll know your Latuda is working if you see a positive change in symptoms. Whether that’s extreme low mood, hallucinations, or agitation, you know best how your condition affects you and what it’s like when you’re feeling better.
Other positive outcomes of taking Latuda include a reduction in mental and physical anxiety symptoms, an improved quality of sleep, and a greater ability to perform day-to-day tasks.6 If you’re experiencing these positive changes, that would indicate your medication is working effectively.
Stopping Latuda Safely
It may not be advisable, but you’re entitled to discontinue your Lurasidone use whenever you want to. To ensure you have the least challenging withdrawal experience possible, it’s a good idea to consider tapering off Latuda instead of stopping it suddenly.
You can do this by reducing the dose you take by small increments every few weeks until you’re taking a very minimal amount. This way, your withdrawal will be as gradual as possible.
Even with a very gradual tapering, you’re likely to still experience Lurasidone withdrawal symptoms. These could include:
- Extreme emotions
- Tremors
- Insomnia
- Headaches
- Nausea and vomiting
- Agitation and anxiety
- Psychosis (even when patients didn’t have psychosis before treatment)
Plus, it isn’t all negative; you might experience an increase in energy or feel that you can think more clearly.7
To ensure you are supported during your Lurasidone withdrawal, we recommend that you tell your family, friends, or doctor what you’re planning to do. That way, you can have people looking out for you and your health.
Alternatives to Lurasidone
Lurasidone is safe and effective for people with schizophrenia.2 However, you might be considering an alternative treatment if you’re struggling with side effects. While second-generation antipsychotics don’t vary hugely in terms of efficacy, treatments can be personalized by taking their side effect profiles into consideration.
For example, Lurasidone has a higher risk of causing restlessness. A patient with insomnia may prefer to take Quetiapine, which causes greater drowsiness.8 Here’s a more detailed look at some different options:
Latuda vs Seroquel vs Zyprexa
So, how do these commonly prescribed antipsychotics differ from each other?
In terms of efficacy in treating bipolar depression, there isn’t a significant difference between Lurasidone (Latuda), Quetiapine (Seroquel), and Olanzapine (Zyprexa). However, there are differences in their side effect profiles. One study that compared these three medications found:
- Latuda caused some weight gain, but not as much as Seroquel and Zyprexa.
- Latuda caused greater restlessness and Seroquel caused greater sleepiness.
- Both Seroquel and Zyprexa caused increased levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood.
- Zyprexa caused the greatest amount of extrapyramidal symptoms.
- Latuda caused the greatest prolactin elevation (relating to sexual dysfunction).8
If you are unhappy with your prescription of Lurasidone, there are alternatives your doctor may be able to prescribe. Others include Aripiprazole, Clozapine, and Risperidone, among others. However, it could be that your dosage should change instead of the type of antipsychotic you’re taking.
Lurasidone FAQs
Can Latuda Cause Weight Gain?
How Long Does Latuda Take to Work?
Lurasidone reaches a steady concentration in your blood after taking it consistently for 7 days.1 You may feel its effect within days of starting to take it, but it might take a few weeks for you to really feel the benefit.
How Does Latuda Change Your Personality?
The way Lurasidone impacts your personality is not black and white. Of course, you are still the same person when taking an antipsychotic medication. However, AAPs including Lurasidone are likely to impact your emotional state, day-to-day mood, cognition, movement, energy levels, sexual performance, and other factors.
With these effects in mind, you or others around you may notice that you’re feeling, acting, or responding differently than before. This doesn’t mean your personality or character has changed. You are still the same person. Hopefully, any changes will be positive and for the best outcomes for your mental health. Of course, contact your doctor if you feel adverse side effects are significantly impacting you.
Is Latuda a Mood Stabilizer or Antipsychotic?
Latuda is an antipsychotic, not a mood stabilizer. Mood stabilizers you might have heard of include lithium and valproate. These different classifications of medication are both used in the treatments of different mental health conditions, so they sometimes get mixed up.
Lurasidone, however, does have mood-stabilizing effects, reducing anxiety and agitation. In this way, Lurasidone has a leveling effect on mood, but it works differently to drugs like lithium and valproate.
Does Lurasidone Help With Anxiety?
If you’re thinking about Latuda and anxiety, you should know that Lurasidone is not prescribed an as anti-anxiety medication, though it does reduce symptoms of anxiety in individuals with other mental health conditions.1 If you’re seeking treatment for anxiety, your doctor is more likely to prescribe you something FDA-approved for specifically treating anxiety, like an SSRI.
Can I Take Lurasidone When Pregnant or Breastfeeding?
Extrapyramidal symptoms have been observed in infants when their mothers took Lurasidone during the third trimester of their pregnancy. There is a lack of data on how safe and effective it is for pregnant women (and elderly people) to take Lurasidone, so, it is only prescribed when a rigorous risk vs benefit analysis has been considered.1
Find Out More About Lurasidone
Here at Mission Connection, it is our top priority that your care is personalized and gives you the best experience. We’ll work closely with you and your family to ensure this. If you want to learn about other antipsychotic medications, check out our blog. Or, get in touch with us to get more information about how we approach treatment for people with schizophrenia, bipolar, and depression.
We offer a range of talking therapies, whether you prefer to talk to a therapist online, in person, or a mixture of both.
Call us today to ask any questions or request a consultation, or get started here.
References
- Azhar, Y., & Shaban, K. (2023, June 12). Lurasidone. PubMed; StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK541057/
- Tarzian, M., Majd Soudan, Muhammed Alhajji, Ndrio, M., & Fakoya, A. O. (2023). Lurasidone for Treating Schizophrenia and Bipolar Depression: A Review of Its Efficacy. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.38071
- Meyer, J. M., Ng-Mak, D. S., Chuang, C.-C., Rajagopalan, K., & Loebel, A. (2017). Weight changes before and after lurasidone treatment: a real-world analysis using electronic health records. Annals of General Psychiatry, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12991-017-0159-x
- Modugula, H., & Kumar, A. (2020). Risk Analysis of Lurasidone in Patients with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Depression. CNS & Neurological Disorders – Drug Targets, 19(2), 109–114. https://doi.org/10.2174/1871527319666200303120147
- Bailey, D. G., Dresser, G., & Arnold, J. M. (2013). Grapefruit–medication interactions: Forbidden fruit or avoidable consequences? CMAJ, 185(4), 309–316.
- Goldberg, J. F., Siu, C., Tocco, M., Pikalov, A., & Loebel, A. (2023). The Effect of Lurasidone on Anxiety Symptoms in Patients With Bipolar Depression: A Post Hoc Analysis. The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 84(4), 47390. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.22m14732
- Read, J. (2022). The experiences of 585 people when they tried to withdraw from antipsychotic drugs. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abrep.2022.100421
- Kishi, T., Yoshimura, R., Sakuma, K., Okuya, M., & Iwata, N. (2020). Lurasidone, olanzapine, and quetiapine extended-release for bipolar depression: A systematic review and network meta-analysis of phase 3 trials in Japan. Neuropsychopharmacology Reports. https://doi.org/10.1002/npr2.12137
