That’s great that it hasn’t returned to u severely after ur stay on ap.
Unfortunately I think for most people with sz I think when they come off their ap without Dr approval they tend to relapse… I say this from what I’ve heard several members say here.
And then I start to wonder if the AP is the better of two evils so to stay on it rather than remain on that relapse state. N not to delay going back on ap because it becomes harder to treat then this is scientifically backed up as well.
I do think though that it is worth going off them if the Dr approves of it just to see how it will go, well that’s my personal choice anyways. Cos yes that brain loss percentage u mentioned is high. I’ve seen this paper too n it was not nice to hear at all. But cos its personal choice I think some people would rather not come off their ap at all to see how it goes because they don’t want to risk experiencing that relapse.
This is the study @Ninjastar posted some time ago on psychosis and brain loss/damage:
http://schizophrenia.com/?p=692
That study is evidence that the animal studies are highly valuable. A healthy non-psychotic animal losing 8-20% of its brain because of a neuroleptic stands all by itself. God knows if we didn’t have animal studies we’d hear that it’s all the fault of the mentally ill that they have brain atrophy.
Yes I think so too that this animal study is valuable.
I think your doctor may have prescribed you too high a dose and now you absolutely hate it because it traumatized you being on it. Perhaps half that amount would be better than both extremes
Human studies are even more valuable, and human studies like the one @Butterfly linked, which were published more recently, show that schizophrenia itself causes gray matter shrinkage in schizophrenic brains. It also shows less gray matter shrinkage in people who have schizophrenia and are med compliant vs those who don’t take meds. This suggests that untreated psychosis is the main cause of gray matter loss in brains of patients with psychotic disorders.
Oh I didn’t realise it also showed treated versus untreated brain loss in psychotic patients. I’ll have to read the actual study at some point. Thanks @Ninjastar
I highly recommend it. It’s a fascinating study. The study @Kendalika is also interesting, but less applicable than the study on humans with schizophrenia.
That said, it’s important studies like that exist, because without them, there would be less funding for the development of new drugs like lumateperone.
I wish you could talk to my doctor. She wants to increase my dose. I don’t know what to, but she wants to increase it. No hallucinations or anything, she just thinks it might be low.
I would have to agree with that. I’m not a scientist, but I know that in general most illness is caused by inflammation which is caused by external stressors be they physical or mental/emotional.
It is well established that schizophrenia is caused by genetic and environmental stress. The thing is meds can cause stress because they make an abrupt change to the brain and it has to adapt.
Perhaps gentler, more accurately effecting medications are needed, but the fact that Invega helps millions of people come out of psychosis is proof that it is effective. That being said maybe more care needs to be taken in deciding prescribed amounts of the drug. I personally found that the drug was too abrupt and found it difficult. However it was way better than being psychotic which stressed me to no end.
Half a glass of wine a day does the body good, but four will make it sick
I agree animal studies are important, but they only tell us so much. And I am not saying that antipsychotics don’t cause any gray matter loss at all. I’m saying studies have proven that the loss of gray matter is greater in untreated schizophrenia than in treated schizophrenia. It’s also important to note that the study you linked did not test Invega at all. It tested olanzapine and haldol.
If you find invega intolerable, it’s probably not the right drug for you. It is a fairly heavy-duty antipsychotic and tends to have a higher incidence of side effects. It is also one of the more effective drugs at stopping psychosis, which is why it’s still on the market. I had to try about 8 different drugs before I found one that worked for me. Every brain is different, and everyone reacts differently to every drug.
If you show you’re willing to be compliant and accurately report your symptoms, doctors are more likely to value your input and listen when you say your side effects are intolerable. I’m not saying that’s fair, but that’s how many doctors are. Try having an honest conversation with your doctor about alternative medications you can try, and you might find one that you like.
Side note, but we don’t use the word “retarded” here because it is highly stigmatizing against people with developmental disorders. I have flagged your post so you can edit out that word.
That’s good advice. And I’ve wondered if people weighed it out like that. I guess it’s the best we can do with what we have.
I stay with Kendalika, Invega Sustenna is the worst thing ever happened in my life, I got six shots and I am now four months and a half off, I pray every day I will heal from this nightmare in a resonable amount or months/years, do you want to know all the side effects I had?
No more emotions, no more motivation, anhedonia, impaired brain, akathisia, sky high prolactin levels, weight gain, man boobs, no more sex drive, impotence, watery semen, insomnia, nightmares, headache, toothache, acne, tinnitus, constipation and constant diarreah at the same time, blurred vision, slurred speech with stiff face muscles and swollen tongue, dry mouth, watery eyes, watery nose.
After four months and fifteen days off I am still anhedonic, I have no emotions, no motivation, no sex drive and I am fat as ■■■■, but many things are gone, like the brain impairment, under the drug I really struggled to think…
And for god sake, don’t say it’s the illness, I had enormous emotions before the injection.
Enormous emotions = bad
No emotions = bad
Some emotions = good
Talk to your doctor and see if they will adjust the dosage or maybe try a different medication. Med selection is a game you might have to play for a while but it’s well well worth it! You could be so much happier with your meds if you work with your doctor!
Believe me I’ve been on Invega before and now that I’ve been off for a year and a few months I wish I has some amount. I feel like they may have given me too much, and I ended up coming off of it. But now that the hallucinations are back I wish I had a reduced amount
what kind of hallucinations are you taking meds still
For me a large part of it is stress. I had celiac disease and didn’t know it and that caused tremendous stress, and also smoking was a tremendous stress. The past while I’ve been okay with no meds after I reduced smoking and got rid of gluten. But I’m homeless at the moment and it’s 1000 degrees in the sun so really stressful and I’m starting to hear a bit of whispering and paranoia.
But see if I had meds it would have stopped me from relapsing. It’s like a safety net I wish I had… Just not 1000mg of it
Sorry buddy but we speak in a different language, I only had voices for two weeks in my life and I was brutally forced to inject, I lost anything, shot after shot, now I am an empty human shell, I will never ever put an antipsychotic in my body again, I have no more symptoms and I will never relapse, I’m pretty sure it just was a single psychotic episode. Yet the system tried to ruin me forever…