While hallucinations aren’t too bad for me, paranoia is off the charts. I’m always afraid people are watching me, talking about me, or trying to hurt me. I rarely go anywhere anymore.
My psychiatrist told me that medication would reduce the paranoia, but it would take a long time for it to work.
Has anyone else ever had severe paranoia and did medication help? If so, how long did it take before you started noticing a change?
Took about six months on the right med for the paranoia to become more manageable. And finding that right med took about three years.
Don’t despair though cos a lot of folk find their right med pretty quick. But I agree with the sentiment your doc gave - that paranoia can be more persistent than hallucinations.
A couple of months to notice the difference, about a year for it to drop into the background completely. My meds (abilify) were extremely good at dealing with my paranoia.
I was on Abilify for a few weeks and I got very dizzy. I’m now on Risperal, which has been pretty good so far. 6 months would be great!
Like @everhopeful I am also on Abilify. I started on 15mg which worked fine for awhile. Then I relapsed and went to 20, then again to 25 and finally to 30 mg. Each time the paranoia sneaked in but I was finally fine on 30mg. I am now down again to 25 and still doing great. I’d say play a little with your meds with the help of your pdoc ofcourse .soon you will find the right medicine regimen that is just right for you. I wish you strongs.
I have Abilify 25 mg and Seroquel 300 mg. It’s pretty good on paranoia. But I have times that paranoia tries to sneak in on me. I use logic to conquer the paranoia. Without meds I’d be hiding in my home.
The meds helped… but therapy helped too… a lot of my paranoia was part of catastrophic thinking… I think the worst… I get a bit amped up about that… I get more agitated… the paranoia kicks in.
Work on keeping the catastrophic and negative thinking under control… and things got easier for me.
Yeah meds helped but it took months, almost a year. I still have some but its manageable.
yes the meds help but u cant skip or miss it… u have to continuously take it as prescribed. it took me a year until the paranoia went away…
It can take years to find the right med for your special brain. Most of them can fix the florid obvious positive symptoms pretty quick.
However negative symptoms like lack of motivation can take longer to clear up.
I just feel like I have natural paranoia that is such an integral part of my personality that you can never medicate it out if me. And with all that’s going on in the world, you can never be too trusting these days anyway.
But it can lift enough to get out and about. Hovering in fear at home can just make things worse. It’s good to get out and test the waters and learn that not everyone is out to get you, even if you feel that way like a lingering hangover.j
The medication definitely helped, but it took 6 months and a change of meds. I also think it’s important to adress your paranoia and believes in therapy and challenge them. I was severely paranoid. I stayed for days in my room with curtains drawn and didn’t talk to anyone, but when I started taking meds it was like the air cleared and I could feel reality again, but it didn’t happen over night. I know it’s hard, but take one day at a time 
The paranoia has never gone away for me, though I have been on med’s for two decades. Whoever said, “Sometimes the paranoids have real enemies” caused me a lot of anxiety.
On the hospital I was commited, in the nurses office there was this sign saying “Even if your paranoid, doensn’t mean they aren’t out to get you” … One of the nurses had a bandage covering her laptop camera. Lol… Anyway, everyone is a little paranoid.
Funny you say that, the laptop I am working on right now has a bandage over the camera. In fact, it has a million different security measures on it.
That’s funny, sometimes I cover my laptop camera too, although I am thinking that it is useless, who would like to film my face all of the time 
Exactly! I had mine covered, but took it off. It was a rebellious act against my paranoia! 