I’d like to ask why people are non compliant with their meds. Seems to be a common thread with sz
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The side effects were as bad as/debilitating as my symptoms or triggered my symptoms.
But I keep fighting to find the meds that are not this way and am currently on meds.
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There have been times in the past when I refused to keep taking a med, and it always had to do with side effects. I’m better about compliance now, but that wasn’t the case in my younger days.
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So if it’s cause is side effects please describe the side effects that made you stop. Thx
I was told initally that I’d have to take them for a year. Then I could come off them to see what happened. So after a year I came off them.
I decided mega dosing with vitamin b3 (niacin) was the way to go. Lol. 2 long years later I ended up psychotic in hospital.
Then about a year and a half ago I came off them for a few weeks. I felt the familiar “unable to cope” feeling coming back so I went back on them.
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Akathisia that caused anxiety so extreme I became suicidal, and it lasted hours on end (basically traded in my psychotic disorder for an anxiety disorder) inability to orgasm which triggers my psychosis because I can’t relieve my libido and my libido triggers my psychosis to where I get hallucinations of being molested, fainting due to decreased blood pressure, prolactin levels becoming too high which significantly increases breast cancer risk that already runs in my family, becoming constipated both pee and poop wise and could barely go to the bathroom for weeks on end which kept me up all night straining on the toilet which then triggered my psychosis because I wasn’t sleeping.
All kinds of really nasty stuff. And I only mentioned the bad side effects that were intolerable to me, not all the other more mild ones. These are not fun meds to be on. Luckily I don’t seem to be having any problems with my current AP and I hope my new AD doesn’t give me problems either.
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Some people stop taking the medication because they feel better or they may feel they don’t need it anymore. But no one should stop taking an antipsychotic medication without first talking to his or her doctor. Medication should be gradually tapered off, never stopped suddenly.
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/schizophrenia-booklet/index.shtml
At times I feel better and stop taking it but didn’t realize that it is because of the medication that works.
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I took myself off Zyprexa in 2005 because I didn’t like how flat it made me look. I showed no emotion whatsoever on Zyprexa. Well, there’s also the fact that I didn’t think I needed it (stupid), not to mention the weight I put on. I took myself off of lithium in 2004, because the dr who was treating me refused to give me propranolol to treat the tremors. I stayed on the lithium for a while like that, dealing with terrible tremors, being unable to write legibly unless I put a lot of alcohol into my system. Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore, so I just stopped the lithium altogether. With being off lithium and Zyprexa I became manic again.
There have been other times I’ve requested a med change due to side effects like akathisia and whatnot, told my dr I couldn’t keep taking it, but it’s different getting a med change from a dr than just stopping the med on my own.
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Seems to me that avoiding the intolerable side effects is more important than whether the drug works
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If the med is as bad as the symptoms what is the point? It’s like pick your poison.
If you don’t understand why people quit their meds then you’ve never experienced intolerable side effects before and that’s good for you.
Yep, a combo of what everyone else has said. I’m sticking with the meds now, but have stopped numerous times either because I felt better and didn’t have the insight to realise that was because I was taking meds, or because the side effects were unbearable. Right now I’m switching from lithium to lamotrigine, because I have severe tremors and shaking (Parkinsonism) but I know now I need to be on a mood stabiliser and antipsychotic or I’ll just end up sectioned again.
It seems by far i can not stop medication. I do not feel uneasy only i get delusional which is my main symptom and have cognitive problems.
I am still surprised how i am doing well right now on anti dep and low dose antpsc 
I will discuss with my doc abt lowering even more when i go back.
The first obstacle is the lack of insight.
Wish i wasnt on meds
Haha we are similar, I also function pretty well on an AD and low dose AP.
I stopped taking my meds because I didn’t think I was sick. I thought I was the target of a government conspiracy.
I made it 4 days without antipsychotics and I was in an ER.
Now I know I am sick and need my meds. The insight into the illness has allowed me to recover a little. Not nearly as good as I used to be but definitely better than I was when I didn’t realize I was sick.
take your meds people !! if you have a cold you take medicine for that. same with schizophrenia…you need your medicine !!
I honestly have to say I am walking the razor’s edge. I was med-compliant when I went into the hospital, but the meds, Haldol + Seroquel, were causing akathisia so bad I couldn’t stop moving and was so tired physically. They took those away and added Zyprexa. Now I cannot sleep and when I do it’s full of half-awake spider dreams. I’m also overweight already and am scared of Zyprexa’s reputation. So I didn’t take it last night. Didn’t sleep until 5 am but then slept for 4, spider-free hours. I KNOW that this is not logical, not wise, that I should have the brains to choose better, but I don’t feel that the med change helped my paranoia anyway and that I wasn’t really given a say in the matter…I really don’t know. Maybe I’ll just go back on the Seroquel, sans Haldol…
I came off meds a couple of times, once I wandered clear across town to the koi pond behind the fire station and tried to jump in. I had terrible side effects from risperidone, abilify, fanapt, invega, celexa and Lexapro. the meds I am on now are working pretty good. might be hypomanic not sure until see doc on the 11th of July
Meds is practically my religion now, thats how serious I am about taking them. Unlike many I can actually feel it when they are running out, it doesn’t feel cool bro.