Update on the antipsychotic medication

[SorenVC]

Your boy Soren had a therapist appointment today... I told her the truth, that I didn't take my antipsychotics (Olanzapine) on 11th September and didn't sleep and the next day had tremendous pain. It was unbearable and I had to lie in bed the entire day, and when I didn't I was in huge pain for the entire body. That's why I took my Olanzapine the next day and since. Now I feel better.

She said it was very good I took my medication and she said I should just take this medication all my life until I die. In my opinion if you didn't take Olanzapine longer than 1 or 2 months you will probably be fine with a cold turkey withdrawal. Other than that everyone should always do a very slow taper if you want to get rid of it.

As for me I accept my fate and will be on this med for the rest of my life. I don't even know if a liquid taper could work and I don't wanna try it. I don't really believe in all that mental illness but it is what it is. Maybe I'm just a schizophrenic who needs his pills. There's nothing I can do and I will take my pills forever now. Only Jesus can heal me once I died.

[loramin]

Everyone can look at things differently. For instance, let's say you have a heart, or thyroid, or whatever condition: you could look at it like ... "fuck my life, I have to take pills forever".

OR ... you could instead look at it like ... "man, if I had been born a hundred years ago I wouldn't be complaining about pills, I'd just be dead; it's fucking awesome that I live in a time when that doesn't happen."

Mental health is no different: you can be glass half empty and be bitter about how the pills suck, or you can be glass half full and be glad you're not both insane and locked away in a crazy house for life.

But, however you look at it, don't stop advocating for yourself. Your healthcare provider wants you sane: that's a good thing. But if they aren't willing to work with you to tailor your medication to reduce side effects, that's a bad thing. According to Google your options potentially include:

1. Typical Antipsychotics (First-Generation): Haloperidol (Haldol), Chlorpromazine (Thorazine), Fluphenazine (Prolixin), and Perphenazine (Trilafon).
2. Atypical Antipsychotics (Second-Generation):
Clozapine (Clozaril), Risperidone (Risperdal), Olanzapine (Zyprexa), Quetiapine (Seroquel), Ziprasidone (Geodon), Aripiprazole (Abilify), and Lurasidone (Latuda).
3. Third-Generation Antipsychotics: Cariprazine (Vraylar) and Brexpiprazole (Rexulti).

If your healthcare provider isn't willing to try alternatives with you (and the side effects are making you miserable), you need to seek out a new provider.

[loramin]

I think that tended to be the bipolars, not the schizophrenics, but fair point: what is or isn't "sick" has changed throughout history.

This actually brings up an interesting point about schizophrenia: it varies by culture! In "Western" culture (presumably this is true of the OP, in Germany), the voices heard tend to be more violent, hateful, and are generally perceived as negative.

However, in India or Ghana schizophrenics actually perceive their voices positively. Obviously the biology is the same in both, so it seems wild to me that you could have a lifetime of asshole voices in your head, or a lifetime of friendly ones, just depending on where you grew up.

[SorenVC]

I was just very paranoid about medication from psychiatry. Maybe I could have survived without taking the medicine when it was given to me, but now there's no going back and I depend on it. I was worried Christianity isn't in favor of psych meds like some Christians say, but it's not true because:

"Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man."

Also if I don't take my Olanzapine at night, even on the same day, I can't sleep and this continues forever. I will literally die of insomnia if I don't get Olanzapine and I also get all the other symptoms of Olanzapine withdrawal that's written on the info paper inside the medication box. There's just some things I can't control in life. Sometimes you just have to take the medicine and accept it.

[SorenVC]

The good thing about my mental illness, when world war 3 starts, I probably only have to wash the dishes. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[WarpathEQ]

Originally Posted by loramin [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Everyone can look at things differently. For instance, let's say you have a heart, or thyroid, or whatever condition: you could look at it like ... "fuck my life, I have to take pills forever".

OR ... you could instead look at it like ... "man, if I had been born a hundred years ago I wouldn't be complaining about pills, I'd just be dead; it's fucking awesome that I live in a time when that doesn't happen."

Mental health is no different: you can be glass half empty and be bitter about how the pills suck, or you can be glass half full and be glad you're not both insane and locked away in a crazy house for life.

But, however you look at it, don't stop advocating for yourself. Your healthcare provider wants you sane: that's a good thing. But if they aren't willing to work with you to tailor your medication to reduce side effects, that's a bad thing. According to Google your options potentially include:



If your healthcare provider isn't willing to try alternatives with you (and the side effects are making you miserable), you need to seek out a new provider.

Correction: Your healthcare provider wants to treat your symptoms, not cure any illness you may have. They are incentivized to provide a plan for you that maximizes their revenue as a healthcare company not to eliminate issues you may have from your life.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by WarpathEQ [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Correction: Your healthcare provider wants to treat your symptoms, not cure any illness you may have. They are incentivized to provide a plan for you that maximizes their revenue as a healthcare company not to eliminate issues you may have from your life.

That term "provider" can have two meanings.

When it refers to your insurance company (or whatever the German socialist equivalent is), then you are 100% correct. In fact, just about all systems tend to be built around the cheapest achievable measurable outcomes, so it makes sense that they'd focus on treating symptoms over the patient (holistically).

But that term can also refer to the healthcare professional (ie. doctor) treating you. I promise, the vast, vast majority of people who go into medicine (especially psychiatric medicine) don't do so because they hate people and want to save insurance companies money [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] They do it because they want to help people.

There's a tension between the two, and many doctors do get beaten down by the system ... but if you can find the kind that truly cares about helping you, they'll find a way to work around the healthcare system to treat you properly, and that's how you find good treatment.

[shovelquest]

I used to get great care with my health insurance, it wasn't until we needed to shave off some of that to help a bunch of assholes that hate me that it started sucking.

[Computer Man]

Originally Posted by SorenVC [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Your boy Soren had a therapist appointment today... I told her the truth, that I didn't take my antipsychotics (Olanzapine) on 11th September and didn't sleep and the next day had tremendous pain. It was unbearable and I had to lie in bed the entire day, and when I didn't I was in huge pain for the entire body. That's why I took my Olanzapine the next day and since. Now I feel better.

She said it was very good I took my medication and she said I should just take this medication all my life until I die. In my opinion if you didn't take Olanzapine longer than 1 or 2 months you will probably be fine with a cold turkey withdrawal. Other than that everyone should always do a very slow taper if you want to get rid of it.

As for me I accept my fate and will be on this med for the rest of my life. I don't even know if a liquid taper could work and I don't wanna try it. I don't really believe in all that mental illness but it is what it is. Maybe I'm just a schizophrenic who needs his pills. There's nothing I can do and I will take my pills forever now. Only Jesus can heal me once I died.

Did you give her a poll question while you were there?

[Infectious]

Originally Posted by SorenVC [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Your boy Soren had a therapist appointment today... I told her the truth, that I didn't take my antipsychotics (Olanzapine) on 11th September and didn't sleep and the next day had tremendous pain. It was unbearable and I had to lie in bed the entire day, and when I didn't I was in huge pain for the entire body. That's why I took my Olanzapine the next day and since. Now I feel better.

She said it was very good I took my medication and she said I should just take this medication all my life until I die. In my opinion if you didn't take Olanzapine longer than 1 or 2 months you will probably be fine with a cold turkey withdrawal. Other than that everyone should always do a very slow taper if you want to get rid of it.

As for me I accept my fate and will be on this med for the rest of my life. I don't even know if a liquid taper could work and I don't wanna try it. I don't really believe in all that mental illness but it is what it is. Maybe I'm just a schizophrenic who needs his pills. There's nothing I can do and I will take my pills forever now. Only Jesus can heal me once I died.

Man up. Youre a junkie and you need help. Who the hell raised you bar maiden?