Disclaimer: The information below is not meant for professional reference. It is solely my personal experience with and without medication. Don’t quit your medication.
Please note that I did not test this on purpose. I did not have enough medicine during that time due to a missed doctor’s appointment. Don’t worry now as I do not miss any doctor’s appointment anymore.
When I am on anti-psychotics full dosage,
I can take care of myself, ride motorcycle, interact with people, and help others if need be.
When I am on anti-psychotics half dosage,
I can take care of myself, ride motorcycle, but mind goes blank when trying to pay attention to conversation.
When I am off anti-psychotics,
(I can’t recall now, but it looks like…) I cannot take care of myself or am not aware of myself and surrounding.
Cool you ride a motorcycle. I was reading this book “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance” and it said that riding a motorcycle it seems like you are THERE. While in a car, it’s like you are looking at a TV screen out the window. While motorcycles you are fullest immersed in the environment.
I can do very little without my meds. I think the only med of the 4 I take that I could skip for more than a day or 2 is the klonopin. That said I still take it.
On meds I can cook, clean, drive hubby around, speak to people, get up in morning.
Off meds I can’t look after the house can’t bother dressing, can’t go anywhere, can’t think straight, lie on floor, do nothing. Pace back and forth and think of harming myself.
Yeah, pretty sure he alludes to his hospitalization and recovery a few times in that book…
“His philosophical investigations eventually drove him insane, and he was subjected to electroconvulsive therapy, which permanently changed his personality.”
My experience with antipsychotics has been variable depending on the antipsychotic. When I was on Risperidone which was the most effective one, I no longer hallucinated, had no voices, no paranoia, and my delusional thoughts became very rare. I even lost my ability to “feel energy” around me. It was very strange.
When off an antipsychotic obviously I have all of those things to varying degrees of severity depending on the situation. I am very accustomed to my psychosis because I have had it unmedicated for so long so it does not feel abnormal to me. The problems I get because of it are just routine problems to me even though they would sound horrific to someone without psychosis (or even horrific to someone with it).
When I’m off an antidepressant I can tell very quickly though. I go in and out of shorter severe depressive episodes and longer less severe ones and have huge problems with irritability and anger and anxiety and intrusive thoughts. My life off of an antidepressant is just pure hell and I cannot go without being on something to stabilize my mood without putting myself at great risk of committing suicide at some point.
Full dose: No or almost no symptoms. No energy. No motivation. No ability to accomplish much.
Low-to-half-dose: Some symptoms, motivation, ability to function, cognition mostly okay, this is my sweet spot.
No meds: Tonnes of energy. Tonnes of symptoms. I get manic and my cheese slides off my cracker, not that I’ll notice it happening. Always turns out badly.
I was first diagnosed in 2015. The medication took about 6 weeks to work. I felt completely normal again and was fully functioning. I was taken off medication 18 months later. I have been off meds, symptom free and fully functioning for a year now.
