If a doctor is zoking you out, try discussing a lower dose or maybe another that doesn’t have the zombie feeling. Haldol the worse for that.
There are threads about how different meds make you feel. Seroquel is good if you have trouble falling asleep at night.
I can read books now and watch tv and work that I had trouble with while sick.
So I gained a few pounds. That’s better than being thin as a rail because you are too sick to eat because you think people are trying to kill you all the time.
If you wanna appreciate life at its truest then go off meds. As long as you will live a healthy lifestyle and will not attempt suicide, you shouldn’t worry much about dying early. Make sure you withdraw properly though. Staying on these meds risks your chances for full recovery, and then some.
My issue or problem is not with the meds - Medications can play an important role in the life of someone living with a severe mental illness like schizophrenia or bipolar.
Personally I have been screwed over by carless and negligent psychiatrists, who placed me on either the wrong med or kept me on higher doses,without monitoring my situation.
The right meds can help, the wrong meds at the wrong dose can make things a lot worse and actually do a lot of damage - physically and mentally.
I am not anti psychiatry, but there are too many careless, incompetent, negligent psychiatrists out there. My current psychiatrist is not one of them.
We also need better meds out there. The current batch of meds cause a lot of physical/metabolic damage - its about time for some real changes in this arena.
It’s not a difficult concept to absorb. We need more effective meds that do not harm us physically.
Well what does your doctor say when you tell them that? It’s your job to tell the doctor what you want to do. Then give them feedback if they have given you a certain med and ask for another and tell them why.
But recovery is always small steps.
I still can’t stand TV commercials and instantly shut off the sound to prevent brain damage.
You can start watching a short nature show with nothing that would be upsetting. No Murders, crimes stuff like that. Try a short comedy. Then if you can follow the plot, move on to a hour show with a more complicated plot etc. then maybe moving onto a DVD movie that you can rewind if you miss something.
Small steps in recovery lead to better things.
I’m starting the medication again, and I need to stop being so obsessive. I feel much better now that I’m back on it. Right now I feel very sound, and clear-headed. The only thing I’m struggling with is social isolation. I don’t feel like I have anyone to talk to anymore. I’ve been feeling disconnected from people, and so I’ve been dwelling on thoughts that get me nowhere. Even though I know certain events occurred, I can’t obviously explain supernatural phenomena.
But there are too many secrets for me to be mad. I am afraid to divulge the dots I’ve connected. I’m also still missing a lot of information. My mom tried to divorce my dad, my dad said she refused to post bail when she was in jail. Why would she not want to come home? I feel lied to and betrayed. I don’t trust anyone.
Ok well I sorta forgot to take my nightly Seroquel and I’ve been paying for it for 4 days now being tortured. I just couldn’t take more to make up for the missed dose.
I Lost 2 days work and only now plan going back tomorrow. Luckily I took off work so I didn’t make a scene.
Only my husband had to pay the price too of screaming and calling the doc.
I just came back from my appointment. The psychiatrist more than implied that I was being given poor treatment at the last place I was seen in, Shenandoah Health. Shenandoah was too quick to diagnose me. It’s where I received the diagnosis of schizophrenia in the first place. The psychiatrist thinks I do have a form of Bipolar and Schizophrenia. But he asked why they put me on Gabapentin for anxiety. He said it’s more for neurological pain disorders, affirming my own questions, and he found it unusual I was put on it for anxiety. I was also put on Adderall to counteract the cognitive effects of Abilify, so he wants to cut the medication in half. My hopes are to find something better but I won’t try anything new unless I know what it does. He also added Vistaril for the anxiety, as he didn’t want to prescribe Benzo’s knowing they risk addiction in most people.
I take Adderall as prescribed, and it does help me with focusing. I explained how within two weeks of being on Vyvanse I was able to drive and focus again. He seems to also be very intelligent so I like my new psychiatrist. I like doctors who take their job seriously and are not all about the money. He seems to genuinely want to help me. Where-as at Shenandoah I felt at conflict for being “too well” and they kept trying to say I was worse than I was, and instead of changing my diagnosis from Schizophrenia to Bipolar, they just said Schizophrenia AND Bipolar as if that made any sense. I wonder if my new doctor can tell that I’m not a moody person, that I’m relatively easy tempered even off medication unless being instigated…which is what I feel like Shenandoah did, instigate.
For instance, calling me non-compliant while simultaneously refusing to see me over missed appointments during inclement weather, and not receiving my voice-mail when they were closed saying I was unable to come. Then just denying it, switching me to another doctor in the practice, and then after one missed appointment putting me back on same-day sick RIGHT AFTER I was removed from that list. So basically, I wasn’t able to see a therapist or psychiatrist because of their “rules” and after putting me on two new medications, including Latuda alongside Abilify. I was unable to express how it affected me.
I was doing so well and THEN. Learn you just can’t slack off and then take more medicine and expect to instantly get the full amount quickly to be stable again, I learn the hard way.
Yes I was hospitalized against my will before Christmas, but it was sorta my fault as I was influenced by people here talking about stopping meds and was experimenting with a lower dose.
I am sorry @katwomansz I really hope that I wasn’t one of those people - I was talking a lot about how much I hate taking meds, and I lowered my dose and was going lower - My pdoc kind of was my wake up call, when I asked her if it was ok if I went without meds - she told me that I would get real sick and that then she would have to Hospitalize me, and that she did not want to do this. She then pleaded with me to stay on my meds.
Instead of not taking meds completely, I decided to switch to a ‘safer’ antipsychotic, I was getting too many side effects with the Risperdal. I hope that you are doing better now.
I have been in denial for a while now
I did notice that the past few months people have been posting about going off meds. I know I can’t do it and good luck to anyone who can. It can be disastrous going off them cold turkey. I was picked up by police before I wrecked my life. Anyway I’m glad you have insight katwoman and you didn’t disappear down that particular rabbit hole.
For some that doupt their illness its okay to come off med just to be sure of their illness. Some can be well without meds for many years and its worth coming off from med and being med free for many years, and for some they cant last more than 20 days without med… For me i want to take that chance one day and see how or how long i can be off med… I dont like to be doupt weather i will have psychosis or not.
I agree I don’t want to blindly trust medication given to me and the best way to learn is by personal experience. I wanted to “test” whether I had schizophrenia or anti-psychotic medication withdrawal. I have tried cold turkey and ended up in a custody suite. I have tried titration over 3 months and longer and ended up not sleeping for days ramping up the medication to get where I was before the experiment. I’ve accepted the diagnosis now and my life is a whole lot easier. That’s just me though.
It has been a bit hard at times… I also read about people who are doing great and pulling themselves together and going off meds… and I do wish I could do it too.
I have been wondering very recently if I’m recovered enough… stable enough… far enough through the forest that I can be med free. I have to admit… I’ve been a bit wishful.
But I’m also a big chicken and afraid to slide back into the deep rust brown negative that I’ve just clawed my way out of.
I also have to really admit…
this past year… the most stable I’ve ever felt… also… the most med compliant I’ve ever been. Coincidence? For me… probably not.