Because of another post. I have a question because I heard this from a doctor a from other patients that their doctor told them.
Is there a time frame for the NOT first psychotic episode that a person has to go through before quitting medication? I’ve heard 3 years for the “after the first episode”.
Any one know about this?
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If you are suggesting that there will be a time when a true – meaning genetically wired – schizophrenic will stop having episodes, it may be best to start to understand that the statistics are overwhelmingly against the possibility. Medications will almost always have to be taken for years – often lifelong – if the combination of causes is preponderantly genetic (vs. the result of behavioral conditioning to paranoid psychosis).
NOT the first episode means the consequent episodes.
The information I posted was said to me by a doctor and a friend said his doctor told him too. If there are no symptoms in a specific time frame following the crisis there can be a tentative to be taken off of them. This past doctor of mine said (but) there are statistics that are not in favour of the most of the cases.
3 years I have read before reducing the dose. A number of websites say 5 years treatment for multiple episodes. My last 2 consultant psychiatrists told me at least 2 years before reducing the dosage. What i am saying is all for multiple episodes.
I’ve tried searching for that but didn’t find anything.
Can you point out some websites that say that?
Of the top of my head Brain Explorer is one. There isn’t many. Search schizophrenia treatment duration. How about questioning your psychiatrist.
I’ve got a new psychiatrist. And the consultations are short and I’m still getting to know how she works.
mine told these are in the order of 1% to 0.1%, personally, I’d place my bets on finding a med that works for you - I have other things on my mind than fighting windmills.
Probably I got to accept. But I’ve tried them all. Side effects and side effects and no happiness. I’m tired of all this bull. And people are so full of prejudices. Once they know you have a psychotic illness they don’t want anything to do with you. They don’t even respect your opinion. But mainly I can’t find my peace.
You could try just going without the meds. Thats my plan if things don’t work out. I think i could get a grip on reality if i keep relapsing.
I’ve tried that 2 times and it didn’t go well. I did it almost cold turkey. I don’t want to go through arguing and being angry all the time and without a sense of self. But these medications don’t work. One does something the other does another thing. But all of them take my drive away.
Have you went against an episode expecting it. I did once and i had insight for a small amount of time. I think i can increase that time of insight.
This is unfortunately looking to be more and more like the truth. Should this ever change, the laws of physics and probability are reversed and it’s time to start buying lottery tickets, by damn.
Pixel.
Never. Nor will I. Never again in a hospital by choice.
I think most people with psychosis should look at being on a low maintenance dose rather than quitting completely .
I think about quitting sometimes and am perhaps better placed than some here to do so but I would question whether we are always good judges of whether we need the medication or not.
Sometimes/often family or professionals can notice things that we don’t with regards to how we are on or off medication.
Although I have questioned medication to myself the depot team chased me up when I got into being late for the depots. They must notice things that I can’t with regards to how I am having a regular depot compared to when I took meds erratically.
I am having the same issue right now. I’m on 120 mg of Geodon and I sleep all the time. I just lowered to 60 mg, and if that goes well, I’m going to keep decreasing until I am at nothing hopefully. It should take about a year and a half to taper off slowly if everything goes well. I really want to be able to have kids one day, and I can’t do that on APs. Not unless I want a kid born with no hands or some ■■■■.
What is worse for you currently? The symptoms or the side effects? Because if you haven’t even increased your quality of life, I’m not sure what the point of the meds is. Maybe you’re just at too high of a dose, and lowering it would give you back some drive. What drugs have you tried so far?
Don’t quit your meds. It really is all in your head. There is no cold turkey. We have to be on meds for the rest of our lives. The sooner you accept that the better.
Nice you’re reducing.
The worse for me is the anxiety, lack of pleasure in anything, motivation and I’ve always had an enormous amount of fear of people and insecurity. I’m not at a high dosage. I’ve tried Abilify, Zyprexa, Haldol, Clozapine, Risperidone, Invega (oral) and Quetiapine and Amilsupride for sleep and other symptoms. These are the ones I remember. Now I take Invega in the form of injection.
The way our society is set up and treats people with this diagnosis is a huge block. Meds rarely eliminate all symptoms. They cause a lot of new stuff even when they work. There are ways that this illness can be managed without medication. I think if someone is in a deep psychotic period and is benefitting from meds then it’s a no brainier that they should continue. If a med can help stabilize you it’s great. Meds can debilitate you in many ways though. Being able to function off of them is a balance, as is managing them. It’s not something you can do alone and that is a huge issue. A lot of ways your ability to feel and act is affected leads to you not getting better. I think if you want to get off of meds the first thing you need to ask is “what are my coping skills?” You need to have a plan set up. This is true on meds too, of course. No matter what, symptoms will arise. Stress brings on things, etc. you have to know how to be in tune with your mind and body. You have to know how to react to stressors. These are great skills to have. They can be hard to perfect but you need them.