Do you think withdrawal from anti-psychotics can cause psychosis that's not caused by the disease?

there’s a debate within psychiatry as to whether stopping anti psychotics can cause psychosis due to the withdrawal from the drug alone, and not because of the underlying illness.

do you think the withdrawal alone can cause psychosis? why or why not?

for me, i’ve tried getting off meds, because i think for a lot of people who dont show many symptoms on meds, there’s only one way to tell if you could stop, and that’s by stopping. but whenever i do it, i relapse. if it’s not the disease causing the symptoms, though, how can i truly tell if i need to stay medicated? seems like the only way to know if you dont have a lot of symptoms on the drugs, is to just stop and solider through being not medicated for awhile. not that i recommend anyone do this, but.

thoughts?

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I’ve wondered about this myself. personally, I never hallucinated until I came off medications and at first blamed the antipsychotics.

I think I have read somewhere and my cpn has said this that if you stop cold turkey, yes a relapse is more likely than if you stop slowly by reducing the med gradually in dosage over time. Giving the brain time to adjust and perhaps somewhat decreasing chance of relapse at least so quickly.

I also wondered if antipsychotics is something that once we are on it our dopamine receptors in brain may increase in response to the medicine stopping dopamine receptors from working. So therefore If we come off the medication abruptly, there’s maybe an even larger number of dopamine receptors than before. So you are more sensitive to effects of dopamine… And cos dopamine overactivation is thought to cause psychosis, it leaves you more susceptible to psychosis. I will try and find the journal on this.

Whereas if you gradually reduce the dose, the chances of psychosis whilst coming off or shortly after are reduced, because the brain is given time to readjust to normal dopamine receptor levels… Maybe this is what happens it would explain why we need to slowly taper off if coming off ap.

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Here is a part from this journal to what I was referring to above:

’ …a controversial idea that has regained attention recently is the notion of iatrogenic dopamine supersensitivity. Studies on cell cultures and animal models have shown that long-term antipsychotic use is linked to both an upregulation of dopamine D2-receptors in the striatum and the emergence of enhanced receptor affinity to endogenous dopamine. These findings have been hypothesized to contribute to the phenomenon known as dopamine supersensitivity psychosis (DSP), which has been clinically typified as the foundation of rebound psychosis, drug tolerance, and tardive dyskinesia.’

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A very, very interesting article about AP induced supersensitivity psychosis and treatment resistant sz. It basically says that a lot of our hospitalizations, due to psychosis, are directly caused from stopping our meds. It’s the withdrawal of the AP’s that induces the psychosis, not the illness.

Clonazepam improves AP induced supersensitivity psychosis.

I wonder if L Theanine does too.

u say u ‘at first’ blamed getting off the drugs, so it seems implied that you later changed your mind. why is that?

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well I simply don’t know, I think i was already sz as I was experiencing symptoms, like severe anxiety, delusions, racing thoughts, paranoia, disorganized speech, withdrawal, and other negatives, like a lack of motivation, since the age of 20, but not hallucinations. the hallucinations mostly didn’t appear until after I stopped meds, which I was on for 4 months. then a couple months later I started hearing voices 24/7. so it may have been a progression of the illness or stopping meds pushed me over the edge and I started to hallucinate. im no expert, just what I blamed initially, in fact I thought they did it to me. which I tend to think was just wrong and I was lacking insight back then. those are my current beliefs. all I know is, if I stop the meds the voices will start up again, i’ll get manic and think im a god or telepathic, and i’ll be back in the hospital.

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That was my theory when I first started to hallucinate. I thought someone either slipped me some LSD or stopping antipsychotics made me psychotic.

That’s the first time I found a forum to search for information. I take Geodon and I went to a forum called crazy meds and they had a whole section devoted to all the psych meds. It has since been shut down.

Anyway I went on the Geodon thread and asked if anyone else had gotten psychotic by stopping it. Nobody commented.

Most every one on that site that took Geodon were bipolar. There were very few people who reported being on it for psychosis. And there were a lot of threads. I read through them all.

According to this article, cold turkeying off of AP’s is a very bad idea. If you are going to come off meds, you need to come off very slowly, with a pdoc’s supervision.

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Yes stopping antipsychotics cold turkey can cause withdrawal symptoms and other effects. When I stopped the Invega Sustenna injection, i was unable to sleep at all, after 2 to 3 weeks I had a really bad psychosis like episode. It was paranoia intensified. Not only did I hear the worst most realistic sounding external auditory hallucinations, I also was terrified they would kill me and my family. It got so bad that I was laying on the floor not moving for fear they’d get me.

Other times I’ve stopped cold turkey, I get hypomanic. Feeling on top of the world until I come crashing down.

In a side note, I’ve always found it interesting to hear that antipsychotics DO affect people without a mental illness.when used. Prescription meds can have adverse effects if misusing prescription pills whether not following recommended dosage or using prescription meds not prescribed to them.

At this point, it would be like crying over spilled milk. Once diagnosed there is no going back unless a person is employed and stable for several years off medication, then MAYBE a psychiatrist would evaluate them as recovered.

That being said, I’m not against treatment, it is there to help and is still being improved. I also wouldn’t recommend blaming the antipsychotics for being ill. More often than not people were initially put on antipsychotics for a reason.

I know the mind sometimes tries to rationalize things but speaking from personal experience, paranoia can get a person placed on antipsychotics if there is extreme paranoia. I was witness to a murder. I didn’t go to the authorities. I thought the people might try to murder me. It is plausible in theory. Yet that does not matter anymore. Now I’ve been on meds and have tried life without them, on meds I’m generally stable, off meds I feel stable and appear to be so until enough time has passed then I exhibit symptoms and worsen over time.

My psychiatrist gave me a chance to try life without meds. I failed after 18 months. I almost want to kick myself for that. I’ve come to realize there is no shame in taking meds or seeking help for an illness. I find some comfort in those words.

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Don’t know. Don’t think I’d want to find out though.

I was not that unwell when I first was put on antipsychotics, Five years later when the doctor told me I should stop taking medications, that is when I got really sick.

It impressed me when I went through all that suffering. That’s what I’m doing on this site. I’m trying to prevent suffering in others. I feel like I haven’t had much success in that regard.

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It feels good to help for sure. I think it’s part of the healing process we are going through with this illness. Learning empathy and compassion for others who are suffering as well…

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I agree with both you and Jayster. I try to be nice and polite especially on this site. I know sometimes I become bothersome. The way I see it though is that every once in a while I might get a person to smile, sometimes even while they are in their sorrow or suffering. Now I can’t see them smile of course but the thought that for a brief moment some silly comment or honest compliment can change a person’s demeanor even if only for a moment, then that makes it worthwhile. Living with a mental illness can be a difficult and lonely path because many of us are misunderstood. Sometimes I myself feel a strange sort of sadness. I guess it is part of the suffering aspect of a mental illness. Then I check the forums and people make me smile too. It makes life easier somehow knowing that we’re not alone in the struggle.

And @Jayster, you’re doing alright in that regard. Knowing someone read my wall o’text I took a few minutes to type on my phone was helpful in preventing my suffering.:grin:

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