I’ve improved alot since I started taking meds since like 5 years ago but I think that the biggest changes I’ve made are because of experiences and losing fear by confroncting difficult (social) situations , so now that I know more and are more open and all that would it be possible to get off meds and have a normal life without them? The reason I want to stop taking them is because I think they make me slow and dumb and I’m getting very fat so that’s not quality life, what do you guys think?
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If you feel you can, maybe you should try. You might want to do it under the supervision of a pdoc.
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Yes, it’s possible to get off medication but under the guidance of your psychiatrist.
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If you suffer with a psychotic disorder like Schizophrenia then chances are you’ll need to be on an Antipsychotic for life.
This is my situation at least.
It’s true for most people.
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Yes! I don’t even have schizophrenia and I have never been psychotic and I will need an antipsychotic for the rest of my life.
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take it ez, unless your instructed to…don’t decrease it. you can somewhat experiment a bit, but you have to let your DR know if you feel things or you don’t. (even they don’t know what they give you at times)…but they are trained to look at you and prescipe certain things. If it doesn’t work, then tell them straight up…IT DOESNT work…
According to my psychiatrist, yes it is very possible after a certain period of time…
Thanks everybody
My schizophrenia is pretty mild i’d say so maybe I could talk to my pdoc about quitting it.
my biggest problems have always been social related not the schizophrenia itself which is mild, the social part i’ve improved alot, I NOW make a normal life, go to school, have friends, no GF yet tho 
which is what my pdoc said is the only thing I lack, once I get one we could say I’m pretty much ‘cured’
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I’m afraid to go off of my meds. Last time I did, I went totally cuckoo. That was two years ago.
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Me too, but it’s been 5 years since I tried stopping them.
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sure it’s possible but fair warning all your symptoms are gonna come back so be prepared for that
Mental illness isn’t the flu, it doesn’t just go away over time. Your meds are just covering up the symptoms, the same way ibuprofen can hide a fever and make you feel better but it’s not curing your flu, you’re still sick.
I’ve quit meds a number of times. My symptoms don’t always come back immediately. But they always come back.
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I am so tired of telling people on this site to take their meds…if you are schizophrenic you need meds…people go on meds and it fixes their lives and then they think they don’t need the meds anymore…if you want to lose weight go on prolixin (fluphenazine generic) I have lost forty pounds.
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not if you have Schizophrenia
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The reason taking meds are something you have to continually do is that they temporarily take care of what is lacking in the physical structure of the brain (when they work) but they don’t repair that structure as it remains the same. So unless the psychosis or whatever the problem is was caused by something else the problem will come back when the chemicals in the medicine excretes from your system or is eliminated by the chemical processes done to deal with the problem. At least that’s the main theory. They could be wrong overall or in your case if your lucky. Repairing the structure itself requires medical intervention that doesn’t exist yet. The main proof that such a structural irregularity exists is that most brain scans of schizophrenics show damage to a certain part oft the brain. However I doubt they have tested us all or necessarily come up with the same result in all cases. So sometimes people take a chance by going off their meds and win. The majority however go back to the Psych Ward.
I’ve went off twice because I felt recovered . Ended up in the ER both times. It’s a huge risk to try to go off your meds but I definitely understand you want to try. I’m on meds for life to much to loose by going off for me.
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Maybe don’t ask to get off but ask why you want off… I know bad joke.
Big risk. If your multi episodic it’s more a lifelong thing until a cure. That is just the breaks!