I am 33 years old. I take 12 different medications, and only a few are truly needed. So I nixed a few of them. I cut out the Ativan because I can fall asleep on my own. I dropped the Elavil too because it is an antidepressant, but also very lethal in overdose. Every time I get depressed, I think of that little “bottle of death” sitting on my bathroom counter. So long, Elavil. I have been tapering my predinose (an anti-inflammatory used, in my case, to reduce asthma attacks), and I’m bring that to an end too. I was close to the end of it, just sped it up a bit. Goodbye, nasty stuff. I take two anticonvulsants (Depakte and Keppra). I only need one according to my neurologist, so goodbye Depakote. It’s a big weight gainer and hair thinner too - neither of which I need. Keppra is not as hard on the liver and better tolerated. I also don’t need blood draws with Keppra. I will likely cut my Haldol dose in half (currently 10 mg) because I want to lessen the chance of TD.
That leaves my current med list as Haldol, an inhaler for asthma, a medication for high triglycerides, a med for my high cholesterol, Keppra for seizures, and a med for acid reflux. Only things I need. I will also be going on a high blood pressure med which may be the most important of all of them because my blood pressure runs around 160/100 and my resting pulse is around 120. I find out about that on Monday.
I read somewhere that any dose above 5mg of haldol will give you more side effects but won’t give you anymore anti-psychotic effect. Here just found it:
Doses of haloperidol greater than 5 mg increased the risk of side effects without improving efficacy.
Yes, @seriouslydisturbed, that’s what has been told to me as well. I’ve been on as much as 80 mg a day. Sometimes, in a strange way, I miss those days. There were no thoughts or emotions involved, I just operated without using an ounce of my brain, like an automaton.
@Erratica, yes, I was on 10 mg for about 6 months. The doctor tapered me down to 10/5/10/5 mg for 3 weeks, then 5 mg every day for a week, and now I’m at 5 mg every other day. I have been doing 5 mg every other day for a week, and brought it to a halt a few days ago. But yes, I was well aware of the possibility of an Addisonian Crisis. If it was going to happen, it would have happened by now.