So, I have been completely unmedicated for around two years now but recently, I’ve been experiencing what I call a “burst” of hallucinations and paranoia and having frequent psychotic episodes. I’m finding that all of my coping go-tos are losing their charm and aren’t as effective lately.
I stopped taking medications and going to regular doctor visits because I was very frustrated with the frequent medication changes. Some meds were stopped before they could take their full affect and were changed before I could detox. I felt as if they were intentionally sedating me and other times, I felt like they were feeding me placebos. The only treatment I was offered by our local health care professionals were pills and I just didn’t see how that alone could possibly help, so I stopped taking them altogether.
But because I’m experiencing a heavy burst in positive and negative symptoms, I made an appointment with a new doctor at a different facility.
I know that this new doctor is more than likely going to suggest medication and mental health treatment, but where do I draw the line?
Should I begin to take medication again? What should I ask if they suggest a prescription? I’m paranoid that it’s just going to be a replay and that I’m going to feel like a lab rat again.
What meds have worked best for you? Are you unmedicated or have been before?
Every time I’ve tried to be unmedicated, or “lightly” medicated, I’ve wound up inpatient for several weeks. I can’t do atypicals, so I stick to the older meds. They work best for me. My personal favorite it haldol.
I felt like a test subject at first, but then I learned that a lot of psychiatry is trial and error. What works for one patient might be horrible for another patient, so before the psychiatrists get an idea of what works for us, they have to try out different things to see how we react to them.
I hope your new PDOC gives you something that works for you, and unless it gives you horrible side-effects, I suggest you take it as prescribed for as long as you need.
That is what I’m trying to do as well! minimal medications but I would still like to be able to operate. I think I just need to jump through some hurdles and give trial and error a shot again.
I believe I have either been prompted to try haldol or have actually tried it but it sounds very familiar. I don’t want to admitted again, and I was doing well for the most part but to ensure that I’m not admitted again, perhaps meds are the answer!
If your new doc might not have access to know what meds you were on previously, and you have been using the same pharmacy, you can go there and request a med history list. That won’t cover anything filled in the hospital, but it’s a start.
Make notes on what you remember.
If you don’t remember, well, it is unfortunately trial and error, but your doctor should be willing to discuss each change.
If the psychotic symptoms aren’t very severe maybe you should consider waiting it out. Seriously, they will likely put you on a minimal dose of a weak med to see if you benefit any from the placebo effect. You will be sedated but not on a dose which has any antipsychotic activity in your brain. Just taking pills for the sake of taking pills, and they’ll do nothing for your symptoms.
How bad is it really, you seem perfectly capable of posting on here, you don’t appear consumed by delusions. You just vaguely describe negative and positive symptoms.
Remember, negative and cognitive symptoms are associated with poorer functioning, those may emerge or get worse once you start taking antipsychotics, especially at higher doses.
If I were you I would assess whether or not I feel like I’m going over the edge into relapse. If it’s that severe reach out to whomever dispensed your drugs in the past. If it’s not really that bad at least have a benzo or 200mg seroquel handy to manage it and maintain your sleep. Prn (as needed meds) is the name of the game.
I also didn’t have major symptoms when I started taking meds, but was going down hill fast. I asked for help when I started getting panic attacks every week for silly stuff. My delusions were either not harmful or did not last very long (2 hours or so for the paranoid ones). My hallucinations (mostly visual), were of mostly normal people and animals that disappeared soon after appearing.
But I was really scared as to where that was going. Things seemed to be getting worse and worse. The anger was harder to control. My emotions were completely crazy - lots of extremes with no warning at all. So, I am glad I went in when I did.
I would say you should go in too. You never know how far down hill you will slip.
As to which med… it is a very personal thing and you will have to accept some experiment and error. I was lucky that the first one I tried seemed to work for me. It was abilify. But the original dosage was too minor and I had to have it increased.
Well, personally, if I have a choice between being unmedicated and having a relapse, or taking medication and praying it will stave off the relapse or at least make the relapse not as bad…I would choose medication.
Because wouldn’t you agree that it seems like you’re slowly relapsing?
Whatever you’re experiencing mentally right now, wouldn’t you agree that: 1) it’s very, very serious and you need to take action to deal with it. And 2) wouldn’t you agree that it is not going to get better or go away on its own?
That would be a powerful incentive to get back on medication if it was me.
I experienced a relapse 25 years ago. It stalled my life and set me back about a year while I slowly recovered by increments. And taking an educated guess, I would say that I have only had that one relapse in the 37 years I’ve had paranoid schizophrenia because I take medication.
In your situation right now, getting back on medication seems like the lesser of two evils.
To be honest, when it comes to finding the right medication, yes, is very much like being a guinea pig or a lab rat. It’s the same for all of us schizophrenics. Because psychiatrists or anyone else can’t gurentee that a certain medication will work for us. When it comes to medication, if we’re lucky if the first one we try works for us. It happens.
But many people go through what you’ve been through and they have to try several different medications before tney find the right one. It’s very much a trial and error process, finding the right medication is not an exact science.
If your illness is like mine where the psychosis only tends to act up or become severe in bursts, perhaps my same strategy would work for you. When I know I am about to be in a situation where my symptoms will act up, or if I notice they are acting up significantly, I temporarily go back on an antipsychotic. I’ll be on it several months to allow things to settle down and then I’ll go back off again. It works for me.
Many are not able to do this though. But if you went 2 years fine off meds it may work for you too.
I think you should talk with your doctor and set some ground rules with them about meds. Tell them what happened to you in the past and see where it goes from there.
I am unmedicated. And I am unsure if I will ever be able to be medicated. But it is difficult. Very difficult. So as far as being paranoid about meds I understand but I definitely believe the best thing would be to ask the doctors opinion everyone is different and drugs that work for some people may work entirely different for you.
It is very important to take medicines if you are diagnosed with Schizophrenia. This disease is not cured by any other means except medicines. Your doctor will examine you and suggest the medicines which you should take regularly. There are many medicines for Schizophrenia and what worked for one person may not work for another. You should stick to the medicine that works best for you. Please don’t compare your illness with other person’s condition.
And please don’t feel any resentment for taking drugs. They are the only means to cure your disease.
Yes, I agree. Seeing a therapist, especially one trained in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, can be very helpful. It gave me a lot of coping skills that I still use on a daily basis.
