I am currently on invega sustenna 50mg. I like the medication but I keep getting lumps at the injection site. I get it in my arms and I don’t want to get it in my butt.The lumps are all over in my arms and they are running out of space to inject it. I was non compliant with oral meds in the past. That’s why they suggested the depot. It’s not court ordered. I am going to talk to my doctor next month about going back to oral meds. Do you guys think they will trust me again if they see I’ve been compliant with the injection for 2 years.
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I recently came off a depot, but I am pretty good at taking my oral meds. I do sometimes try and reduce them on my own so not always 100% compliant (more 95%)
I think if you are getting lumps the doctor should at least consider orals. It sounds unpleasant.
But if you aren’t compliant with orals there is a risk of returning illness. This needs to be discussed with your pdoc
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If you weren’t court ordered to take the depot there shouldn’t be any issue with switching to pills.
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Okay thank you for replying
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Okay thank you for replying. I really hope switching won’t be a problem.
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Yes.
I quit the depot when the court order stopped, switched to oral and after a while was non-compliant to meds once more. I hoped a certain treatment (EMDR) had worked enough and my psychologist there trusted that as well. I did well for months and then back to the ward.
After that was partly compliant to using meds. I don’t want to quit cold turkey anymore. I don’t want to die and I want to be a mother to my son. But it is a daily struggle to really take the meds, I always feel tempted to quit or lower the dose.
I was not compliant to the dose though. I use a much lower dose than prescribed, so low that my ex-psychiatrist said it could never work for an adult. I feel happier and more active and connected to people in general, but I do have small relapses two or three times a year, that end with me being superscared and taking more meds for a week - not in a ward, fortunately. I did manage to stay out of the ward this way for 1.5 years.
I contemplate going back on a depot at times. Not sure what to do.
My old psychiatrist never trusted me again with meds, and rightly so. My new one does, I’m more responsible with them now, and more open, though still taking risks.
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Same here. I just nearly forgot to take my morning med’s. If I do skip a dose it will be by accident and not deliberate.
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Thank you for replying. I am thinking about taking on a new psychiatrist. I don’t really like the one I have now that put me on the depot. Did you get a new psychiatrist because you wanted a new one? Or did your old one just stop working or switch practice. I want to go back on oral but I am also afraid the oral route will constipate me. What oral meds are you taking now? Do you suffer from any constipation or other side effects.
If it really isn’t working with your psychiatrist, and you have tried telling them what you want and it doesn’t help, you could change. Why don’t you like him? Could you voice your reasons for wanting to change?
I first completely quit seeing a psychiatrist (or the whole team, really). I was completely fed up with psychiatry. I disliked the way they turned to (high doses of) meds right away. Without eye for the negative sides. Without looking what was the issue (they kept shouting various serious illnesses like schizophrenia, autism, borderline, without even taking a serious biography or any testing). Without treating the underlying issues (I asked for therapy or a psychologist billions of times and they just didn’t listen, for years) or helping with practical problems (even things like nearly becoming homeless).
After 9 months of no team, I got somewhat psychotic again, and searched for a new team. They are new, but seem to be lots better. They still rely on meds too much to my liking, but they also talk with me, took a biography and plan to do careful testing and therapy and more EMDR.
I’m taking 1mg of Haldol. I don’t seem to be classic schizophrenia and I’m more sensitive to meds than anyone they had ever seen in the ward, so don’t take that as a guide. I like the Haldol better than the newer meds. I have lots of side effects in higher doses, mainly emotional ones. Sedation, emotional blunting, depression, weight gain. On this dose just milder emotional blunting, which I find annoying and sad, but bearable. I tried two newer meds and it failed (abilify) or had way more side effects and withdrawal effects than Haldol (Zyprexa). With this bit of Haldol, I can be happy and build a life, so it works.
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Last time I was psychotic and I saw the psychiatrist I was delusional and talking about sexual stuff. I told him how I had a sexual demon and had to cut it out. Lol and I was talking about other sexual embarrassing stuff. After being medicated and seeing him, he said " I hope I never have to see you again" I took that as being a rude thing for a pyschiatris to say. But maybe he meant that he didn’t want me to get sick And have to see him again. Now I have to see him to be able to get off the needle and I am a
Embarrassed. I wish I could just do everything through my family doctor. Do you think I am being too sensitive? Or do you think it was rude of him to say that?
Do the lumps you’re getting feel hot to touch?
Because if so they might be infections.
No they don’t feel hot to touch.
Ah ok. Do you know what the lumps are?
The reason why I thought it might be an infection is because I got an infection on injection site after being injected in a mental hospital a couple of years back.
I think the lumps are the medication buildup. Because they are not injecting it right because when I had a different nurse I never got any lumps. Then they switched me to this new nurse and I am getting a lump after every injection. I just do the want to get it injected in my butt but I think I will eventually have to because when I take oral pills they give me bad constipation. Are you on pills and do you get bad cobstipation?
I’m actually not on anything. But I’ve been on depot injections and oral medication before.
The lumps are a common thing with Invega depot. I get big ones. They go down if you massage them constantly. Takes about a month to become the size of my fingertip sometimes two. I found this month that the shot in the hip/gluteus muscle hurts way less and the lump is worked away by the muscle movie ng a lot. My new schedule is left hip, left bicep, right bicep, right hip. Gives time for the lumps to go down. I hope this helps you.
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Thank you for replying. Yes that helped me alot. Wow okay I think I might have to get my injections the way you get them then. Alternating between the hips and the arms. I will try massaging them also.
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I think if you have someone In your corner that can tell and reprimand you if you don’t take them then yes they’ll let you switch. Since I still live with my parents and when I worked full time I had a boss who cared enough to tell me if I didn’t take meds the job was over. Donno what your situation is but that’s what mine always was.
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Okay thank you. I still live with my mom so maybe they’ll consider that. That’s good you are working. I wish I could keep job.
That is indeed a very strange and unkind thing to say for a psychiatrist if he meant it badly. People in psychosis talk about bizar stuff, that’s the illness, you don’t want to know what kind of things I did and said in psychosis. Fellow clients at the ward also said the weirdest stuff. I too thought and shared strange sexual delusions. If he really meant it in a bad way, I don’t think you are being too sensitive. If he meant it in a good way, in the sense that he didn’t want you to be sick again, it was still a bit of a stupid way to say that to a person with psychosis, but meant well.
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I wouldn’t beat yourself up over the things you said. He is a psychiatrist, he hears people say the weirdest stuff all the time. That’s his job, he choose it, he’s paid well. Don’t avoid seeing him over it, that’s not a good idea.
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I would not just quit the psychiatrist, but simply ask him about it in a neutral way. Remind him of what he said and ask him why/what he meant. Not sure if you get an honest answer, but you can try, before just quitting him.
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