As folk here probably know I’m on Risperdal Consta 25mgs. 10 months ago my depot nurse mentioned about switching to Paliperidone Xeplion. She’s yet to have it sanctioned by a pdoc.
Whether Xeplion is better is debatable. On the plus side it would mean 12 injections a year instead of 26. Who really likes jabs in the butt ? On the minus side I’ve only seen the depot nurse and a couple of stand in depot nurses since I’ve been here ,apart from seeing another nurse 2 times when I was first being introduced as a patient under this trust. Reducing injections would reduce contact and make me even more someone on autopilot .
It has to be said I am fairly stable with ongoing difficulties for which I am getting some support from a care agency and of course my stepdaughter etc. Nonetheless we all know that medications can stop being as effective. Having someone come in regularly means you are monitored regularly and potential signs of a deterioration/relapse picked up more quickly.
things are moving slowly but it sounds like you’re almost happy about it, or at least conflicted about it. Have you ever considered therapy? Then you would have someone who would notice if you started going downhill. That’s one of the reasons I do therapy. Well that and because my pdoc requires at least 6 a year, but I go like every week or two for my own reasons.
After a couple of bad experiences with therapy I’m quite phobic about it. Had therapists who pushed the pompous,moralising line of “If you want to be a good person…” rather than acknowledging I was a good person who had difficulties coping with certain things, and needed help to manage to cope better. Basically both were idiots.
Those were the trained therapists. Then there was the untrained person from the mental health centre who did ‘therapy’ with me . She spent most of the time criticising me and putting me down which did wonders(not) for my already fragile self esteem. She eventually dropped the bombshell she was part of a small religious sect and dumped me when I inadvertently upset her religious sensibilities.
I think that’s really sad. Untrained people who pass themselves off as therapists can do more harm than good. Actually trained therapists can do more harm than good. As a consumer I’m cautious to consider the source. But I can see why you wouldn’t want anything to do with it. I wonder how many people on here do therapy. I’m gonna do a poll.