My wife just told me if I am going to refuse medication I have to tell her about my symptoms everyday. I hate talking about it. What would you do/say? She said it is for her safety and the safety of our kids. I thought we had a good day today ugh.
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I’d listen to your wife.
Why give up meds?
Not good if your multiepisodic or have a history of mental illness and sz.
Yeah meds can be brutal but alternatives really can too.
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I would take medication.
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I’m taking ziprasodone and recently added seroquel back since summer.
I get side effects, I get akathisia and now drowsy and weight gain again from seroquel. Battling voices, delusions, losing inside leave me with no other option.
I also live with a normal person and I have to keep my symptoms under control.
I agree with your wife, she should know about your symptoms, as much as you hate discussing it.
My spouse would hospitalize me if i refuse medication.
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I always thought I could talk my way out of my delusions. I thought it would be optimal if somebody would ask how my SZ is doing. Just get positive assurance from someone.
After being on this forum and seeing how the rules don’t permit talking about delusions too much I see the point now. I would just be going in circles with thinking patterns and getting nowhere. I would be stuck in my feelings and in a way suffering.
I do kind of believe in talking out symptoms if it is totally positive. And I was not in any way believing them and knowing it is a medical issue.
The only benefit right now for me not being on meds would be that I would lose about 50lbs and that’s about it.
I don’t have a marriage and am not responsible for any children and don’t have a job at the moment. I don’t think safety would be a problem from my delusional beliefs. I have a good sense of humor and could reason them out with somebody with a totally open mind. But it would take hours of talking a day and I know how much that can impede on a normal lifestyle.
I honestly wish I had a person who was totally supportive of me through talking out my delusions. But if safety is an issue then it is a very different situation. I like to argue also, I like to argue things out in a constructive communicative way. This takes a lot of focus and energy from a relationship and with all the other responsibility’s of life might either free up energy or consume to much focus and time and energy.
I live with my parents and they will not tolerate my talking about my symptoms daily. It is a once and done thing with my father. My mother cant tolerate hearing my delusions and kind of became traumatized by the things I said to her. I can go over and over the same thing every day and it becomes monotonous.
If somebody does not feel safe then the environment will be very stressful and defensive. To feel safe frees up so much more focus for the requirements people have with their daily life. Also trust issues can also take up all the focus and energy and joy of relationships.
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Your wife is on the right side of this. You should go back on meds, especially as a parent. If you’re going to make a very bad decision, your wife has a right to know how it is affecting your mental condition. Oh, and I wouldn’t expect her to stay around for too long after you’re off meds.
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It is indeed very unsafe to be delusional, hallucinating, and/or unclear thinking, especially if you have kids. It’s not fair to them for you to be unwell when in order to be well all you have to do is take medicine.
If a diabetic refuses insulin, they can have all sorts of problems, be in and out of the hospital, lose limbs, become completely disabled and even die. Does it really make sense for them to skip their meds and do that to their families?! No. Same goes for us. We need our meds.
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Bit late to the party but honestly you have a wife. Most people here don’t so the problem with your current path is ending up symptomatic and alone.
Seriously. Do what you wife asks of you and take the medication. It leads to better outcomes for most. And take it everyday for at least 6 weeks to get a handle on your symptoms…and honestly you still seem to have symptoms.
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Your obviously mentally ill so take the pills as prescribed and listen to your partner.
For most of us we are single because of mental illness. Take stock now and do what you need to do but take the pills. I do it religiously because I’m sz. I’ve no choice and it gets easier down the line when you get stable on them…but you need to make sure your stable so you have to do it consistently.
Yeah. I had to have a huge dose of an antidepressant to get stable. Just how it was with me but gave me horrible ibs. I’d actually have to go to the toilet within two minutes or I’d poop my pants. It was shitty to say the least but your looking at the problem the wrong way…
You need to get stable and lose the symptoms rather than worry about the side effects. Your not there yet so see your gp and get through that process. Yeah. I do statins now. I do blood pressure meds…it’s a totally different story and your worrying about things that aren’t there till your diagnosed with it anyways.
Seriously. Take stock. If your worried about physical problems then see a decent gp. I tend to think your obsessing and making decisions on other avenues and that isn’t good in the long run.
Sz Is a serious illness and it needs serious responses. You don’t need to worry about things that may or may not be but deal with them when you can…It’s life.
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My wife married me after I was ill and knew I had SZ when we married, but I had my first good relapse inside my marriage about a decade in. I went off my meds, hid it from her (until I couldn’t because my health went) and caused serious damage to our finances and marriage.
The marriage survived it, but I am never to go off meds without telling her first and she comes to doctors appointments with me now. I’m okay with it. She also has power of attorney she can invoke if needed, which I’m also okay with. The alternative was not having her or my daughter, which I was not okay with.
There are worse things than being med-compliant. Trust me on this.
If you are schizoaffective then you may have it worse than me. Your illness comes with some monkeys on your back that mine doesn’t.
It’s funny you bring up Faraday machines. I tried to build a Faraday cage in my home to shield myself from aliens during my last bad relapse. Copper is expensive and it takes a lot to shield a room. I looked like an arse when the delivery van rolled in with my copper, solar panels, batteries, and backup generator (like I said, I damaged us financially even though we were able to sell most of the stuff after).
There was no hiding things from the wife from that point on. Some mastermind, huh?
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If you get side-effects from meds you can try another one!
I’m on olanzapine and vraylar.
Can’t you talk to your doc and switch meds?
If you have no positives that’s great. Perhaps your sz is mild? But if you refuse meds then you are on a dark path down to hell. You get better outcomes when you are medicated before severity hits.
Which meds have you tried?
Oh, they’re scary enough if you think they’re real.
I had side-effects on olanzapine the first couple of weeks. I felt like a zombie and felt weak. But that went away. I don’t have any side-effects anymore. Except for the weight I gained.
I gained about 30kg (66 lbs) and I’m now 100kg (220lbs).
I haven’t gained anymore weight after that. I try to keep my diet in check. I don’t eat sugar or fast carbs.
I think there is a reason why your wife is worried. You should get back on a med that doesn’t affect you negatively.
Battling this illness without meds and those cases you mention where they didn’t need meds is a rarity. You are playing with fire.
Can you try olanzapine for a couple of months to see how you react?
I do blood work once a year and I haven’t had any issues. It’s just the extra weight that’s bothering me, which I should get rid of with diet and exercise.
Why do you think that? Do you have a reason to believe that?
Don’t worry. The government has better things to do than mess with people with mental illness.
The medications aren’t poison. They’re good for you and help balance out the chemicals in our brains that are all miss-firing.
Be well.
Then I understand you. Those are some legitimate worries.
If you get akathisia from loxapine then there’s meds to counter that. Talk to your doc.
You can also ask him for a prn if you feel delusions creeping in.
You have sz if you are hallucinating. It’s no picknick. I thought I was a prophet that could speak to angels. Then it went downhill when I thought I was possessed by demons. I had persecutory delusions as well. As I said it can quickly go downhill. I started self harming and ended up in the hospital with a brain hemorrhage because I wanted to get the demon out from my body. That was my second psychosis.
I wasted my time on a lot of things. I wish I could go back and talk some sense in to me. But I can’t! I don’t want to go back to who I was without meds. That’s why I’m taking them and I’m not preoccupied with nonsense.