Yeah, no. Not buying that.
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I feel like blanket statements like this can’t be fairly made.
However,
I live here too and have seen the cycle you’re talking about.
Still, respecting someone’s treatment plan they’ve chosen under the care of a physician is important even if you don’t agree.
Becoming our own doctors is one of the worst things we can do.
No one treatment works for everyone,
We’re all on different tracks trying to best balance a quality of life and our symptoms.
Medication and recovery rarely looks the same in every case.
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I understand your concerns about the meds. My meds have kept most voices at bay. And today I only get in troubles with voices when I lower my dose.
I must say that Risperdone kept me awake just like it does to you. There are so many meds that much more calming and sleep inducing than Risperidone. I found Seroquel at a dose of 600 mg to be a perfect fit.
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I heard about 10-15% can quit meds without relapse. Relapse in my case took 10 months.
I could not sleep on Risperdal either. There are other meds and more on the way.
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A year? I cant make it a week!
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I really agree with Robert that for most schizophrenics quitting meds ends up in a disaster sooner or later.
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Who here was successfull with a withdrawal of antipsychotics and how managed it ? And duration ?.
There is a site called “survivingantidepressants” I don’t think I’m allowed to post a direct link.
Anyway, there are a lot of whitdrawal experiences there, also from antipsychotics. I recommend checking it out if you want to know about other peoples whitdrawal stories.
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Last time I went off meds I lasted 2yrs before being hospitalized, honestly being off meds is not a big improvement everyone here thinks its a miracle and it will make them a normie and high functioning, even before sz i had negative symptoms and lack of emotions i was also less social
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There are people on meds who are much more high functioning than those off meds even here but i won’t name them
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I really agree with Aziz because I had the negative and cognitive symptoms year’s before the debute of my psychotic thoughts.
The best solution for all of schizophrenics will be that big pharma will develop meds for all the aspect of the illness
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With my SZA I cannot lower my clozapine past a certain dose and also take olanzapine. I wont dare go off them, it causes too much suffering that could have been prevented. Fortunately, I don’t really have side effects except for some weight gain.
I’m on Abilify (in pill form). I tried reducing the med by 5 mg this year (with the doctor’s permission), but the voices got worse. I had forgotten how bad life was before the meds. I lasted a month on the lower dose before returning to my regular dose. 
I think in some cases folk return to meds, not fundamentally down to latent illness reappearing, but simply because their brain can’t cope without them.
When APs are taken over many years or decades the brain adapts to accomodate this new 
pressure on brain chemistry.
Call it neuroplasticity but you brain changes in a significant way when on APs.
In fact it is not the direct effect of meds that is therapeutic. Rather it’s the direct effects of a brain that has adapted to meds that brings relief.
Hence the fact often meds take 6-8 weeks to work.
I say all this. Because it explains why coming off meds Is so so hard. Structural changes mean the brain requires meds to function. Sone people who try coming off meds fail not because of underlying illness but rather the brain discomfort without meds is unbearable.
I get it, I was having a hard time and still do at times, I went off meds for 2 years and my life crashed
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I disagree I suggest everyone become an advocate for themselves.
Learning about your own medication and health is one of the most empowering things you can do.
At the end of the day the doctors want to treat your schizophrenia and they have a bias for treatment and keeping patients managable and docile without direct regard for the primary importance of quality of life.
At the end of the day you are the one who has to live that life so enable yourself to make choices which are good for you and your own life.
Don’t blindly accept what doctors say. Work in collaboration with them do let them dictate your life and always feel comfortable saying no and taking your own direction
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My problem is that I am doing better on meds than before sz but I keep wanting to stop meds for some reason, I read its part of the illness
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I relate to everything you said. I’m 53 and been sick since age 17 and I am on a low dose of antipsychotic medication and a low dose of antidepressant. Your pain of the disease and of side effects is not forever though it seems so.
Better on meds than before SZ??? Wow first I hear of that
I’m complete opposite
I wish and hope to become who I was before my episode. The meds feel heavy in my case
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Yes better in general but i still have bad days sometimes, the last 3yrs before sz I couldn’t have a job and was not good mentally, before that I had a job but had anger issues and was socially isolating. I was also not normal I acted weird and antisocial, I was also hypersexual
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