I take 8 pills a day 4 morning and 4 night. (Not 8 medications ) plus one injection a month.
These are not all for sz. (Only injection is). But I worry I’m on a lot. And I’m worried about the whole poly-pharmacy thing.
I’m hoping to get off one of those meds next year. (Not my injection ) so that will cut it down to six.
Would be good to cut down if it doesn’t worsen your mental health, but I wouldn’t worry about it too much
I’m on 15 pills a day at the moment (not the highest I’ve been on) and it doesn’t seem to be causing me any extra problems. They aren’t all for mental health though
I take the following tablets
1 Abilify
3 metformin
4 l-theanine
1 bcomplex
And now I have a few cloneazepam prn
And I’m ok with all that because it works.
If it ain’t broke then don’t fix it would be my personal view.
I take a ton of pills too. I’ve stopped worrying about it though. Must be some of the pills that helped me stop worrying so much
The number of pills doesn’t matter as much as what pills they are. If there are no dangerous interactions or bad side effects, you’re doing fine. Sometimes, doctors prescribe low doses of two different medications instead of a high dose of one medication, because there is a lower risk of side effects.
I take 3x fish oil (330 epa & dha) to help fight depression, 2x beetroot extract to lower blood pressure, 1 x vit b12 for sz reasons, 1x b complex combat hunger, 3x plant sterols to lower cholesterol rather than take a prescription statin, 2x vit c for sz reasons. 1 x vit E split over a day.
I am thinking of getting vit d to help with cognition as proved by the study firemonkey provided a few days ago. and co enzyme q10 might help with that too.
I was thinking about this the other day, so I approximated how many pills/tablets/capsules I’ve taken since my sz diagnosis 33 years ago. I’ve had physical health problems (hypertension and stroke), so approximation is for physical and mental health:
33yearsX365daysX12 (pills/tablets/capsules per day)=144,540
I’m doing fine 
I take a lot of different kinds of meds.
But just 2 kinds of psych meds.
As long as there are no interactions and your doctor prescribed them, then I wouldn’t worry.
Some pills are necessary. What pills are you taking and what are they for? Only answer if you don’t mind me asking. I take so many pills because I need them. Only some are psychiatric med
I wouldn’t worry about it. When I first became very ill I was taking 20 pills (7 medications) per day, all psych.
I take Paliperidone injection once s month for sz
Carbamazepine 400mg for epilepsy
Lamictal ( 400mg epilepsy)
Topiramate ( 400mg epilepsy)
Would like to just be on 2 epilepsy medications. I was diagnosed with it a few years ago and back then it was difficult to control. I have much better control now. The tegreol I’m on is a very low dose. And I think i could come off it possible next year.
Sorry to hear you have epilepsy. Sounds like good that you might be able to cut back on meds though
I take a lot of pills right now and I’m the past. I’ve had to take pills in the morning, at lunch, dinner, bedtime, even for a while my mum had to wake me up in the middle of the night for one. For a while when I was younger I was taking over ten. It’s fine as long as you aren’t experiencing any side effects such as high sedation.
(I’m taking 8 pills currently as well, however this is just one medication, I have to take more and more until they can just make me one pill at the pharmacy.)
I’m on more than that. Not all for sza though.
You get to a certain age and you just end up with a pill bucket.
I’m on meds for cholesterol, gout, antidepressant and antipsychotic as well as some supplements. Add to that the occassional pills like antibiotics and it all adds up.
It doesn’t worry me. They all do me good and it’s no skin off my nose to take them. I have this large tray full of my prescriptions and supplements. It really is like a bucket haha.
Id like to take suppliments if they ate healthy. I’ve heard them mentioned on this forum. But I don’t know how they work or if there is interaction with my other medication.
Are they a bit like vitamins ?
Depends on what the pills are for.
It would be a good idea, if you haven’t already done so, to tell your doctor or pharmacist exactly what you’re taking so they can check to see if there are any negative interactions between the medications.
yeah supplements are vitamins. Do your research.
I keep it simple. Omega 3 fish oil has some decent research and seems beneficial. If you can take it it’s not a bad thing. Other vitamins not so much research. Their efficiancy is a little dodgy.
One of the simple things is don’t drink or eat grapefruit or it’s juice. It affects how pills are metabolised in the body and should be avoided. Everything else…do your research!
Thanks. I don’t drink or eat grapefruit (already know about that). I have some fish oil I’m judt not good at taking it but I think I’ll start.
Many of these products are metabolized by the liver, so monitoring of your liver functions would be wise.
It’s difficult to say what is overkill when it comes to a polypharmacy situation with someone with bipolar schizoaffective disorder. The use of two antipsychotics is indeed sometimes necessary. However, great attention should also be paid to the weight issues. If the weight gain is ongoing then perhaps a different medication will need to be tried, but all of that will need to be left up to of the prescribing psychiatrist.
Also, please be careful about the speed with which you are given diagnoses. Too many diagnoses lead to polypharmacy and once diagnoses are entered into EHRs, they are nearly impossible to correct.
Best wishes and I hope that you are not freezing as badly where you are as we are here in Manitoba.