i have a serious lack of motivation. It is hard for me to do the simplest of things …like take a shower, clean my room, do the laundry, and dishes. I don’t know if this is common in people with schizophrenia or not but it is really daunting for me to try and do these things. Does anyone else have problems with lack of motivation like i do?
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i have the same problem. just cant get motivated
Ya it sucks too because I like a clean room and I feel better after I take a shower but its just hard for me to get motivated to do these things. I don’t know…I wish there was a medicine for that lol.
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There is a medicine for it. I take Bupropion(Wellbutrin in the US) for my motivation problems and it really helps, it’s an antidepressant. Before it I was kinda like you, I just couldn´t get anything done. Now I’m renting my own apartment and have a job kinda. I’ve tried countless of supplements and some have helped motivation but not of them to the extent hat Bupropion has. It has slight effect on dopamine so there is a risk of getting psychotic but not nearly as much as with stimulants. I take it and for me there’s no positive symptoms from it, not even a little bit, but I have read about people with sz who have gone psychotic on it. For me it was totally worth the risk. It doesn’t have the side-effects of other ADs like sexual dysfunction and emotional numbness. I have slight ringing in the ears from it so I don’t want to up my dose. If it wasn’t for that I would take a higher dose and then my motivation would probably be as good as pre disease, right now it’s like 65 percent. Most of the other antidepressants, at least in my experience, don’t give motivation like Burpopion does, they just give energy.
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Thanks ill ask my doctor about that when I see here a week from Friday.
Yes, I have the same symptom; it is part of negative symptoms; It can be apathy or avolition; it is one of my problems.
Tolteca.
I’ve always felt depressed and unmotivated during the dark days of winter. Now I take Wellbutrin also and have found it to be very valuable. I tried Vitamin D supplementation for that last year and found that to be helpful too.
You should check this link Schizophrenia symptoms
“Avolition is the reduction, difficulty,
or inability to initiate and persist in goal-directed
behavior; it is often mistaken for apparent disinterest.
(examples of avolition include: no longer interested
in going out and meeting with friends, no longer interested
in activities that the person used to show enthusiasm
for, no longer interested in much of anything, sitting
in the house for many hours a day doing nothing.)
A short summary of a list of negative symptoms are:
lack of emotion - the inability to enjoy regular
activities (visiting with friends, etc.) as much as
before
Low energy - the person tends to sit around and
sleep much more than normal
lack of interest in life, low motivation
Affective flattening - a blank, blunted
facial expression
or less lively facial movements, flat voice
(lack of normal intonations and variance) or physical movements.
Alogia (difficulty or inability to speak)
Inappropriate social skills or lack of interest
or ability to socialize with other people
Inability to make friends or keep friends, or not
caring to have friends
Social isolation - person spends most of the day
alone or only with close family”
Tolteca
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Thanks for the link…I will check it out.
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yep i experience this stuff a lot, i do get periods of up to a week of no negatives but then its straight back to the negatives basicaly 3 to 7 days on 3 to 7 off
Does it help you to observe the pattern? I mean do you use it to get stuff done one week, then chill the next? I ask because avolition seems to be the biggest problem for my son.
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yes the pattern tracking helps me. i do what i can when i feel like i can be productive and chill the next
when im in that avolition , sometimes my first goal of the day is to drink a coffee. then i can get moving more . tiny goals and breaking up goals helps for avolition. on those days a goal such as going to the gym seems impossible so i make steps like 1. drink a coffee 2. have a shower 3. listen to a motivating song. 4. go to the gym.
Ok, i’m going to try to talk this through with him. Thanks.
I have those same things happen/not happen. I think it’s a medicine side effect from antipsychotics.
Yes lack of motivation is a problem with sz, I have a terrible problem with it too. Maybe I should try Wellbutrin too!
I know I am going to talk to my doctor about Wellbutrin. I need to do something because I just can’t get motivated to do anything.
Oh YES… for me it swings… If I hit a patch of apathy… or some deep negative symptoms… I’m stuck… just watching life get messy and having no motivation to tackle it.
Then I need help getting back on top of the simple things.
My Latuda has some mood stabilizing properties and with that I feel more level from day to day… I don’t get hit with the negative wax build up as often or as hard… but just like all things… some days are harder then others.
Good luck.
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Sometimes and very often I feel lack to motivation. Almost. I know that I must to get professional skills that provided me my life.
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How can we have motivation when our med blocks the dopamine…
I copied and past from an artical.
Dopamine is responsible for motivation, interest, and drive. It is associated with positive stress states such as being in love, exercising, listening to music, and sex . When we don’t have enough of it we don’t feel alive, we have difficulty initiating or completing tasks, poor concentration, no energy, and lack of motivation. Dopamine also is involved in muscle control and function. Low Dopamine levels can drive us to use drugs (self medicate), alcohol, smoke cigarettes, gamble, and/or overeat. High dopamine has been observed in patients with poor GI function, autism, mood swings, psychosis, and children with attention disorders.
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Like many sz’s, I’ve got it big time. I don’t do anything until it becomes urgent. Don’t feel too alone in this. A lot of us have this problem.
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