Is it true that the longer you don’t take medication for your psychosis, the more difficult it becomes to treat when you do?
Is this based on experience or do you have a source of evidence I can read?
Thanks
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It’s a common thing that periods of psychosis/depression are most likely brain damage. Usually a 10 point loss IQ wise is reported but I’m unsure how accurate those tests are.
I can’t quote anything but I’ll look but early intervention with medications leads to better outcomes. That is pretty common so I’d imagine it would be in the literature.
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Yes my doctor told me it’s really important to catch it early. If not it’s harder to treat. It can get worse if you don’t be consistent. And most schizophrenic tend to go off and get worse. Not all do this though.
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From experience, each time I go off meds I end up relapsing and get hospitalized, and each time I get psychotic I need either new med combos and/or higher doses of the ones that worked previously. To the point that I’ve been on just about everything and the meds I’m on are at very high doses. Also, with each new psychotic episode, my behaviors get weirder and more aggressive, so each hospitalization is longer than the last. I’m running out of options with each episode caused by quitting meds.
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Staying on meds consistently is vital for us Schizophrenics.
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It is true that the prognosis is better for those who were lucky enough to get early intervention, but that doesn’t mean someone who started treatment right away will alwYs do better than someone who waited. For example, I went ten years unmedicated, but I’ve been in recovery for the past four years, am married, own a house, have a job, volunteer, and have an active social life. You shouldn’t feel like you missed your chance to recover just because you weren’t treated right away.
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I noticed you used a capital S. I like that, it makes me feel important.
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@Wave I agree with you it’s just that in my personal situation my doctor said its ok to try and come off after a consistent year to see how it goes. I am just wondering if the voices do come back but are very subtle,maybe I wouldn’t go back on med unless they turn stronger again. I’m not recommending others to just stop their medication.
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No my iPhone spell checker automatically did this.
You’re still important @77nick77! 
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Be aware @anon90843118.
Good luck!
Thank you @Wave I’ll definitely be vigilant to early warning signs.
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@Ninjastar that sounds amazing. I just wonder if that is in the minority though when you seek treatment much later or if the chances of recovery are similar. Either way I guess it’s good to know that it is possible
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This is a study on early intervention in schizophrenia.
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From all the years of reading and from my own experience with psychosis. Generally the earlier someone gets treatment the better the outcome. I’ve been told by doctors that every time you have a psychosis the harder it is to recover. It took me 2 years before I got treatment when I first got sick. Doctors were reluctant to diagnose me with schizophrenia until I started hearing voices. My second psychosis happened a year later when I quit my meds. It was more difficult the second time to the symptoms under control.
After my second psychosis it took 5 years for the hallucinations to let up. My second psychosis was 21 years ago. I’ve been on medication ever since. I still have some hallucinations from time to time but it’s manageable. I’ve learned to manage my illness and stay with treatment over the years. I’ll never be 100% cured or anything but my quality of life is a lot better then being in a psychosis.
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Although early on my meds weren’t stable, I did well during my hospitalizations which were consistent for about five years. I went about two years without any meds afterwards and went thru my worst psychosis. When I went back on meds, I improved almost immediately, but it did take a while before a lot of the voices subsided the where I felt myself again. About 4-5 years.
Since then it’s just slowly gotten better and better. Even the negative symptoms seem better and I feel like this is the best I’ve ever done overall, despite setbacks like gaining weight.
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@Ninjastar so in summary this article is saying the longer u leave it untreated, your chances of remission become less. That’s good to know. You are one of the lucky ones then
That is statistically true, but early intervention is only one factor to take into consideration. Other important factors are whether you have a routine, a support system, and positive coping skills, the severity of your symptoms before meds, and how many previous psychotic episodes you have had.
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@Wantsome480 I’m happy to hear ur symtoms are manageable now that’s good news. This does kind of make me much more cautious about me going off meds though but I guess if I only try coming off once rather than repeatedly it won’t be as bad as it could be.
And premorbid intelligence and whether you have treatment resistant illness, whether you have comorbid drug or alcohol addiction.
I think it’s always best to get treatment quickly, for one, you want to get it before your life is totally off the rails - it’s obviously going to be easier to get back on your feet if you haven’t alienated everyone in your life, lost your housing, job, etc.
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@eighteyedspy23 that is great to hear that ur negatives have actually improved. Makes me a bit more hopeful. I get the feeling having support makes a difference to how strong ur negatives are
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