I really really hate taking these meds I can’t get proper sleep and I have reduced to 5mg and had some symptoms but I think I might of been able to stay at that dose possibly and be fine… do any of you just have some symptoms appear and then dissapear?
Now my pdoc probably wont want to try reducing the dose again or stopping it completely … I am now taking 100mg invega and 10mg abilify which I dont think I need but I can’t do anything about it, it pisses me off.
That is what you should tell your pdoc. I think they want us to sleep at night. I mean come on.
Abilify has a bad reputation on this site. It often backfires and makes people agitated and/or more psychotic, and I think the little science I behind it I have seen is horseshit. Here is what does not make sense- it is used for mania. It is used for depression. It is used for psychosis. It is used for irritability in people with autism. It is used to make money. It is a dopamine agonist (WHAT THE ■■■■) while all the other schizophrenia meds are the opposite: dopamine antagonists. It is just crap. I have never taken it and many on here have reported outcomes like “irritable and nuts” “even more disabled” to “manic” while on the ■■■■.
What symptoms do you suffer more from? There are different meds which are NOT all the same, they have ridiculously different profiles, go ask someone who has prescribed a ton of them or taken a ton of them. If you have very strong positive symptoms, atypicals will knock them out cold. Haldol will stop that ■■■■ like superman standing in front of a train. If you do not want to be overly sedated, ask for the less sedating meds like Geodon, Latuda, if you have trouble sleeping, ask for something sedating like Clozapine (if you are cool with getting blood drawn repeatedly, JK dont take that ■■■■ unless you have no choices left), Seroquel (Seroquel is one hell of a sleep aid), but not Zyprexa (Olanzapine). Zyprexa will make you sleep twelve hours, make you fat, and make you feel hungry. ■■■■ zyprexa. Risperdal is alright.
Ok, I’ll be honest. I just flipped through my books, I am a psych student. These meds all suck ass. Just ask for seroquel if you really want to sleep and have positive symptoms (hallucinations, delusions, disorganized behaviors like putting things in the wrong place or saying nonsense)
If you dont want to be sedated, ask for Geodon or Latuda, but be careful with Latuda, that ■■■■ doesnt sedate at all.
I have chronic paranoid schiz and I take Geodon, Xanax and Propranolol. It keeps me functioning and doesnt sedate me much, the Xanax does a bit but it also helps with anxiety and tremors, I have akathisia (leg tremors) like hell. Geodon sedates a little bit. Just enough to make me not too agitated to function. With a few shots of espresso or an energy drink I routinely exercise insanely intensively. I am a heavy weight lifter. I have a background in fighting and powerlifting, I still lift today, I lift particularly heavy for legs and back workouts, to the point to where its unsettling to my shrink. I tried Latuda. It made me worse and gave me akathisia. I take the xanax to sit through class (well not just sit, I have a 3.9) and then after I workout to cool my head down and then again to go to sleep. Its bedtime now actually so Im about to take it.
It’s not one size fits all with these antipsychotics. I suggest you read up on them on sites like crazymeds.com which is user based, like this forum. Honest, real experience with all of the drugs which even hippies wont touch. Dont just let some quack tell you they know what it feels like to take a major tranquilizer, unless they are really good and very experienced; my pdoc says he doesnt even care about or use that much of what they taught him and that his experience plays a much larger role in treating patients. He’s old. All of the shrinks and the pdoc have been old men. I dont trust a kid from med school with my brain. I’ll hand it over to a wizard lookin’ dude.
Oh, and yes there is hope. Just look at what people like Fred Frese and Elyn Saks have done. Hell, even people on this forum are inspiring. Don’t think that one shitty round with a shitty pill is all you’ve got. There are LOTS of antipsychotics and combinations of them and benzos.