Did the antipsychotic(s) initially make you feel numb/flat/emotionless for some time before stabilizing you and making you feel ‘normal’ - normal emotions, without the extreme mood swings, delusions, etc.?
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A Clopixol injection, which is a first-generation antipsychotic, made me feel deadened, and I couldn’t feel anything at all. And I felt like that the whole time I was on it. But on Seroquel, things are good and I feel normal.
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No, with abilify you shouldn’t have flatness, but then again it’s different for everybody
Are you on abilify for schizophrenia or something else ? Also what dose are you on ?
I’m on abilify and I don’t feel flat. When I was on seroquel I felt flat as a pancake.
Different meds affect everyone differently .
My current meds have helped me gain my life back. They don’t make me feel flat at all. My illness makes me feel flat and emotionless when I’m having symptoms. But when I was on the wrong meds, they messed me up and gave me all sorts of weird emotions flat, angry, sad, manic, etc.
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I had all the negatives before I started antipsychotics. I don’t think they are a side effect.
Never felt emotions again
I felt flat on my initial dose of ap. I had to stay on it until my symptoms had declined and I had been steady for 12 or so months, then the doc brought my dose down which relieved the flat effect somewhat.
I feel flat on latuda. I don’t know if it’s the schizophrenia or the meds.
Seroquel flattened me, none of the others have
I was told by a date one time that she “could not take my flat affect”. So, I guess I’m flat but I don’t feel it or notice it. Except when I am at a family funeral and I notice I’m the only one who is not crying.
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I think you’ve mentioned not feeling emotion at one’s funeral. Both my nanas passed away recently and I didn’t cry. I felt nothing. The guilt led me to relapsing on pot. Then I cried.
Yes. I have struggled with flatness and lack of motivation for quite some time and only recently came out of a relapse and feel better. But my interest in some things (like sex) still very low. And I still struggling with motivation problems in some areas.
For example I started painting again but struggle to paint regularly but I can read tons of books
I feel quite flat on paliperidone. When I was on seroquel I was not this flat. However I was not this stable.
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Im on risperidone, venlafaxine and mirtazapine. They flatten me and somewhat sedate me if im not physically active. Mood wise im stable but do have a swing depending where i am on my cycle
The illness made me feel numb/emotionless. I feel better, almost voice free, and have some compassion for others sometimes (which the illness also took away), but I’m not 23 again. I am told I am stable but I don’t feel young anymore due to age and my anxiety still flares up often.
Sure did at first. Then they switched me to the generic invega and now a lot of my emotions are back.
Do you mean you came out of a relapse by taking meds? Did they initially cause you flatness for a while, but you now you feel stabilized and emotionally normal? I used to read a lot too before my symptoms emerged…now I don’t have the patience.
Thank you everyone for responding.
I’m still on the fence about taking meds - I was told I have delusions and mood swings, but I don’t hallucinate or hear voices. But it’s not easy going outside, being around people, etc. It’s like I feel hyper-connected to everyone - maybe that’s a good thing? I don’t know…it can be overwhelming.
I came out of a relapse without increasing my meds, it just happened for some unknown reason. I had two relapses (and two hospitalisations) last year.
I think my emotional flatness wasn’t caused by meds but my illness. The meds just stabilise me.
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I’m also autistic so numb is actually a state I aim for somewhat. I get extremely worked up over people messing with my routine or behaving incorrectly (according to my internal rules of how people should behave).