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  1. Aria's recovery from poly drugs. I had no idea when I walked into a psychiatrist's office 25 yrs ago the horrible labyrinth I'd entered. Slam dunked at a point in my life when I was feeling low and the loss of future possibilities taken away. Being told I was mentally ill, would never function again, needed to be on disability and poly drugged for the rest of my life repeatedly took it's toll. All this impacted my relationships with family, friends and enjoying life. The pdoc constantly added new psych drugs, changed doses and took me off the old drugs at an alarming rate. I became a morbidly obese woman who mumbled or talked rapidly and it was obvious to everyone but the pdoc I was totally messed up on something. I had Seroquel Induced Acute Pancreatitis that landed me in the hospital for quite awhile and my pdoc put in my open med chart I was crazy. I didn't know this till later but ill as I was I did notice some of my physicians were treating me oddly. One good thing about being so ill was I referred to a neurologist for chronic pain and found out my problem was profound drug induced Akathsia. This neurologist actually screamed at me, these psych drugs are killing you, they're killing you. I knew I had to get off these drugs not matter what it took and reclaim my life. At my next appointment I asked my psychiatrist why he was drugging me like this and he looked directly at me (probably for the first time in years he saw "me"). He started sobbing, loudly sobbing, "Oh God what have I done to you", over and over. I'm sitting there thinking oh crap, I don't need this. Our 15 minute med check was up and this guy calmly goes to the front desk to get the next patient and proceeds without any other fanfare. He's robot. A robot. All this in itself was mind boggling. Hell, closure?? No way. I found out I had Tardive Dyskinesia and a few other psych drug induced issues. My face was a road map with twitches and jerking that yelled hey, I'm on massive psychiatric drugs. Will my face be like this forever?? The TD has mostly gone away and I'm so grateful (the pdoc adamantly said I did not have Tardive Dyskinesia from psych drugs). Well, guess what?? The psychiatrist was wrong...horribly wrong. Other doctors, psychiatrist, therapists said you're not mentally ill and never had been. The sad but very scarey part is I'm labeled as profoundly mentally ill and that info is in my medical charts. One pdoc did this...one. I've gone through the gambit of emotions dealing with this. I will probably always be mad at this jerk for what he did to me and for what he still does to others. It affected years of my life and he was wrong. I'm a Success Story because I'm psych drug free and have been for several years. My journey was extremely difficult and I did it on my own hit or miss tapering off numerous psychiatric drugs. I endured drug withdrawals that paralyzed me month after month. Was it worth the hell of tapering? Yes, very much yes. My reward was my clarity of mind, my passions for life returned and I have hopes for my future. I mended fences with family and have made new friends. I strive everyday to be productive. I'm me but a different me because no one could go through all this and not be changed by it. (for more in-depth conversations about my struggles, coping and self awareness with surviving psychiatry please visit my ongoing thread Aria's Psych Journey http://survivinganti...psych-journey/)
  2. Hi everyone. Im looking for some sage advice. I have been on 2.5 mg of Zyprexa for about 2 years. I decided it’s time to get off this poison. It’s caused me to gain 60lbs ..it’s given me high blood pressure and worst of all it makes me feel easily overwhelmed.. like the flood gates have been opened on my anxiety and depression. Previously I was very Even keel , even under pressure. I was a great Multitasker, and really good at troubleshooting and problem solving. I DO NOT feel like myself anymore , I lack the ability to feel love, joy or happiness of any kind, and forget motivation. the only things I can feel are anxiety, depression and Dred. I WANT OFF! I don’t care how long it takes but this s**t has to go! I have taken myself off antipsychotics before but usually right after a hospitalization. Because if I was stable I wanted off the meds ASAP. I did this with resperidone and with paliperidone. I was fine for 4 years… then 5 years before having another “episode “ . For me, an episode is being awake for days on end until psychosis sets it. They can’t fit me into a Schizo affective box because it doesn’t happen often enough or without lack of sleep. And they don’t think bipolar quite fit’s either because I’m not “manic” I’m simply awake.. feeling like I have electricity buzzing through me. I can be awake for days, physically, exhausted, and sleep, just will not find me. So the solution was ( of course ) Antipsychotics. Not addressing my sleep deprivation… or trying to find out why my heart would race every time I tried to lay down .. waking me up every time I even attempted to sleep… No , they just fed me antipsychotics. Because in all of that information all they focused on was the psychosis. knowing full well that anyone who goes without sleep for long enough will eventually go psychotic. But they take advantage of your weakness in these moments. Making THIS our only way of fighting back. It’s infuriating and disheartening. ( sorry for the rant ) Anyway, that’s the history. If you’ve experienced something similar I’d love to hear from you. ok back to Zyprexa. so I ordered a very expensive tapering strip protocol from the Netherlands and 3 days in I was right back in my danger zone. I was up for 3 days straight before I Reinstated at the original dose of 2.5. Luckily that did it, and I slept like a rock. Now here’s the tricky part … in those 3 days the dose was only reduced by a total of 4% overall. ( this was supposed to be a hyperbolic micro taper ) And my nervous system could not handle a 4% reduction!!! Now I’m terrified. I know now that I have to go even slower but I’m unsure how to do it now. I’m thinking about a micro taper of .001mg like I’ve seen people do for benzos, only holding for a week instead of trying to reduce every day. Im not crazy about shaving and weighing pills but I’m not really sure what other option there is at this point. there’s very little information out there on the intricacies of antipsychotic withdrawal. Even the newest information from Dr Horowitz doesn’t address the need for micro tapers.. their smallest increment being 5% which is obviously to much for me. So I have come here to gain some insight from people with lived experience. I need REAL help. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks everyone.
  3. crispypata908

    crispypata908 and abilify

    Hello, I have decided to go to a different medicine than my current one (going on 5 years with Abilify 30mg although it hadn't started that way at the beginning of course. it ramped up to 30mg over some time. I digress). I chose this different one based off a video that talked about the least weight-gain-inducing as a side effect, medicine. That medicine is Latuda. The reason for this is because the doctors are worried that my EPS side effect symptoms (in my case: oculogyric crisis and some weird hand tremors and movements) will last longer or become permanent if i don't either 1) taper down (which I've tried on numerous occasions [going down 1mg at a time] without success). or 2) Switch to a new medicine temporarily. That being Latuda. I guess the idea being switching and then tapering off of that one eventually. Or staying at a lower dose of the new one. Initial thoughts/questions: Did I make the wrong decision here? How would I have better prepared to go down on the medicine if I had chosen that route again another time? Thanks
  4. Hi all, I am a Finn, 60 y.o., and therefore my English is not so good and accurate. However, I already have found useful advice here. My sleeping apnea was treated with Triptyl 12 mg for ten years. Then I got a proper diagnose and a CPAP machine in Jan.2020, but, my sleep did not recover. The doctor first ordered Lyrica+Escitalopram for a better sleep, but, this did not help at all; it only worsened the poor sleep. After that she compelled me to take Agomelatine 50 mg with Ketipinor 100-400 mg, and told me that I have to take these if I ever wanted to sleep. These drugs were safe, they did not cause any problems, and they were easy to get rid of. I quit Agomelatine by myself in Feb.2022, and started to think that the cause of poor sleep were now the Ketipinor. I never took more than 200 mg, and lowered the dosis from 200 to 100 in 2021, and from 100 to 50 in 2022. I paid some visits to a sleep clinique in 2022. They adviced me to quit Ketipinor rapidly, in one night. This gave me the withdrawal symptoms, and, I returned Ketipinor thinking I could not cope without it. However, on Jan.3rd 2023 I lowered to 25, by myself. I got panic reactions and poor sleep, but, now I knew these were withdrawal symptons that would ease during time. Now, I visited the psychiatrist of the sleep clinique, and he gave me instructions to deal the 25 mg into 4 pieces, and, drop 1 piece every fortnight. With this support, I lowered the dosis to 18 on Jan.20th. Now I go with 18 mg. However, this speed might be too heavy for me. Any help is appreciated.
  5. commitmenttohope

    commitmenttohope

    hello, I've been on psych drugs since 2004 when I was diagnosed with bipolar. around three years ago I began the slow process of a slow taper withdrawal. things are becoming very challenging with the lamictal withdrawal. I have looked into a peer run respite house that I am planning on going to for two weeks while I do my next 10% taper of lamictal. I am feeling some discouragement because it takes so much energy to deal with communicating and educating my family, friends, support system and the doctor and still maintain my integrity for keeping to my goals and what I value for my own health. I get tired of constantly having to deal with the misguided information that everyone seems to believe and try and keep me from moving forward. the thing is, I still have a long way to go and I can't afford to waste my energy on people who are not interested in supporting me for better health. I feel tired and then I get so exhausted when I'm tapering on top of it. I am so thankful to have found this site because there is so much good information on how to taper more effectively. Really, I've been going too slow. I need to keep my momentum going. I'm new to this site and I think I need to set up my profile, trying to figure out how to do that. I appreciate the support. 2004 -Seroquel and Depakote. many changes of many drugs. cold abrupt stop. 2007-abilify 2014- abrupt stop restart abilify. 2015- abrupt stop -- put on abilify injection. then abilify oral. lamictal. Cogentin. 2016- began slow taper of lamictal 100mg, taper of Cogentin 10mg. taper of Abilify 5mg. 2019- now 37.5mg of lamictal. 0 of Cogentin, 4mg of abilify.
  6. Iv been on lorazepam from last nov til this March ..for sleep.. a private dr gave this! When he never should of..I did not know it should not be given, I reinstated it for a month as I came off it for a week and tapered off it for that one week, and experienced terrible withdrawals when I went back on it, I was taking 1mg to 2 mg… I tried switching to diazepam for 5 weeks 10mg to 3.5mg became suicidal, I was put in a mental hospital for 3 days given quetiapine once and diazepam 5 mg once …I became totally unstable after this with rocking sensations and I could not sleep and my tinnitus got so bad ! I stopped putting anything in my body…. And became totally suicidal was eratic! pacing and having no sleep, I lost a lot of weight. And my anxiety became depersonalisation and I separated from my body! I ended up not being able to eat of drink and loosing control of my bowels, I was put into another mental hospital put on risperidone at 6mg I was in a constant physcosis in the mental hospital in so much pain, praying to god! I was in there on 2 weeks I was let out and stopped for 5 days, I started it again on 3mg and became very unwell for 10 days I started loosing control of my bowels and in a lot of pain, all over my body, feeling of burning, all over my body, I became eratic and went into another mental hospital and put on quetiapine at 400mg and mitazipine at 30mg for 2months I’m in a lot of pain and in hell !!! What do I do? I can’t feel anything ! thank you emma x
  7. I was looking for something else and ran across these articles. Apparently there has been an association for nearly 20 years now that anti psychotics, especially risperidone, used long term can be a potential cause of pituitary tumors. Recent studies are firming this up and finding an association. Great 🫢 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30531551/ https://journals.lww.com/psychopharmacology/Fulltext/2012/12000/Atypical_Antipsychotics_and_Pituitary_Tumors.1.aspx https://corporate.dukehealth.org/news/antipsychotic-drug-may-be-linked-pituitary
  8. Hi everyone Hope this finds you well and glad to join the forum I have been reading on the forum and other resources on how to taper safely the antipsychotic called Invega. This forum has been very helpful and also content on YouTube and research paper from Dr. Mark Horowitz has been also helpful. My dose on Invega was 6 mg, and I tapered to 3 mg and has been going good for 3 days now. I have some withdrawal symptoms like mild dizziness but it is tolerable so far. I know this is a big reduction but I intend to hold this dosage for 1 month to see how I'm adapting and give enough time for the brain and dopamine receptors and my body to heal and recover. I was looking for advice regarding the tapering of Invega. Am I on the right track or should I do something different? Please note that I wish I could do micro-dosing or lesser reductions, but where I live, Invega is only available in 3 mg and 6 mg (I'm actually splitting the 6 mg cause I couldn't find 3 mg in the pharmacy and I know this is not the best way, but I'm glad I found some 3 mg today). There is also no compounding pharmacies or tapering strips or liquid form of Invega here, and the pill is extended release and I guess it cannot be crushed. I hope I can find help here regarding the tapering of Invega, and I'm willing to take it slow and give enough time for my brain and body to heal and to avoid withdrawal symptoms. I would also appreciate if there's advice regarding what diet, supplements or holistic interventions could be helpful to cope with the withdrawal symptoms if they arise, and to heal and recover. Thanks in advance for your help and have a great day
  9. Hi all, First, I just wanted to say I'm so grateful to have found this site. I have been reading it for a few hours every day the last few days and it's really helped me feel less alone, and come up with a tapering plan I feel relatively safe with and confident about. The work you all do is truly a lifesaver both emotionally and physically, and I don't say that lightly. I wanted to share my story in case others are struggling with the same thing, and to perhaps get advice/confirmation about tapering and whether what I am thinking is a good idea. Also, I am just struggling mentally with the fact that psychs and the mental health system, who for so long I though were supposed to help people with these problems, are actually causing so much harm and have already caused so much harm to me and other people. I thought others here might relate. My story (shortened version): I have a long history with psych meds, but I will start at the most recent/significant part. In my 20s (I am 32) I struggled with an eating disorder and undiagnosed OCD. I ended up in an inpatient treatment center where they switched my AD from Citalopram to Sertraline, and added an antipsychotic, Olanzapine (2.5mg). This is where all of the horrors started. They did not inform me that Olanzapine is an antipsychotic - they simply called it a "mood stabilizer" which it is but it is also an antipsychotic - nor of the possible side effects, or dangers of withdrawals (I am learning from this site that this situation is unfortunately all too common). I later felt that the Olanzapine wasn't helping me with what they said it would (anxiety/depression and stabilization of energy levels) so I decided to slowly stop taking it. However, I was in a very chaotic time at my life - the Olanzapine drastically increased my appetite, which made my eating disorder feel all the more out of control, and my life felt out of my hands. I could not maintain a routine and I took the medication sporadically at best and then stopped taking it around spring of 2018. I suffered terrible withdrawals, which I thought were organic mental health issues at the time - awful both outer and inner akathisia (feelings of terror, needing to run and move constantly for fear of something horrible happening), psychosis and more. I truly thought I was going to die or my world was going to end, and my life was completely out of control. I was also living out of my car at this time. I was hospitalized in July 2018 for psychosis. They did not know it was caused by Olanzapine withdrawal (nor did I at the time) and they put me on a round of antipsychotics, finally settling on Fluphenazine/Prolixin 2.5mg. I have been on this medication for 5+ years and it has taken away all of my life, spark, and hope. I have felt like I have lost the best and truest parts of me, which was always my greatest fear throughout my psychosis. It is truly a state I would never wish on anyone. I have quit multiple jobs because of severe depression and am now unemployed living with family. I had lost all hope until I discovered that others feel this way on antipsychotics and it is likely the drug making me feel this way. Also, knowing that my initial psychosis was likely caused by withdrawal makes me feel much safer getting off of it. I have hope for the first time in a long time. My current tapering situation: I tapered 3mg-2mg myself and felt okay. I had not been on 3mg for long, maybe a month. Then I saw a psych nurse who suggested I go down to 1mg after only being on 2mg for a couple of weeks. I felt great for about a week and then withdrawals hit, and I realized this was a big mistake. (Note: I was on 1mg from 12/23/23/ - 1/1/23). I have since gone up to 1.5mg (1/2/23). It has been 5 days and at first was feeling very sedated and depressed (likely from sensitivity after being on 1mg) but am at least today feeling much more stable. My plan: I am planning on stabilizing on 1.5mg for 3 months. This may be overkill but I'd rather play it safe at this point. After that I am hoping to use the brassmonkey slide tapering method. I am very excited about this and the amount of gradual progress and control this method provides gives me a lot of hope. I am unsure if my prescriber will be willing to let me do this, but I may just tell her I want to do a 25% reduction over 3 months and do the liquid suspension of 2.5% reduction per week myself. I would rather get it from a compounded pharmacy but am unsure if insurance will cover it or if my psych will listen. Questions: 1. Has anyone had luck with psychs/psych nurses agreeing to the 2.5% weekly reduction and 2 week hold plan? Does this even matter? Is it possible to work out getting the right prescriptions without informing your psych of what you're doing? 2. I have read the info on creating oral suspensions and will keep reviewing these threads but am nervous about getting it exactly right. If there is some minor difference day to day (e.g. different amount of stirring, slight differences in the dose, etc) can that wreak havoc on your nervous system? Is it still better than doing using whole pills and doing say a 25% drop every 3 months? I know I will have to deal with some withdrawal symptoms but want to be the kindest with my body I can possibly be after all it has been through. Thank you so much for all of your help. I hope this was an okay way to do an intro post. If there is a different thread I should post this or part of this please let me know and I will move it. Sending support and healing to you all. ❤️
  10. Hey everyone! I’ve been taking Seroquel 200mg for 8 years and have finally decided I’d like to discontinue my use of the drug. Initially, I was taking seroquel as an antipsychotic to silence voices and delusional mania I was experiencing during my early adulthood. Now I’m disinterested in the drug and have tapered down to 50mg. It’s almost been a month and no withdrawals. From here I plan to microtaper my dose from 50mg to 0 over the course of 2 years. I’ve never used a liquid solution and have no experience measuring my doses myself. If anyone could please assist me in my hyperbolic taper I’d be quite thankful and relieved because my psychiatrist was very aggressive, refusing to request a compounding pharmacy to assist me. He had firmly stated that he cannot lower my dose using the hyperbolic method and the next available dose was 25mg. Over 2-3 years I plan to slowly taper this last bit of seroquel and live my life drug free. Understandably I’ve read research regarding seroquel’s dose dependent uses and have come to the realization that 50mg is only effective as a sleep aid, not a mood stabilizer or antipsychotic. If I’m not experiencing any symptoms here I feel comfortable taking myself off the drug completely. Much love to everyone and greatly anticipating this new chapter of my life!
  11. I started another thread for people to post positive Daily Affirmations that they use to help get by. This Thread is a little different. This is for people to post any psychological tricks that they use to help them cope other than the affirmations and I call them Jedi Mind Tricks. I came up with one this morning to use for myself. I recently posted on my Thread about discussing my progress with some withdrawal coaches and the estimate is that I have maybe another couple of years to go before I can really get back at it again. When I say the words '2 years' to myself it sounds like an ungodly amount of time so I've been trying to reframe it in a way that's more acceptable to My Mind and Spirit. Instead of 2 years I am instead looking at it as 24 months or perhaps 104 weeks and for some reason to me that sounds more palatable. It breaks it down into smaller chunks instead of two big chunks and this is actually something I learned to do in the military when dealing with complex tasks. Break it down in the little parts so you don't get overwhelmed and then start chopping away at the parts. So I'm going to make a simple list to hang on my refrigerator that will include also the 3 years and 4 months of tapering and the two years of recovery time that have passed so far and then extend that list out to include another 24 months or 104 weeks. Weeks that have already passed will get a line through them immediately so I can see that I've already crossed that distance and then every week I'll cross off another week on Sundays. This way every Sunday I can see that I am making progress with a visual cue instead of just letting it run around in my head and for me that seems to work. This may not work for other people however if you have a similar trick that you use to keep from psyching yourself out and getting discouraged please feel free to list it here as any and all ideas that are found to be useful are good ones and may be useful to others. 😉✌️😺😺
  12. I read that it is more difficult to withdraw from a drug with a short half life. It is suggested to switch to a different drug with a longer half-life of the same category (i.e., antipsychotic) before tapering off (mind.org.uk). I have been on Risperidone for 5 years. I started tapering in April at 1.0 mg and am now on 0.70 mg. I am considering asking my doctor about switching to Zyprexa, another antipsychotic, and then tapering off Zyprexa. Does titrating off one drug and onto another need to be done as slowly as withdrawing from a drug, i.e. 10% every month or something like that? Has anyone had experience titrating off an antipsychotic onto another antipsychotic? Since Risperidone has a short half-life, I am concerned that it will be hard to switch onto a drug with a longer half life. According to Medscape, the half-life for Zyprexa is 21-54 hours, and the half-life of Risperidone is 3-20 hours. Thank you!
  13. FeralCatman

    The Wizard of Oz and withdrawal

    In The Wizard of Oz the Scarecrow wanted a brain, the Tin Man wanted a heart, the lion wanted his courage, and Dorothy wanted to go home and the whole time they had to stay ahead of the Wicked Witch of the West. This is a great analogy for what we are all going through. Fortunately just for going down this path we already all have courage. At the end of this crazy yellow brick road we will get our brain and our heart and we will get to go home. This is what is in the future for everybody going through this so all we have to do is stay ahead of that damn wicked witch known as withdrawal symptoms and we'll make it.
  14. FeralCatman

    A Message To Those In Withdrawal

    Withdrawal Awareness: A Message to Those in Medication Withdrawal - Mad In America https://www.madinamerica.com/mia-manual/medication-withdrawal-awareness-message-psychiatric-drug-withdrawal/
  15. Here are a few resources for those who are on antipsychotics and are in the process of tapering or have already come off of them. I am noticing more resources for this class of drugs popping up over the last couple of years 😉✌️😺😺 https://psychscenehub.com/psychinsights/antipsychotic-withdrawal-syndrome-tapering/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32259826/ https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/antipsychotics/coming-off-antipsychotics/ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853222000165 https://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/06/12/post-acute-withdrawal-syndrome-causes-symptoms-treatment/ https://www.ucl.ac.uk/psychiatry/research/epidemiology-and-applied-clinical-research-department/research-antipsychotic https://www.madinamerica.com/withdrawal-protocols-antipsychotics/
  16. In 2012 I was diagnosed as having depression. Dr prescribed me seroquel. Starting dose was 25mg. After taking this I got anger issues& gets irritated easily. So I tried to quit at 2015myself bt I couldn't. But dr increased my dosage till 100mg . Then I consulted Ayurveda hospitals but that too didn't work for me. Then upto 2019 I continued seroquel &I stopped . But I got severe withdrawal symptoms including insomnia, anxiety ,hypersensitivity etc. So I visited another psychiatrist but they gave me medicine for anxiety issues (NEXITO 10mg). So I took for one day & didn't worked from second day, so I stopped. Again I consulted another psychiatrist and he gave me OLANZAPINE. It was effective for one day and no longer effective from the second day. Then in 2021 I reinstated seroquel 25mg but it was overdose for me that I didn't know.Then the very Next day seroquel 25mg was no longer effective for me so I increased my dosage to 50mg . Then after 3 days 50mg was no longer effective and I increased to 75mg. Within 2 weeks I reached upto 200mg.But still 200mg is not so effective for me but I didn't want to increase further . About before a month I stopped completely .But due to withdrawal symptoms i restarted 25mg of seroquel 1 week back but didnt feel any effects at all so i stop. I think my brain receptors are downregulated. What to do?
  17. MODERATOR'S NOTE: Because antipsychotic drugs hit many different receptors at different strengths, linear ratios of equivalence are close to impossible and the recommended equivalence is only an approximation. Thus, we recommend that members only use AP switching as a last ditch effort to get off their drug. Members should first try tapering their current AP very slowly (cuts of less than 5% per month if necessary) or holding the dose to stabilize for a long period if withdrawal symptoms are too intense. If a crossover to another drug is attempted, the member should find the minimum dose that is within range of the recommended equivalency which doesn't worsen their symptoms (or does so minimally). The crossover between drugs should be slow and symptom-based (gradual enough to avoid a worsening of symptoms). ------------------------------------------- A potentially useful resource: Dose Equivalents for Second-Generation Antipsychotics: The Minimum Effective Dose Method The article includes a huge table of equivalent doses and studies. Here's the dose data extracted: Table 2. Minimum Effective Doses of Second-Generation Antipsychotic Drugs and Dose Equivalents Drug Minimum Effective Dose OLA 1 mg Equivalent RIS 1 mg Equivalent HAL 1 mg Equivalent CPZ 100 mg Equivalent Amisulpride − − − − − Aripiprazole 10 1.33 (1) 5 (2.5) 2.5 (2.2) 4 (3.6) Asenapine 10 1.33 (1) 5 (2.5) 2.5 (2.2) 4 (3.6) Clozapine 300? 40 (30) 150 (75) 75 (67) 120 (107) Haloperidol 4 (4.5) 0.53 (0.45) 2 (1.13) 1 1.6 Iloperidone 8a (12) 1.07a (1.2) 4a (3) 2a (2.7) 3.2a (4.3) Lurasidone 40 5,33 (4) 20 (10) 10 (8.9) 16 (14.2) Olanzapine 7.5 (10) 1 3.75 (2.5) 1.88 (2.2) 3 (3.6) Paliperidone 3 (6) 0.4 (0.6) 1.5 (1.5) 0.75 (1.3) 1.2 (2.1) Quetiapine 150 (250) 20 (25) 75 (62.5) 37.5 (55.6) 60 (88.9) Risperidone 2 (4) 0.27 (0.4) 1 0.5 (0.9) 0.8 (1.4) Sertindole 12 (16) 1.60 (1.6) 6 (4) 3 (3.6) 4.8 (5.7) Ziprasidone 40 (80) 5.33 (8) 20 (20) 10 (17.8) 16 (28.4) Zotepine − − − − −
  18. Failed out of school several times because I would be in bed with depression for 3 weeks at a time every fall. 5 days in hospital -> major depression diagnosis. 5 years later -> bipolar II diagnosis. About 10 years of life lost to undiagnosed illness in total. Took 1-2 mg of risperidone between 2001-2014. Completed university, successful career, stable marriage since 1997. In 2014, switched to lurasidone because of better metabolic profile. I don't actually think the lurasidone is helping a lot. I suffered from sleep apnea for at least 10 years but nobody screened me although there was a Health Canada warning about the connection between SGAs and sleep apnea. My resting heart rate is 90 bpm. Pretty sure I have heart damage from the sleep apnea. My BMI is 27 which is not high enough to expect sleep apnea. I will get zero support from my GP for my plan to taper according to my plan. Very interested in anyone's experience with tapering from lurasidone with a diagnosis of bipolar II. Also interested a recipe for making liquid lurasidone. What to dissolve it in, does it require heating, etc. I made a plan based on pill splitting - the last step looks terrible.
  19. It sure took them long enough but at least they are finally doing this. It is certainly another step in the right direction. Change is coming 😉✌️😻😻😻 Feds to investigate nursing home abuse of antipsychotics https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/health-news/feds-to-investigate-nursing-home-abuse-of-antipsychotics/ar-AA16t8xe
  20. hello there. i registered here to search for help for symptoms that are bothering me and that came after 15mg of olanzapine for 7-8 months. generally, i've been taking olanzapine for like a year or something, i started with a 5mg dose at 2015, after some time they upped it to 10mg, and then i've had a full-blown psychotic episode and i began taking 15mg. i was hospitalized and there they gave me high doses of 5 different medications. when i came back home, things just weren't the same. okay, that didn't bother me, i was still thinking that it's only a phase. then, month after month, i realized that that "phase" is actually... something deeper, different. so i searched about it on the internet; and saw that "antipsychotics destroy brain". i stopped taking olanzapine cold turkey, which was DEFINITELY a very bad idea. at first, i was very depressed, i don't know if it lasted long enough to be called a major depressive episode, but it was severe. i was full of guilt... but, the worst of it all - i couldn't feel a damn thing. i couldn't enjoy a damn thing. i was on a winter holiday and i'm a skier, but i didn't feel anything while i was skiing. yes, i could leave a bed, but i was doing it only because i felt like the world around me would judge me and criticize me if i didn't. people are supposed to feel happy, free when they're skiing, even scared. i didn't feel anything. i realized that i stopped caring about everything, so, you could tell me a good thing - i would feel nothing (sometimes it was even hard to fake a smile, because it was even hard to move my face). you could tell me a bad thing - i would feel nothing. i had a fear of being criticized, but now, that faded too. but that's okay, to be honest, it's much easier to live without the guilt and at the same time energy to do anything about the guilt you're feeling. and i wanted to feel things. i wanted, and not only wanted, but i still want to feel things. deeply. so i started faking reactions to things... i was like - okay, imagine you're a normal person who didn't go through this kind of situation. how would a normal, rational person react ? and then i reacted that way. i still do that tho, it became some kind of a habit. my concentration is very bad. my will is very bad. i have anhedonia and apathy. my cognitive abilities are awful. but i just can't seem to care. and you know, sometimes you feel bad for not caring about things. i don't even feel bad about not caring, i just don't feel a damn thing. i had a period where i was doing better and was motivated to recover. i still want to recover, but i feel like nothing makes sense and i don't know how to get out of this nonsense. if any of you found sense, can you please tell me how ? i know it's an extremely hard and long process, but i somehow believe that it's possible. WHY ? i went to the neurologist and spent a lot of money on some neurological tests, for example magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. guess what ? IT'S NOT THE BRAIN. IT'S PSYCHE. mind. mental. !!!!!!!!!!!! at least for me. tests can't and don't lie. i believe in those tests, even tho i have all the symptoms of brain damage, i surely don't have a brain damage because i have an evidence. the tests have shown that my brain is perfectly healthy, despite my mental disorder. i don't know about you, but i can recommend checking yourself just to be sure, it can ease the pain, even if you do have a brain damage or if you don't. if you don't have enough money, there are local hospitals where you can check yourself. so that's why i accepted medications and i'm currently using 10mg of escitalopram and i started few days ago aripiprazole 5mg. i'm willing to try things. i just feel so brain-foggy and that's stopping me from doing anything. and now, i'll go and search the forum for some advices from you guys, i will write here again. thanks if you read this. ...and yeah, sorry for a really bad post, i'm not so well right now. i'm glad that i became the part of this community, the feeling that i'm not alone makes me feel better. and it's hell.
  21. Hi all. I was admitted in the psych ward and was given Abilify 15mg for 2 weeks and then a 400mg Abilify Maintena Injection that's good for a month. I wasn't aware that Abilify was an antipsychotic and I was clueless about its brain damaging effects. I thought it was given to me simply for my anxiety and depression and I'm not schizophrenic at all. Now I'm suffering from the damage done to me by Abilify. I'm now 2 months off Abilify. I'm off all medication and just waiting for the side effects to come off. I'm in a state of disbelief that such things are happening to me. I cannot believe my life could get any worse. Now I'm not good at explaining things in english so i'll just list down my symptoms. - Suffering from sexual dysfunction. Almost zero libido. Loss of arousal. I can still get erection but it's very weak then get little from ejaculation. - Insomnia. From the very first pill of Abilify I developed insomnia. Now I can't nap anymore, I don't feel sleepy in the afternoons anymore. I never had sleeping problems before Abilify. At night I only get a poor 2-4 semi-sleep with vivid dreams. Once I wake up I just lay in bed and I close my eyes hoping I'd fall again to sleep. - Anhedonia - Loss of my interests and hobbies - Lack of care about anything. Don't even care about my appearance anymore. - No motivation. Determination, ambitions all gone. I only do things now just to distract myself not because I want to do them or they give me satisfaction or pleasure. I just distract myself now to escape the excruciating boredom. I'm waiting and still hopeful this is just withdrawal and not permanent damage to my brain. I' m giving it about 2 years and if things don't change then it's game over for me. I can't live life like a lifeless zombie without a desire for anything for the rest of my life.
  22. I was put on risperidone 3,0.5mg in the morning and 2mg at bedtime for 3 months, but not only that i was misdiagnosed and its been 4 months off it now and I also cant feel anything, happiness, sadness, creativity, joy, zest for life is gone. my scense of wonder is gone and I have alot of cognitive problums now to like not being able to think right, im slow. I used to love music but now it dosent stimulate me. i cant feel ciggeretts or injoy video games like I used to. im loseing all my friends because there like WTF man and im only 24. I doubt an antidepressant is going to do anything. I was on Celexa but stopped it after 3 weeks because what im feeling is from risperidone not depression. now I also have an inability to communicate, I dream EVERY NIGHT. I cant stay focused anymore I used to build projects from wood but nope, cant do that anymore ither. I used to laugh love injoy parties some of my friends even said i was the life of the party. well, not anymore thats for sure. I dont evin remember what I did a half hour ago. this drug ruined my life so far: my birthday, christmas, family events. my family is wondering what the hell happend to me. I NEED TO RECOVER. ive been chemically lobotomized. at least I can still type to find support on the internet. if i knew they were antipsychotics i would of never takein them. the doc never explained anything to me!, the only things I do feel really is worried i wont come out of this, and being hungry, all i think about now is why did i take these meds and will i ever recover. someone please respond with something positive did anyone recover from this and how long did it take. I ended up in the psyc ward because I smoked weed that was soaked in bleach and I tripped out. never knew the weed was tampered with at the time and then I was misdiagnosed with psycosis. I dont think the bleach weed did any real damage because when I woke up in the hospital I was ok but I was givein risperidone and sent home I should of never took the risperidone. but I did for three months, anyway. long story short I need support in knowing if ill get my emotions and personality back.
  23. Hi all, glad to be here. Relatively new to the world of psychiatric medication. Here is my journey so far. I was on Latuda for a few months for mood issues (formal diagnosis of bipolar 2) and the stability was very nice. I also was placed on Guanfacine for ADHD. Back in early July I sunk into a kind of depression, I realized I took no joy in anything in life, whether it was hobbies or even loved ones. I had flat affect and lack of motivation and couldn't gain pleasure from anything. On the night of July 13 when I was laying in bed about to sleep, I had what felt like a multiple hour panic attack, with intense shaking and thrashing around. I was begging my partner to take me to the hospital but they wouldn't get up and I was unable to drive. Since that night I have been unable to sleep. I am not sure what caused that attack but I feel like my body is stuck in a state of constant fight or flight and the insomnia is intense, I have no idea how to treat this. Psyc. doc. thought the episode was a manic break. Seroquel was added to help with sleep, but it's been hit or miss whether it helps me get sleep or not. The dose has been continually increase to help with the supposed mania. Latuda was fast tapered and I got off by the end of July. Psyc. doc. thought the sleep issues were due to mania so I was placed on Lithium 600mg recently. I do not believe I am manic, and I feel the sleep issues are a trauma response. Recently I have been taking the Seroquel at various doses from 75-200 mg. I hate the way 400mg made me feel, like I was drunk and still didn't help me sleep. I think my body is stuck sympathetic nervous system dominance. I never get that sleepy feeling. Last night I took 100mg Seroquel and spent the night in a light sleep state where I couldn't tell if I was awake or asleep all night. This is exhausting, non-restorative and common experience for me lately. The other day I talked to my primary care physician re: insomnia and they suggested to not go to bed until sleepy. I ended up staying up until 3am then took 75mg Seroquel and got 3 hours of sleep. I am trying to be pragmatic about the sleep issues and pursue two treatment modalities: Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Insomnia and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Insomnia. As far as personality, I am feeling more alive on the days that I am able to get some sleep, which might be once a week. I am just scared of being on Lithium, I don't think I need to be on it. I am worried I won't be able to sleep at all without the Seroquel but I hate taking a pill to sleep, especially since it is not even reliable. Tomorrow I have an appointment with my psyc. doc., we have been meeting about once a week since July because they say I am in crisis mode and I just don't know where to go from here.
  24. Antipsychotics side-effects check list http://www.cqaimh.org/pdf/tool_asc.pdf I think a lot of these also apply to antidepressants as well. I developed some of these symptoms even after 4 years on Pristiq. Doctors refused to acknowledge that it was a side effect, saying that you cannot develop new side effects after such a long period of time. I tried to cut and paste the file, but it's password protected. antipsychotic side effects checklist.pdf
  25. After weight gain of almost 40 lbs in less than a year from Vraylar, my psychiatrist recommended stopping the medication. This medication has worked wonders for me, but I’m now at risk for metabolic syndrome as a result. I am a week into the withdrawal period and the first few days consisted of brain zaps. As the days progressed I noticed my irritability sky rocketing and started coping with smoking marijuana (I live in Vermont where it’s legal, doesn’t mean I should be doing this). Last night (Day 6) I noticed resurfacing of my PTSD symptoms, flashbacks, nightmares, fear, sadness, anger. I was able to eventually fall asleep. I weighed myself this morning and was already down almost 10 pounds. Today (Day 7) is the worst day so far. While I was able to be productive at work (working from home) I was on the verge of a panic attack all day. Muscle tightening, uneasy, and feeling the urge to scream and cry all day. I have been trying to use my DBT skills, but I feel like I am dying. My heart rate is high and I feel like my insides are shaking. I can’t get comfortable and I don’t know how I’m going to get through this. Please help.
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