Why does it take several weeks for antipsychotics to fully work?

Most antipsychotics don’t have a super long half-life, so I would think after about a week they would build up to a steady state in your body.

So, what is the scientific or biological explanation for why it takes several weeks sometimes, or even more than a month, for antipsychotics to fully work? Can someone explain how this works to me on a molecular level? From what I understand, antipsychotics just block or partially block certain receptors, so I would think once they achieve full receptor occupancy at steady state, they would be fully efficacious. So, why isn’t their full effect felt as soon as steady state is reached? Why does it sometimes take longer?

No idea. I think haldol can work quite quickly though, like in a day. So it’s probably not related to half life.

Well what I do know is that when I first start an AP, my brain really freaks the hell out and it’s terrible. Then after 1-2 weeks my brain clams the hell down, and I start to feel better. So I don’t know if one factor considered is how adjusting can really suck and so it might not feel beneficial at first.

turnip, in which way your brain freaks out? its with every ap that you’ve tried?
me,i am on my month and 1 week with my zyprexa again and this time I ll try not to always switch meds and just stick with it :slight_smile:

It’s like all my symptoms get a lot worse and then dissipate. It happened when I started Zyprexa and then happened with Latuda.

ah,ok I see. for me, its not the same in fact. now a month after my zyprexa I feel sedated sometimes per small moments… otherwise, it helps me to get out of bed without even feel something for the most of the time,strange

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Glad it’s going well for you. Latuda is starting to work for me, too.

I feel depressed though turnip, all my envy for the others, even for my sick friends is killing me… but ill try to continue pulling myself

For ages I kinda thought meds working meant I had to feel a bit “stoned” for the most part. Whereas I now know meds workings means an absence of the bad stuff - apart from some drowsiness/balance problems, I don’t even notice the meds. They are working in the background

yeah, me to I was never stoned on them. its not alcohol neither weed. even Haldol didn’t made me stoned. I should be really psychotic though… I gave my zyprexa to a sane friend of mine and he went to sleep an hour after it… for me,it doesn’t work like this…

one NEVER GIVE YOUR MEDS TO SOMEONE ELSE!!! this is very dangerous, because someone could have a bad reaction, 1 in 15 people are allergic to the active ingredients of the top five anti psychotics.

two, Zyprexa’s effects vary from person to person and our illness has a lot to do with how it affects us, its just like with ADHD meds, in someone who has ADHD the med has a sedating effect, but someone who doesn’t have it ends up wired as if on speed.

Also, the reason it can take several weeks is because even though the dose we get is high, the amount in our brain is only roughly 5% of what we ingest/inject because it has to be in our blood in high enough levels to stay in the brain. if it went into the brain and stayed there, we would have an issue because it would build up to the point we couldn’t function (and some people do have a rare complication where this happens).

Even though we are trying to block these receptors from getting TOO much info, if they were blocked completely we could lose our ability to live, since these receptors are also responsible for other aspects of our daily living. You would like to be able to read right? well if you block out the signals entirely you could lose your ability to understand visual input such as words or symbols.

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Where did you get this information?

from an old site, the info may be outdated but it was one of the sites my Pdoc gave me to read over, it was listed as a ‘caution/advisory’ not sure what it actually means or what the top 5 were at the time but the most recent update on the site was 2010…

Wow, certainly sounds conclusive (rolls eyes). No need to spread FUD.

sorry, the site is maintained by the state so I figured it would be accurate…

The meds take weeks to work because the brain has to accommodate less dopamine being trafficked. The brain sees less dopamine and makes more receptors. In the long run it makes more receptors. This is because less activity of dopamine in the frontal cortex, the executive command center of the brain, is responsible for positive symptoms.

#psychology #neuroscience #scholar

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I see you’ve discovered what the hash tag does! Shhhh…

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It's the middle of the night. Are youAMPED UP????
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High as a

Kite

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The brain sees less dopamine and makes more receptors

I don’t think abilify,rexulti work that way. Could be wrong.