Can the meds take more than a year to help?

do you believe that i should be relieved by the meds more with the time? i just wonder if i achieved their limits. its been exactly 1 year that i am on my zyprexa and my depakote.
today i felt strange, i was feeling my brain in my head, some heaviness instead of emotions but maybe its my illness too.

1 Like

No med takes a year to get the full effects, but it certainly can take a year or more to find the right combination of meds and the right dosages of those meds, not to mention the time involved simply for the healing/recovery process. It took over a year for me to reach stability after becoming very ill for the first time. It is tough to recover from a psychotic break.

so my pdoc is lying. she says it can take years for the effect of meds. I spent 7 years trying different meds you know… nothing really helped me to be happy. the Zyprexa which I have now is just helping me of not die because of my symptoms. without it I am in my bed, I stop eating, showering etc…
my illness is not per episodes, its chronical since kid. so maybe ill never recover… I am afraid. that’s why I count more on meds…
p.s. ok, maybe I should talk more about the recovery process. so it will take years? I guess its harder cause I gave up 17 years ago isn’t it freak? I cant sit in a coffee with friends anymore, too paranoid by the surrounding sounds of the outside, by the people etc…

1 Like

@Anna1 I think that you should realize something.
It is true that schizophrenia is devastating.
However,an absolutely necessary condition for you to recover is for you to want it, and to fight for it.
You can’t just be passive and expect miracles, you have to get more active.
You have to fight to the best of your abilities.
And you will for sure improve at least to some degree.
For example, get out of the house, get exercise, get some friends.
If you have been on your meds for a year and are still dissatisfied,
you may try adjusting the meds or the dosage.
Good luck.

6 Likes

Maybe you need a different med regimen, though if you have given up that does make it harder. You have to really want to get better, take steps to make it happen, not rely entirely on meds. Do you have other mental health issues besides psychosis?

1 Like

the pdoc of my father diagnosed me as borderline in fact, not schizophrenic. but for my ex pdoc, I was schizophrenic. but even if I am borderline I need my Zyprexa cause its really bad without it. and its the med for me, ive tried 10 or even more antipsychotics and all my pdocs agree that the best for me is Zyprexa. I cant switch meds anymore. I made just this for the past 7 years you see…
erez, all that you say to me its tough for me. i make just some smaller things like cleaning the house, going to the groceries… but i dont want new friends, i even dont talk much anymore or i feel hurted. i can get easily hateful or jealous. plus, i have no life. the new friends want interesting people, good people… finding new friends will be the toughest for me. i am sorry but nobody here isn’t at the same point since 17 years. i live between 4 walls erez since 17 years so i dont need lessons. sorry, i am angry tonight but i am tired to always fight… i count on meds yes. at least, to give me some mood…

1 Like

or maybe my small steps will become bigger one day. i still want to live so i fight in a way. but what erez suggests its hard for me. he has no the terrible headaches which i have because of too much ruminating.

sorry erez that i am so closed right now but i already have this pressure to be more active from my pdoc and my mother… and the forums are the only places where i can complain a bit. cause my life is still miserable and my pdoc and my mother doesn’t understand how important is my paranoia now for example…

1 Like

Sure you can do these things but… That’s all; the result is only some bad experiences…

@zeno I believe that you have to lead an active life and try to squeeze the lemon, but you
may hold a different opinion. I respect you, and even love you.

zeno, you say that even that you yry all this you remain disappointed? me i start to get pissed off a bit. erez is like my mother here. its not she who spent his youth between 4 walls ok. and i got my disapointings too. now that i want to change is tough. it was always tough. as kid, all i wanted was to sleep etc, nice isn’t it? erez is not so ill, i bet he has no ill relatives. my father was ill probably and i inherited him since kid. and my life was hell. now i want to change it but i am often tired to fight, that’s all.

my mom keeps saying that my fathers family were bad people. that we are lazy like the gypsies, i hear this every single day ok? so erez, that’s why i am so bad right now…

erez disappeared… ok, i am alone. gosh, its a pity that i shot myself in the head in the past. i really have nothing anymore. just my mom and my nephew who comes visit her every weekend but i piss him too :smiley:

@Erez_Shmerling was just trying to be helpful, as was I. The reason I asked if you have other mental health issues is that what you wrote reminded me of the two people I know who have borderline. I’m not trying to diagnose you; I’m just saying there could be something to the diagnosis that the one pdoc gave you. I’m not looking to argue with you, though.

I think clozapine reaches its maximum effect after like a year or so. Zyprexa is very similar to clozapine.

@Anna the fact that you’re taking small steps and that you recognize they may lead to bigger steps shows that you are still fighting. It may be difficult to hear, but Erez’s advice is really very relevant.

Keep taking those small steps and see where they lead you!

2 Likes

ok, i ll try to calm me down. thanks for your message then :slight_smile: yes, i had the diagnosis of borderline in the past. the pdoc who said that i am borderline said that i suffer from bad character. but i am good too sometimes, maybe too good, its often in the extremities… i recongnise myself a lot in the borderlines in fact. the problem is that idk other case of borderline who lives like a lonely dog like me since years… maybe i am a borderline with some schizophrenics features…
ok, thanks eduvigis. maybe my pdoc is right that the meds sometimes takes years to help. or she was just talking about the recovery process…

1 Like

yeah, i still fight. but this night i was tired and i need to talk. i somatise a lot in my illness and its painful. and when its painful i want to cry, to hate, to scream but i am all alone in this apartment… my mother cant stand anymore my complaints…
in fact, i gave up fighting long ago my diagnosis. i gave up when i was 19 i find. i had my first diagnosis of borderline when i was 26. now i am 34 old.

1 Like

I am here!
I want you to feel better @Anna1 you are an amazing woman! I love you!
And, don’t blame your illness on your dad. It is not good.
The fact that he is your dad, if he didn’t abandon you or abuse you or if he’s not an alcoholic or beats his wife,
if he is not a bad person in general, it is wrong to accuse him.
My disease is very severe, were it not for the disease I would probably be a chess player
and work at the Israeli chess association, I would also have a lot of friends, I would also have
a boyfriend and we might have done a family together.
Instead I am sitting at home all day doing nothing!
It is true that I have no ill relatives but it doesn’t help me.
Now, I understand that you are tired but I have an idea!
If you exercise and improve your aerobic capacity, that might give you more energy to fight the disease
and solve your tiredness!

1 Like

my moms keep saying that i inherited my father in fact, not me. she says that all mental illnesses are genetic. in fact my father was beating my mother very cruelly. he was beating my sister too… i never saw so much violence than at my house. you cant imagine what it was like… and my mother keeps saying that others see worse and that they dont get mad… i never heard of kind word from my father… i wasn’t his princess, nothing. he attouched my sister sexually also… she was his favourite daughter… plus, he wasn’t a drinking person till his end. at his end, he got some depression or other mi and he died from it…
you are a girl erez? maybe my mother is not right that i wasn’t traumatized by my father. whatever. but sometimes she says that ill never recover also… all nice here :frowning:

1 Like