This was similar to caplyta hype a few years back on this forum, and, without much anecdotal accounts, I decided to try it. Best decision I made in a while. With the augmentation of haldol and caplyta I was able to negate the negative symptoms to a great deal along with the negative side effects of haldol. I’m not a neurologist, so I can’t articulate a reason on how that works, but suffice it to say, it has. And I particularly feel that this is very individual to people on whether it works effectively or not.
I think the KarXT hype is similar and perhaps more advantageous to schizophrenia neurology than caplyta even. And I hope that it does help more people than caplyta seems to have appear to happen. The mechanism of action is an antithesis to the typical antipsychotic industry of dopamine antagonists and partial agonists. It would be monumental to science and the way we treat the illness and what we would understand about it.
By all means, wish the best for this medication. Nothing wrong with hopefulness to the betterment of science.
I don’t have hate for Karxt, I really do hope it works as advertised, but I am not expecting it to. I have had SZ for over three decades, which means I have lived through the launch of many major medications that were supposed to “save” us. The meds never work as well as the pharma ads promise and they just don’t work at all for significant swaths of us. Vraylar was one that was supposed to suppress negative symptoms in a major way so I was excited to be put on it. It was a real letdown when it barely touched my negs.
I’m just trying to help people manage expectations a bit. I see a lot of people pinning all of their hopes on a future medication to the point where they aren’t doing anything in the present to help themselves.
It’s great if a future med will change our conditions for the better, but there are things we can all be doing right now that really help.
Improved diet. (Maybe keto, maybe vegetarian, maybe something else. More veggies and less processed crap and sugar for sure. Talk to your doctor.)
Exercise. (You don’t need to get ripped or do a triathalon, but start with some stretching and half an hour a day of walking.)
Therapy. (Therapy can help lower stress. Lower stress means fewer symptoms or less severe symptoms. Good bang for your buck here.)
Regular sleep schedule. (This is huge.)
Hobbies. (Keep your mind busy. Challenge it. Get your attention off just being someone with mental illness.)
Med-compliance. (Take the med you’re on now as prescribed and don’t mess with it. Talk to your doctor if you feel it’s not working for you or you can’t tolerate the side-effects.)
Positive attitude. (Fake it til you make it if you have to. The more you work at being a happy person, the more energy you will have and it helps with negs.)
My 2 cents as someone who has dealt with SZ somewhat successfully for over half of my life now.