I’m reaching out to this community because I’m struggling with managing my schizophrenia symptoms effectively through medication, and I could really use some advice and support.
I’ve been diagnosed with schizophrenia for 3 months, and while I’ve been on medication for some time, I’m finding that it’s not providing the relief I had hoped for. I’ve tried but haven’t experienced significant improvement in my symptoms.
I understand that everyone’s experience with medication can vary, but I’m feeling a bit lost and discouraged.
Hello. We can’t give specific med recommendations here, that is a job for your doctor. But my advice is to speak with them about it. There are many different med options, and different ones work best for different people. It took me 7 or so tries before I found one that worked for me. Stay patient, be honest with your doc, and keep trying for improvement.
Btw this is an anonymous forum, so I am editing your post to remove identifying information.
It can take years to find a good med combo with lots of trial and error along the way. It can also take six months to a year to really find out if a med works for you so it is important to not jump from one med to the next too quickly. Nothing happens fast with SZ treatment so you’ll need to be patient and allow things time to work.
Oh I cannot give you any piece of advice regarding a switch.
All I can tell you that the golden rule is that you must try at least 2 antipsychotics antipsychotics for a reasonable long time like 1 1/2 month - 3 months for each. If none have worked markly then your shrink can move onto Clozapine the King of antipsychotics for hard to treat psychosis
It’s important to have realistic expectations when it comes to medication and symptom management. Your MD knows best. If you feel s/he is not pulling their weight, seeking out a second opinion is always an option.
I was lucky, I was a prescribed a med that I still take almost 25 years later. Changing meds led to disastrous consequences for me, usually a stay at the hospital.
I was first put on medication in a hospital when I was 20 years old. It didn’t help me get better for a long time but it stopped me from getting much worse.
Options are dosage adjustments/increases or decreases, adding a second or third med, changing meds. It can be trial and error even on the part of the doctor. I am 76 years old and have residual symptoms. The more you know about symptoms and meds, the better off you are. Good luck.
Mainly just delevop insight by therapy and reading and then try a bunch of meds.
Then the obvious things exercise, diet, education/brain training, keep a social network, develop purpose and meaning work if you can that’s at least 95% of it.
If I had my time again start with a heavy hitter with histamine activity, Olanzapine and Risperidone knock yourself out for the first bit maybe 6 months until your symptoms are under control. Then I would add in zyban to wake youself up a bit. After you are stable on that for a good bit I would try swap to caplyta or latuda, brex/vylar and shed some of the weight. That process could take a year especially if you don’t hit the right med every time. Meds are super individual