Anyone treating their schizophrenia without meds?
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I AM TRYING BUT I COULD’N’T…I KNEW…
GO SEE UR PDOC SOON…
LIVING WITH SZ WITHOUT MEDICINE IS JUST A NIGHT MARE…
I AM SEEING MY PDOC SOON…
thanks…
take care…
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My brother is on meds, but he’s supplementing with vitamins that counteract his sz symptoms. Does that count? 
Do you mind if I ask what vitamins? Also, how much do they help?
My schizophrenia treats me badly so I treat my schizophrenia badly.
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My brother’s old meds quit working and the new meds didn’t help him enough to keep him out of the mental hospital, so we decided to try vitamins.
I read that B3, B6, B12 and Omega 3 might help sz some, so the first thing we tried was high doses of B-Complex. The improvement was significant.
We then broke it down to figure out what he needed. (I assume we could have just had the doctor do a blood test for vitamin deficiencies, but he refused to.)
We found he was deficient in B3, B8, B12, and TMG.
Instead of doing what all the other vitamin tests did, giving a set dose for months or years and checking the result, I gave him however much he needed until he was no longer deficient which means until he went toxic and had too much. Then I slowly lowered him down until he balanced and was no longer toxic or deficient.
I’ve spent almost 3 years balancing him on these vitamins.
I’ve balanced him on B8, B12, and TMG.
B3 has been especially hard because instead of just leveling out, it has bounced.
I’ll probably have him balanced on B3 in June.
This has helped him to the point that once he’s balanced, indication is that he probably won’t have any more sz symptoms since I’ve been successfully controlling all of his sz symptoms for almost 3 years. “But we’re not there yet, so that’s yet to be seen.”
“If” we reach that point, then I’ll let him stabilize for some period of time before we start trying to lower his meds very slowly to see “if” we can and to see “if” any sz symptoms come back.
So right now there are still lots of “ifs.”
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Quick question… Are you diagnosed with SZ or a similar psychotic disorder? This looks like something that belongs on the Family side.
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I literally just took my first pill to treat my psychosis. I spent a few years barely holding onto reality, nearly a year completely out of touch (while making some extremely poor decisions that managed to not land me in jail or dead) and then a couple of moments where everything was clear. I managed to get back ahold of reality, saw a few pdocs for a couple of years, but paranoia meant I kept my actual bad symptoms from them (they just wanted to put me on medication that made me more susceptible to the mind control, or so I thought) while getting minimal help. That situation ended abruptly, but I met a person who was able to help me keep a handle on things. It’s mentally and physically exhausting to rationalize around paranoia, use others reactions to know what is real and distrust everything you believe constantly just so you don’t suddenly realize you’d had a delusion for a long period of time.
I don’t know how well the meds will work, but I finally went to get some help because if it’s my crazy, it’ll help. And if it’s not, they can have their win, I’m just exhausted fighting.
So, my view, if meds help even a tiny bit 1 day a year, it’s work that moment of respite
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its been 2 days without meds, will see how long I can go. It’s funny to see my pupils dilate back to normal size, the meds make them smaller
Good luck. What meds were you on and what dosage? If you don’t mind me asking
Thanks!. I was on invega 9mg, although originally I was on the lowest dose 3mg and doing fine but it contains lactose and was giving me stomach aches. So I bumped up to 6mg - that’s the only reason. And then recently I had intense stomach pain and drove myself to the hospital, somehow that got misinterpreted that I was mentally unwell and a public health team suggested I take 9mg. Welp, now I thought ■■■■it, I want to try my best to recover without a crutch. Funnily the symptoms I feel when coming off are not even related to schizophrenia, I guess they may be termed negative symptoms. Feeling faint, weak and low immune system =\ Thanks for the encouragement
I went 2 years without meds. Then I became psychotic and ended up back in hospital. I’ve pretty much been on meds ever since.
You’re always going to find people who are off meds at a given point in time whenever you ask. But these people just either go psychotic or go back on meds eventually.
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I’ve learned the hard way I can’t make it without med’s. Maybe if they had never put me on med’s in the first place I wouldn’t be so dependent on them now, but experience has taught me I have to stay on my med’s. I live at an assisted living center for the mentally ill, so I’ve observed a lot of schizophrenics. From what I’ve seen, sz’s who are stricken enough to have to come to an assisted living center cannot make it without med’s. They inevitably mess up when they try.
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I was just answering the question from @Mouseymoo
How does a discussion of treating sz without meds belong on the family side?
My brother has had sz for 37 years.
Brief History:
1979 First prodromal phase - started OCD, stress related issues, social withdrawal, anxiety.
1986 First psychotic episode after a deep 6 month depression. Hallucinations and having thoughts implanted in his head, but not audibly hearing voices.
1987 Admitted to a mental hospital and formally diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. Later determined he also had a Serotonin mood disorder causing the depression and OCD. Also having memory problems. Clearly showing positive, negative, and cognitive sz symptoms.
1987-2016 tried the following APs: Haldol, Stelazine, Triptafen, Risperdal, Abilify, Clozaril, Navane, and presently on Zyprexa, Seroquel, and Latuda.
1993 CBT successfully eliminated significant psychological problems affecting his sz.
2012 Status: On Navane and Seroquel for years, but unable to work or go to school, and barely able to function. Then Navane quit working completely. I did my best to analyze his receptor malfunctions and found three drugs left that might work: Clozaril, Zyprexa, and Latuda. Clozaril worked better than other meds but didn’t remove all sz symptoms. It increased white blood cell count so he had to drop it. Zyprexa helped but at 30mg max it wasn’t enough.
May 2013 Status: Latuda started helping but he maxed out at 90mg. It wasn’t enough, and going over 90mg made him worse (toxic).
At this point I helped him as much as possible with available APs.
He started crashing badly(sz symptoms hitting hard) and was going to quickly end up back in the mental hospital if I didn’t do something. So we tried going on vitamins to see if it would buy us some time. We’ve both been significantly shocked with how much the vitamins are helping.
I’ll post a report on his status if and when I successfully balance him on vitamins and if it removes all his sz symptoms.
No, I’m not making a claim of an sz cure or pushing vitamins on anyone. No, I’m not doing anything like Hoffer or any of the follow-on studies have done with vitamins on sz patients.
There is a chance that if you can get by without antipsychotics that you really don’t have sz at all. Diagnoses change and different docs may give different diagnoses for the same person.
So if vitamins work for you great, you probably don’t have sz. Be happy and live a long life.
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Hey man! I hope things are going well.
I think all pixel was asserting is that you are referring to your brother and not yourself and that, as such, this implies that you fit in the category of “family”.
I’m just clarifying the words and their meaning. I’d be a hypocrite to go beyond that.
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Hey there!
Oh. Okay. Well I’m definitely referring to my brother. I don’t have sz or any other psychotic disorder.
Hope that clarifies things.
The Diagnosed area is intended for peer support amongst those who have SZ/A or a similar disorder. Family members coming to our forum to lecture us about meds and supplements is a turn-off to those this forum is intended to support.
Please limit your posts to the Family side of the community in the future.
Pixel.
Volunteer moderator.
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Did the psychosis came all of a sudden or did it came slowly?
Did you use drugs?
Could you notice when it was coming?
Have you tried meditation?
Im 4 months off and doing fine.
Did the psychosis came all of a sudden or did it came slowly?
suddenly
Did you use drugs?
no
Could you notice when it was coming?
yes
Have you tried meditation?
yes