You also said that you were barely coping during those 2 years… in my case, the AP was worsening the negatives. I am doing better now and my pdoc agreed that as long as this improvement persists it is safe to be off AP. I still take an AD though…
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I’m glad to hear you’re off APs … it only means that you never had sz at all 
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Best of luck.
Fifteen characters of you’ll need it.
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Well, the 3 pdocs I’ve seen so far think it’s deficit sz. But if I never relapse again, and my negatives get a wee bit better, I am ready to ditch the sz diagnosis. Only time will tell…
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I’m glad to hear you’re working with a dr. I’m not sure how people recover from the various strains of this illness but I’m glad to hear you’re doing well. At the end of the day quality of life is what matters whether you get that with meds or without
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I don’t think it’s a good idea to not take meds. However, I really wish I had put my foot down when I was taking high dosages of meds that didn’t do anything for my positives but that did heavily sedate me and cause me to gain about 100 pounds.If I had put my foot down and said "You’re going to give me a weight neutral AP, or I’m refusing further treatment."
Maybe I would be in the situation of having 60 pounds to lose after already losing about 40 pounds.
Especially infuriating was when they told me to diet. Those pills made me super hungry. When you’re hungry you eat.
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Well i am opposite to all that.
meds are the only reason i’m alive
if i come off it takes a few weeks or months - then a year of psychosis and hospital and running away to London or a beach side town, etc etc (this happened exactly as i just said 2 x in 3 years)
I have 11 years of no hospital. I respect that people want less meds but for me the dose that suits me is more than the absolute minimum - then i enjoy life more.
I’m on one of the heaviest ap’s there is and I am blessed to have a family who got me into hospital and helped me to stay until i was okay.
it’s up to me to be aware enough to stay well, away from stress which means i am limited in what i can cope with - stress has put me in hospital another 2 x
i’m 43 sz age 16,
i’m not free of symptoms but i couldn’t be more pro meds
maybe you had the kind of sz where you get better?
i heard there are a third who get 100% better (you)
a third who will always need meds and never free of all symptoms (me)
and then a subset who do not have lucid days at all (my late sister)
I don’t know if that is the exact facts.
One time I did not taken my meds for 5 days and I suffered withdrawal symptoms my family also said I was acting and speaking weirdly.
Due to akathisia and tardive dyskinesia and elevated fasting blood glucose levels I stopped taking Geodon, Zoloft, and Lamictal, but I have a prn for Xanax.
The withdrawal symptoms were severe and lasted for months, even after I slowly tapered down off of them. It was perhaps the worst experience of my life, but then what quality of life would I have with permanent akathisia and tardive dyskinesia if I had stayed on them?
I was in DBT sessions when I was first diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, and later CBT and ACT when I was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia. They all helped me to untangle delusional thinking.
I still attend monthly counseling sessions with a psychologist. I no longer see a psychiatrist.
I still have auditory hallucinations and paranoid delusional thoughts, but I cope with them, and I learned from trial and error what to say and more importantly what not to say to keep from getting locked up in a hospital.