Has anyone changed from pizotifen to periactin? Seeing that they are so similar, can you cross straight over or do you need to taper? By the way, I am only on 1 tablet. Have tried 4 times to move higher on the pizotifen without any success. Hoping periactin will be easier.
Any advice would be welcome 
Hi and welcome. You really need to discuss this with your consultant, GP and/pharmacist.
Pharmacist always good for drugs queries I find. There are no medics on here to advise on the straight swap angle. I was also about to suggest you tried the Search facility but I did and there is no much there. Although perictin is used as a preventative it doesn’t seem to be much referenced on here. Lots of medical papers on the internet show it is used successfully so that’s just a coincidence I guess.
I can’t quite see why you would be wanting to change to another drug you say yourself is so similar if your body is strugling to cope with Pizotifen. Be interested to understand your reasoning. From the very little I have read, over the past 10 minutes, about Periactin it has virtually the same side effects. Isn’t used in Japan because it makes so many so very sleepy and is much more highly anticholinergic than Pizotifen which would more likely mean it producing more intense side effects, such as dry mouth, slow bowel etc,than Pizotifen. Might it not be better to try another class of drug. Best run it past the medics.
My only other thought might be you feel happier with Pizotifen so maybe you need to increase much more slowly. I have read on here archive material where people were cutting Pizotifen tablets into quarters. I have also read of people told to up it initially quite quickly but then to wait much longer before going up again. You would need to search this site for more exact descriptions. Good luck whichever way you decide. Helen
Not sure if you managed it in the end but just curious as to what problems you experienced. Was it the sleepiness or were you raiding the fridge for food in the middle of the night? Must admit the increased appetite side effect seems really cruel to me. Makes using the drug an uphill struggle before you even take the stuff out the box. Gives the drug too much of the upper hand. Too unfair.