A few events in my life I’ve been having problems dealing with. One is when I was first having problems with my life and I didn’t really know what was causing all the problems. So, my parents convinced me to see a psychiatrist. I went to see him and he said that I should check into the hospital. I declined that idea and ran. Well, after that the psychiatrist called security and had them chase me down. They caught up to me and put me on a gurney after injecting me with Haldol to make me go limp so they could control me. I ended up in the central psych ward of the county. Did this really have to happen I often ask myself. Another event is when I stopped taking the Haldol due to it not workiing I was beck in the hospital to try a different med. Fortunately, the new med worked fine. But what I"m having to contemplate is the fact that I lost 23 years to a major tranquilizer, Haldol. Major bummer. What has been your experience with the wrong medications to treat sz?
i was started on antipsychotics right at the end of 5th grade. i have spent a total of about 17 or 18 years on these drugs now. overdrugged sometimes. i wonder what would have happened to my life if i hadnt ever taken them. i wonder if the damaged my brain while it was developing. i wonder if they made me basically asexual.
Yeah it sux. It’s a pretty hit or miss thing with meds and I’ve been a bit lucky in that I still strive for better function. I’ve changed a lot with meds and sometimes that has worked amazing and sometimes it worked horribly. Lost years so know that feeling for sure.
Like. I managed to get a young psychiatrist back in the day and been with him for years. He’s pretty cutting edge still and he challenges me and I appreciate his opinion. It’s so worthwhile because he’s suggested some great things like zyprexa which works well for me even though I was so hesitant to try it because back in the day the horror stories of weight gain etc were so bad.
Like it’s something you come to terms with and move on. Maybe it could have been better. Maybe it could have been way worse. Life in institutions on thorazine doing the shuffle. Your mailing address was the psych ward…
Move on. It’s hard but life is about living and reflection will help you move forward but what if’s are just so not worth it for someone like me.
Great advice dude! Thanks so much! I’m 66 now and still have to work as a peer support specialist. The pay is poor. So I’ll probably be working until the day I can’t get around anymore or my brain stops working logically.
Man that’s what I wanna get in to, but no one giving me a chance yet! I had a near 6 figure job, but threw it away for something rewarding!
Any advice about getting work in that field? I’m so eager to work! It’s been about 5 months that I haven’t worked! It got me into drinking more, but I hope work balances things out.
Any advice is appreciated in peer support work ? @simpjeff1
You can still use that experience with your clients. Make it real to them and tell them about your journey. Peer to peer couselling is so good. A reason a place like this exists and thrives in all the madness.
Ya, there really isn’t enough research to figure some of the stuff out you mentioned here. Like the effects of these drugs in a developing brain.
When I started taking Abilify i got good results and was able to go back to Work.
But that brings me to my next question.is money reflection of our personal worth? I say not as our worth is how much we help others find their recovery process. At least that’s what I found in helping others in the recovery process from a sz diagnosis.
NAMi has a course to prepare you for a job. High School degree, over 18 and pass a certification test on your on your way! Ya, I’d give NAMI a call or email and find out how to take their class.
I take haldol since 2019. Works great for me. No bad side effects, doesnt sedate me.
I was institutionalized when I was seventeen, against my wishes. I was in the juvenile ward. They drugged me up but i was well behaved and wasnt there for very long, about two weeks. My social worker messed up my paperwork and i couldnt return to school until I saw a psychiatrist, and that appointment was months later. So i ended up dropping out.
All in all if i didnt go to the mental hospital, I would have probably never seen a psychiatrist, and got on meds. So even though I was miserable at the time, I look back on it as a learning experience. I CHOOSE to be on meds now, because I dont like who i am off of them.
I had symptoms as a teenager. And so at 23 I was placed in a ward. My first antipsychotic was Abilify. This may sound strange but I can no longer take newer antipsychs anymore.
Hey Carley, I was forced into treatment too. For the longest time I thought it was a bad idea but now that I’ve gotten a bit older I realize being hospitalized was the right move by my psychiatrist. Haldo did sedate me too much after all it is a major tranquilizer. But the clinicians always thought it was that left me so out of it
I’m glad it’s working for you. Have you ever tried clozapine or Abilify?
Take care!
I used to take abilify (loved it, to this day the most effective med ive ever taken) but it gave me some permanent and nasty side effects so I had to stop taking it. Huge bummer at the time! Haldol works pretty well, I also take risperidone now. Thats a new development. Nothing can replicate how alive i Felt on abilify, but haldol and risperidone get rid of my hallucinations so I cant complain too much. LOL
Right on Carley! I’m
Glad you’re doing well. Haldol just numbed me out. Felt like a zombie. Abilify like you said is a good drug. We’re all wired differently and have different brains so it’s understandable I suppose that different meds work differently with different individuals. I really didn’t realize nor did the clinicians how much the Haldol negatively affected me until I started taking Abilify. Is I’ve put in a lot of weight but I plan o losing that. Just the mental health benefit of Abilify out weighs the physical at this point. But u do need to lose weight or I’ll have a stroke or heart attack or something with my cardiovascular system.
Best to you Carley!
Thanks for sharing!
Its hard to find the right combination of meds. I think im finally satisfied with my combo of haldol and risperidone. Though most people tell me to get off the haldol. I dont blame them, but im hesitant to change anything since Ive finally got rid of my hallucinations. Im sure in a year I will adjust to the risperidone and need to make another dosage change, but for now Im satisfied.
I will be talking to my psychiatrist about getting off haldol though when i see him again in two and a half months. I dont want to change anything, but I understand peopels fears.
I have to reconcile over 30 years about being on different drugs from flupenthixol to sulpiride to amisulpiride to resipiridone to haldol to quietiapine to clozapine etc etc. It was only when abilify came out in the UK in 2005 did I try it at 45mg in combination with amisulpiride. I got good results but for some reason went off it can’t remember why. It was only by chance when I saw a professor of psychiatry who reviewed my notes and commented I had a decent time with abilify/amisulpiride combination did I raise this with my current psychiatrist. She helped me to come off amisulpiride and take 10mg of abilify in an outpatient setting which has really helped. I don’t plan on changing anything now.