Lowering antipsychotic dose

Medications
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My previous psychiatrist told me about studies that say lowering AP dose can increase quality of life. It’s supposed to help socially along with having less side effects. He mentioned symptoms sometimes come back, but they are usually very mild (if you aren’t massively cutting the dose abruptly).

I am on 30mg of abilify and have terrible akathisia. I also have had weight gain, tiredness throughout the day, inability to focus, and I’ve felt socially slow.

I see a new doctor (who is closer to my home) on the 31st of this month. I’m hoping, with his help, I will be able to gradually lower my dose. I’ll update this thread after I see him.

I’m interested if anyone has had success lowering dose to combat side effects.

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I lowered my dose of Seroquel from 400mg to 300mg about 38 days ago. There were some withdrawal effects: a few days of restlessness at one point, and also a small number of days where my mental state wasn’t very good. I feel like I am used to the 300mg now. I like this dose a lot better.

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I got my invega sustenna lowered from 75mg to 50mg last month. So hopefully I’ll feel the benefits soon.

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That’s good to hear. Did you have trouble convincing your psychiatrist to go along with it? I worry that (with meeting a new psych.) I could have some trouble getting him to understand.

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I hope you do too! Side effects are the worst. Did your psychiatrist go along with it? I hope my new one will.

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I discussed taking 300mg with a psychiatrist months ago and they were OK with it. I can’t see a psychiatrist easily anymore, so I had to reduce it to 300mg recently based on my own judgement. I had no choice but to reduce the dose because of severe side effects.

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Understandable. Psychiatrists are over worked nowadays and getting to see one can be tough.

Thanks for your response, it gives me hope that I’ll be able to lower dose as well.

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It was my doctor that lowered it for me. I told him I was having side effects and he lowered it.

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I get the monthly injection of Sustenna Invega. I went from 234mg to 156mg successfully. I basically became impotent and after a prolactin test my psychiatrist said it was a little high so she decided to lower it. Since then I’m producing sperm again and it’s not watery or anything even though my sex drive is still pretty low. I had some breakthrough symptoms but they have subsided.

I plan to go even lower over-time and see how I do. The less medication the better.

I’m also on Wellbutrin 150mg. Went from 100 mg to where I am because of this stupid depression. Hang in there. It’s a tough illness to manage but we gotta do our best.

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I’m glad you’ve had success with a lower dose. Definitely agree that less medication is better. Best of luck to you with lowering your dose further in the future.

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Thanks!! Keep us updated with your progress.

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Yes. I’ve been on 1 mg of Haldol, per prescription, for most of the last 4 to 5 years. It doesn’t completely eliminate side effects, but it has helped me a lot.

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I’ve a good psychiatrist and it’s always been about the lowest possible dosage that takes care of symptoms. I’ve found that to be 10mgs of zyprexa. I still get the odd breakthrough but it works well for me. I’d encourage everyone to work with your doctor to adjust things. You really do need to have some ownership of your treatment.

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One of the things I did was get on the official drug manufacturer’s web site, and found instructions designed for doctors which instructed them to try to prescribe the lowest possible dose for the least amount of time.

I then tried to, somewhat diplomatically, make the psychiatrist aware that I was aware of these instructions. Thankfully, my psychiatrist didn’t seem to take offense.

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What side effects did you get?

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Honestly I could write a book on it. It’s that much. Primarily side effects associated with excessive dopamine being blocked.

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I’m content with my med’s where they are. I’m taking 400 x 2 Seroquel daily, and 80 x 2 Geodon daily. As long as this combination keeps working for me I am going to stay on it.

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I have slowly lowered my dose. I used to be on 160 mg of Geodon, 100 mg of amitriptyline, some dose of buspirone, and 900 mg of gabapentin. Over the course of two years, I was able to slowly lower/stop some meds. Now, I only take 60 mg of Geodon daily, and I have a PRN for 100 mg of gabapentin. I tried lowering all the way to 40 mg of Geodon, but that was too low for me. I had breakthrough hallucinations and terrible mood swings. At 60 mg, I feel fine and have no positive symptoms.

My tourette’s Symptoms are worse at this dose, but they’re not really a problem. They just make me look kind of strange. (Geodon treats Tourette’s as well as schizophrenia.)

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My dose of invega Has just been lowered from 100mg a month to 75mg a month (injection). I also have akasthesia waiting to see benefits for that and other things.

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I lowered my dose myself and it worked well.

When i was admitted for thefirst time my doc gave me full and half dose every day. She didnt know i react well to ap.

I had many side effects to the point it disturbed my working. So i started to.take half a dose one day and full dose the next day. And i didnt get sick. I had more energy.and i was happy.

Now my doc agrees with me about how much im taking.

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