I have had long stints completely off of medication. Though diagnosed in summer of 2012, I managed to stay off medication about 50% of the time up until now.
My situation IS getting better, whether off or on meds, but my pscyhiatrist utterly believes that without medication I will get worse. I KNOW that to be patently false, though. I do very well off of meds and would like to conquer this disorder via logic, nutrition, exercise, diet, and rest - not pharmaceuticals, which make me much lower-functioning than my norm.
What can I do? Is it possible to get off of meds? I can’t seem to convince anyone that I’d be fine off of them. I’m seeking a therapist to see if I can fully stay on an alternative treatment method; this psychiatrist and the social services being provided are simply NOT adequate to my diagnosis.
thought i would say hi.
i have been sz since i can remember…
i did meds for less than 6 months…at 26…then came off them…now 48…
it is not for everyone…it is hard work.
but with nutrition…peaceful location…a great carer…great therapist…etc.
i am not cured…but it has worked for me.
take care
Statistics show that you are unlikely to function if you do not take medication.
I know, the meds suck. Hell I am like half as dangerous and scary on them. It’s so disappointing. I used to be just like Charles Manson. I want to go back.
I’m doing the no meds thing for now. I don’t get many delusions aside from the ones surrounding the nature of hallucinations. Whether they’re real. It’s so damn convincing and won’t stop. What the implications that means about me/them (telepaths) . ■■■■like that. I’m pretty much out of thoughts on the matter and it’s all starting to boil down, because I really don’t give a ■■■■any more.
If you can handle the head circus without becoming violent/suicidal/to confused to function. I don’t see what the harm would be.
Notmoses probably wouldn’t like me saying that.
Earlier he suggested that it was “delusional” for a sz to think he could live better without meds. I frankly disagree.
It’s cheaper and healthier for the body and mind in a lot of ways to not be on meds. Apathy and all these other things, sedation, weight gain, blood sugar, prolactin levels, motor issues, benign tumors.
Not to mention all the appointments and money spent on meds.
I don’t know what your sz is like, but people do live with this illness without psychiatric help.
I’d say the number one rule is to not take street drugs either and be careful with alcohol.
The tendency to degenerate probably varies from person to person.
These are just my thoughts and beliefs. I’m not a doctor. So take it with a grain of salt.
I’m on the opposite end of the scale… I do have to stay on my meds… and every time I’ve tried to be med free I’ve ended up in hospital worse then before.
I am on a weight neutral med… I work hard with a therapist so I can be on lower doses of meds.
I believe some people can make it with out meds… I’m not one of them…
If you don’t want to use the meds… at least get a support system in place… so if you do start crumbling… you have a safety net…
Talk therapy… some sort of therapy… CBT or DBT …
I do believe nutrition and exercise is huge to our health…
The problem partly might be that every time you have a psychotic break, the probability of recovering back to the pre-break level of functioning generally tends to go down - so its a risky strategy. Another big issue is that a significant portion (almost 20%) of people don’t respond back on their old medication so you could lose a lot of time trying to get out of the psychosis and trying new mediations to find one that works again. Probably better to just work to keep meds as low as feasible (with psych doctor’s feedback).
Here is the issue:
"Relapse rates are very high when treatment is discontinued, even after a single psychotic episode; a longer treatment period prior to discontinuation does not reduce the risk of relapse; many patients relapse soon after treatment reduction and discontinuation; transition from remission to relapse may be abrupt and with few or no early warning signs; once illness recurrence occurs symptoms rapidly return to levels similar to the initial psychotic episode;
While most patients respond promptly to re-introduction of antipsychotic treatment after relapse, the response time is variable and notably, treatment failure appears to emerge in about 1 in 6 patients.
and:
Relapse Duration, Treatment Intensity, and Brain Tissue Loss in Schizophrenia
Extended periods of relapse may have a negative effect on brain integrity in schizophrenia, suggesting the importance of implementing proactive measures that may prevent relapse and improve treatment adherence.
this study sheds light on a troublesome dilemma that clinicians face. Relapse prevention is important, but it should be sustained using the lowest possible medication dosages that will control symptoms.
I can tell you from personal experience that patients who go off Med’s after being stable on them, decompensate within three to six months. Typically after this time, there is a psychotic break-leaving in its wake brain tissue damage that essentially even with intensive treatment restores the patient to lower levels than previously attained. For my own self, the three times I was off medication in the twenty years of diagnosis, I have found myself in a hospital setting, each time for increasingly longer durations.
I guess after reading all of these comments, I will stay on the injection they put me on, but I want to be lowered from 400mg to 300mg. Additionally, I was 24 years old when I was diagnosed, and I am 27 now. I have no family to look after.
As a weight-lifter & natual bodybuilder I knew everything about exercise & nutrition. It’s just so ridiculous to think I can’t cure my symptoms through those instruments and need to be supplanted by pharmacology.
I strongly believe every schizophrenic’s condition is unique. So, I will seek a therapist in addiion to my psychiatrist and eventually discuss weening off of medication entirely when my brain is desiring it. Yesterday, prior to sleep, I felt like I shouldn’t be on meds - that I was much higher functioning and more in-control of my life’s events.
I don’t want to lose my SSi either. So, I guess I am stuck appeasing my Gov’t “overlords” (county caseworker & psychiatris) until new hope arrises.
I first got sick with sz in 2002 and then I went into remission for six years from 2006-2012,and five of them I was off meds, but then eventually I relapsed after a stressful period in my life. Since then every time I came off meds I had a crisis and needed to go to hospital unless I still had back-up pills. It looks like I will have to stay on meds now. I do too poorly off them.
Depends , if a person can function or not. The thing with schiz , is someone is never slightly schiz and can maintain that level , its an all or nothing job , usually leading to a blow out , which ultimately lands the person at the door of law enforcement or psychiatry.
I used to be anti-medications and was on a very small dose of Risperdal for most of the time I was medicated. I was also not medicated too. Nowadays, I enjoy being medicated. I feel relaxed and high.
Ive been unmedicated for 4years not counting the short week stint of experimental meds for money. Ive been through hell and back, to having an apartment and then to under a bridge, still working on it and am still not taking meds, im 24 and dont get government assistance or ssi except for food stamps. I used to use hardcore drugs and smoke but that probably didnt help me. Ive been clean and sober for a year and a half. Everyone has there own path in life, we are all different.
