Do off label users (non schizophrenics) of anti psychotics experience withdrawal psychosis when they get off these medications?

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i’m just curious if anyone here knows about the answer to this.

off labels users are like those with autism or depression who use antipsychotics for those diseases while they dont have a psychotic disorder.

there is controversy that if a person with schizophrenia gets off antipsychotics, that they might experience psychosis just due to the withdrawal effect, and not so much the disease itself. some doctors say it’s the withdrawal effect and some say it’s the underlying disease.

but what happens to off label users when they withdraw? if they experience psychosis too, then that is a strong indicator that it’s the withdrawal effect. ***if they dont experience psychosis, then the situation is such that persons with schizophrenia who withdraw might just be predisposed to the withdrawal effect, if it’s not still the underlying disease causing it. ****

i’m mostly curious to see if my theory is right: my guess is that off label users dont experience withdrawal psychosis, and if it’s the withdrawal effect for schizophrenia withdrawal folks, they are just predisposed to it because of their disease. of course the alterantive theory could be true too, that it’s the underlying disease only causing the problem to begin with.

sometimes i wonder how fully i’m a schizophrenia person, but given i have experience the range of symptoms typical of a person with schizophrenia, and had withdrawal problems, that it’s proof positive that i shouldn’t second guess my condition so much.

i know once i made the stupid comment to my psych nurse that i was paranoid of taking medication cause antipsychotics i heard caused psychosis. then she pointed out that lots of off label users dont experience psychosis. this is a similar question but it’s different than the question at hand, because now i’m wondering about withdrawal effect differences in the two populations.

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I used it off label (seroquel against ptsd, anxiety, sleep problems). When i quit i got my first psychosis. My second psychosis was a response to drug withdrawal as well.

I do think i was already a bit sensitive to psychosis, but i was never truly psychotic before.

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do you currently take antipsychotics? why or why not? if i was in your situation, id wonder if i truly needed them or not.

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Yes. I eventually became more psychotic, and still have delusional moments, especially in response to trauma-things. I use an AP, but in a much lower than usual dose. I have loads and loads of anxiety too, so the AP also helps against that as well.

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I don’t think there’s a really good comparison because schizophrenics tend to need larger doses of the medications over longer periods of time than people without it.

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The aps block dopamine. If someone suddenly stops aps then they will have a rush and overdose of dopamine. This causes the psychosis. SZ or not, it will happen.

Nurses, especially psych nurses don’t know too much but anecdotal evidence generally. I wouldn’t value what she says too much.

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jaysus I never knew this,

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I would also add who uses Pad use ADs as well. When they stop AP, ADs make a lot worse with seratonin and dopamine. I am one of those that got relapse due to AP withdrawal. It was slow withdrawal over one year reduction from 3mg invega to 2mg and 1mg and got psychotic on 1 mg Invega

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