Fanapt

Every antipsychotic can cause low BP. It is not a medication-specific side effect; it is a side effect of the whole genus of these medications. You need to sit in bed before getting up in the morning.

People on the Bipolar forum have taken Fanapt, I believe. Search this website, and you will find old threads.

This is not a new medication. Its approved for Bipolar is new (2024), but it was approved for schizophrenia back in 2009. There might be a generic, given how long ago it was approved for schizophrenia.

Asked my NP if there was a generic and she said nothing. It's been over 13 years since it was approved. Probably can't afford it. The other newer BP meds made me feel terrible. I could tolerate depakote last year but not much now. Took lithium over 17 years and did nothing.
She's been the only one who says I'm also schizophrenic but I'm not. I'm not delusional.

You cannot be both schizophrenic and bipolar. You can be schizoaffective, though. In terms of treatment, the distinction is not that important if you plan to treat bipolar with antipsy, anyway. If you are treating with Lithium and/or anticonvulsants, then it matters very much whether you are schizophrenic or bipolar, as these medications are not typically used in schizophrenia.

When you say that you are not delusional, you are essentially saying that you do not suffer from positive, or productive, symptoms of schizophrenia. These are symptoms that are not present in healthy people, such as hallucinations or delusions. But schizophrenia is also characterized by negative symptoms, i.e. the presence of symptoms that do not occur among healthy people. One such negative symptom is anhedonia, flat affect. Maybe your NP is seeing those in you. But it is a fine line to distinguish between depressive symptomatology and the negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

Do you have health insurance? Drug manufacturers offer savings card for uninsured and underinsured patients. There might be one for Fanapt, too, that would enable you to try the new medication and see if relieves your symptoms.

This one made me fall a lot. I was struggling with my eating disorder already quite severely (not the worst it's ever been, but definitely towards that end of the spectrum), but even at the worst of times I never passed out 10x in a week like I did on Fanapt and once I stopped it I stopped passing out altogether. My pdoc thought I was being abused (I was, but abusers are usually smart enough not to leave bruises in visible places in my experience) because I had a black eye and it's like, "yeah, the only thing abusing me is the combo of this med, gravity, and my nightstand."

Which atypical antipsychotics have you tried, AF, and with what results?