I was just wondering because they always say schizophrenics die younger that general population so I was wondering if there are any stories of people dying in there 80’s or 90’s from this disease who were on anti psychotics. Just need some hope of living long on these pills.
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Didn’t John Nash live very long? And died in car accident in his 80s?
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There is some users here who are in their 70-80s.
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@PinCushion is 77 or 78y.o.
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Thers a guy here who is older than her, forgot his name.
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I don’t think it is the disease that kills us, but all the nasty side effects from the drugs, and suicide probably drops the average age down a bit too.
When I was on Olanzapine 40mg I was really fat, 240lbs. My doctor warned me my big gut was putting me at risk for a heart attack. I had diabetes with really high blood sugars for a long time that put me at risk for all kinds of complications. My cholesterol and triglycerides were way too high. I had high liver enzymes. I was in bad shape and at risk from an early death.
I eventually switched meds (On lurasidone 60mg now) and I lost over 75lbs, now I am at my BMI weight, my blood work is perfect, my blood sugar levels are decent so I am no longer at risk of complications from diabetes like I was before.
I looked up this info a week ago because someone else brought up the topic, the average age of death for men with schizophrenia is 60 and for women 68. And those are averages so by definition half of people die before that. I think I will live well above 60 now that I am healthy, barring any new health problems.
I’m 43 right now.
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@martinhersey is a year older than myself.
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Sz negative symptoms without meds also contribute to lower lifespan and lower life quality. Obesity, etc Its not only the meds.
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Interesting, never read that before I can see how they would lead to a lower quality of life but how do they shorten your life? Obesity will lower anyone’s lifespan potentially and a lot of psych meds are known to pack on the pounds, I was clinically obese because of the meds and my doctor warned me about it .
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Sz by itself can cause negative symptoms which lead to obesity. Some meds just make it worse. See I stopped meds for 2yrs, I didn’t really lost lots of weight and was still eating a lot bcz of my negative symptoms staying in my room all day in bed or on the computer. So I still had negative symptoms off meds. Ppl don’t like that idea as it gives them no hope so they blame everything on meds. Even my Drs told me that.
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I never went back to even close to my presz weight 135lb.
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You were on double the max dose of the worst med for weight gain. Its why you lost weight. But sz negative symptons cause lack of activity and eating a lot, I guess you don’t have these off meds and in your case it was mostly caused by the extreme dose of the worst med.
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I have an uncle who has sz plus takes aps. He’s 65. Personally, I don’t expect to become very old but hope to still achieve a good age.
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Yeah, I can see that now that you explained it. I don’t know a lot about negative symptoms. I never did a lot of reading about them because they are not something I experience in the extreme, like you do. For me it was primarily positive symptoms.
No, I don’t really have negative symptoms… A little bit of the flat effect is probably the worst of it.
I can’t remember when you said you are starting clozapine. Have you started it? Did the pdoc say how long it will take to possibly help you out. If you have started it has it helped at all?
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I hope I reach at least 50 while on APs.
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Hey, I think I will start Clozapine in Oct as they gave me an earlier apt with previous pdoc, 8 Oct. I already did the heart EKG test for Clozapine and I passed the test. Now I have to do the blood test for Clozapine. Its fkd up I have 2 pdocs now lol I see one 8 oct and the other one 13 nov.
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I think most people with sz that die early is due to bad diet no exercise and smoking /drinking too much.
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Which are caused by sz negative symptoms most of the time.
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Boredon and no physical activity are the cause and these are caused by severe sz negative symptoms like my case. I don’t drink or smoke though but I vape.
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