What can you tell me about injections vs pills? I’m thinking I can’t trust myself to take pills, but keep coming back to the realization I need something. How are injections different? Are the side effects worse?
I have been on Invega injection and Aripiprazole pills and I don’t think there is that much of a difference between the two. I prefer pills because it gives me some control over my medication but I was on injection for about a year and a half and it was fine. I think injections may work slightly faster.
Like you said though, if you are committed to taking meds and worried about your own compliance, the injection certainly has that advantage over pills. Plus you don’t have to worry about forgetting a dose.
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Injections are typically expensive, basically unaffordable to most people without good drug benefits. My plan at work covers 80% so I still have to pay $120 a month for my injection. The injection is supposed to have less side effects because they are not liver metabolized like pills and go direct into the blood stream. You should still check if your drug is liver metabolized if you go for an injection. As for how you will respond to the medication, there’s no way of knowing without taking it. I had different side effects from taking risperidone pill which is liver metabolized, compared to paliperidone injection which is what risperidone is metabolized into. I’m on invega (Paliperidone) which has been pretty good for me, except sexually I’m basically ruined, I have trouble thinking which has improved a little, and some weight gain. I think abilify would have been a better choice but it can cause sex addiction, gambling, overspending and other impulse control issues, and sometimes is not good at managing psychosis.
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Well, I’m poor. So I guess that answers my question.
Sex addiction doesn’t sound too bad tbh.
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When in the hospital and mouthing my meds to spit them out when no one was looking, they gave me the depot shot. I had no problem with it.
I got better on meds, it seems.
Now, pills are easier for me.
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Injections for me, are a God Send - cos i know i am medicated and not about to go loopy if i miss my pills for a few days.
It keeps my insight safe - cos if i lose that, ive had it, and frankly i would be at high risk of ending up in a police cell. Not cos i will get violent - but that its cos i would be seen as a lunatic in public.
Side effects tho - yeah - im flat alot of the time, but its a price i pay for having this disease and i suck it up.
Ive “tested” the CMHT a few times in refusing it - and its been made quite clear that altho i have mental capacity when medicated, im liable to be slapped with a community treatment order if i blatantly told them all to do one.
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When you take a depot injection, depending on the ap for time duration, it enters your system on a level and constant rate. If you take a pill it varies in strength throughout the day. This can knock you out for several hours in some cases.
I take a depot which lasts 3 months. It knocks me out for a couple of days and then I am used to it for the next few months. Much easier to deal with for me.
The risks of taking a depot be it a two week risperisdone, or a 3 month paliperidone is that if you develop TD then they can’t stop it like they can with a pill. Knowing this, it is better to see if you tolerate the ap first, before going on the injection.
So I didn’t start on the 3 monthly, it was the pill, then 1 monthly, then 3 monthly.
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I’d take sex addiction over asexuality that invega has given me.
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With anti-psychotic pills, you will forget to take them at times. With anti-psychotic injections, you will always remember the date and time you receive your injection.
I prefer the injection over pills because I don’t have to remind myself of taking pills.
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Have you tried filing for medicaid? They cover practically everything and if you qualify could cover the costs of shots completely.
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CMHT? Forgive me, I’m an idiot. 
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Sorry probably a british term. Community Mental Health Team 
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Yes. I’ve contacted a hospital, and they said they’d help me get it.
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I always try and get discharged.
Seems the more you want it, the sicker they think you are and refuse to do it
They’re helpful, but I don’t feel like I have much control over their involvement in my life
‘Voluntary’ is a very stretched term in mental health it would seem
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Haha yeah. “Voluntary” just means your sorta made to be compliant - at the risk of them going to an MH Tribunal and them forcing it upon you lol.
In fact if i told the team everything and the ongoing struggle i have, i wouldnt be off the bloody phone to the duty worker lol.
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Injections are a pain in the injection site, but I needed help with pills. As soon as I got into adult foster care where they monitored by meds, I was feeling better about it.
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Sides effects are typically better on injections than pills, but everyone is different. The drug effects also tend to be more “potent”, like more effective. But again, everyone is different.
I was on Invega Sustenna for a little over a year. I had to stop taking it because I started having severe pain reactions to the injections. I have fibromyalgia. My shoulder hurt so badly that I couldn’t even undress myself; I couldn’t lift my arm.
It was the most effective antipsychotic I’ve been on, though.
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Im on risperdal injection, if i was on the pills i would vomit.
Only pills i dont vomit on are zyprexa and abilify. (I havent tried all aps)
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I took Risperdal pills ten years ago after a brief psychotic episode. Made me eat constantly, to the point I’d throw up, then eat more. Does the injection trigger constant hunger in you?
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No, im not more hungry.
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