Anti-Psychotics & Some Dangers of Long Time Use!

[Cash]

@Cash, so sorry to hear that you have this. I have gastroparesis and migraines which, when triggered, result in the same CVS symptoms.

I take domperidone 4x daily and Phenergan for breakthrough nausea, fwiw.

Hi Shayna!

I take the Zoloft for breakthrough nausea - the under the tongue, dissolvable. Works well enough.

[Shayna]

@Cash, glad that works for you.

I thought Zoloft was an antidepressant?

[Cash]

@Cash, glad that works for you.

I thought Zoloft was an antidepressant?

Meant Zofran....oops

[winterheart]

@DrWho. Pretty much most drugs have either dangerous or unknown long-term health implications, especially ones such as anti-psychotics, but you weigh this against how much more dangerous it is to your health to be an untreated psychotic patient. Sure, I agree that there are absolutely some nasty side effects and long-term dangers, but if I don't take my olanzapine, I try to kill myself, I try to kill other people, and it is only with extreme luck and intervention from others, combined with these dangerous drugs that ensured neither of these things ever happened.

As with most things, it is a calculated risk, usually worth taking, though I reserve this opinion specifically for the treatment of psychotic disorders. However, I think off-label use of anti-psychotics for things like insomnia or anxiety is down-right stupid when you consider the long-term effects.

[LeNoZ]

i flushed half the doctors script of Lexapro, told him his nurse should of never tried to experiment with me on my last visit and give it to me, which the new Doctor replacing my old gave me a hard time that i was on X@n@x and Lexapro, i was like the lexapro was recently added, i dont need it. The Doc was unsure and unclear, the new one so recommended i see a Pysch> I got freaked out cause of the nursses bad judgement about putting me on Lexapro, which 3 months ago I had no idea about AD's or Lexapro, i was just X@n@x for work and whatever else that streses me out

exercise,water, ginger green tea, cardio, i want to get back to 2mg X@NZ and with klonopin for 30days to help with the tapper down, if the new GP (Primary Care) doesn't refill my script for x@nz, the extra's i have will cause me to go into a hard tapper down and save what I got til i get the motivation to find a new GP or Health Care provider, after 9yrs with the same practice, the old Doc retires and new one comes in making it more difficult.

[winterheart]

Speaking from personal experience, yes, there are absolutely some very dangerous side-effects of long-term anti-psychotic use.

I've been on olanzapine for many years, as well as aripriprazole, risperidone, quetiapine, and haloperidol amongst many, many others.

These have been proven to cause a number of side-effects with long-term use, including; parkinsonism, akathisia,dystonia and Parkinson disease.

Some of these can be counter-balanced by prescription of procyclidine, which I take 3 times a day. It doesn't always work perfectly, but it is better than nothing.

I'm honestly terrified one day I will develop one or more of these side-effects, and as such, I hope I can come off the anti-psychotics eventually, though with class II paranoid schizophrenia, I'm not so sure that will happen.

[HCBrown]

@DrWho I was in detox in 1995? And I heard the nurse saying med call. For those who don't know med call it is just a fancy name for come to the nurses station and get your drugs. So it was my turn and when I looked in the little paper cup that had my pills in it I saw one pill I didn't recognize. I blew it off thinking it is a fancy vitamin. I went ahead and took the pills thinking this was fine and that RN knew what she was giving me. After I had taken the pills I sat down to watch the TV. After about an hour the back of my neck starting getting really stiff. I thought maybe I was getting really te nse from the football game.
Then all the sudden my back muscles tightened up. So I went back to the nurses station. It was a different nurse than the one who gave out the pills. I told her my neck and shoulders and my back.w ere very stiff. She looked up my records and said" you are not psychotic are you" and I said no. She said that someone made a mistake. Then she gave me a high dose of a benzo and told me to lay down for a while. So I understand the muscle tension.

[Whisperliner]

@DrWho I was in detox in 1995? And I heard the nurse saying med call. For those who don't know med call it is just a fancy name for come to the nurses station and get your drugs. So it was my turn and when I looked in the little paper cup that had my pills in it I saw one pill I didn't recognize. I blew it off thinking it is a fancy vitamin. I went ahead and took the pills thinking this was fine and that RN knew what she was giving me. After I had taken the pills I sat down to watch the TV. After about an hour the back of my neck starting getting really stiff. I thought maybe I was getting really te nse from the football game.
Then all the sudden my back muscles tightened up. So I went back to the nurses station. It was a different nurse than the one who gave out the pills. I told her my neck and shoulders and my back.w ere very stiff. She looked up my records and said" you are not psychotic are you" and I said no. She said that someone made a mistake. Then she gave me a high dose of a benzo and told me to lay down for a while. So I understand the muscle tension.

Hi @HCBrown !
I have a long adult history, well, from seeing my first Psychiatrist, at age 19 years old to about age 29 years old. Took a break, then
been seeing a Shrink, since the year 1994, last one, the last 18 yrs in a row. I have a STRONG blatant attitude about taking any
anti-psychotic, be it, old school, Thorazine, to new school, Zyprexa, or, Risperidone, or Abilify, SEROQUEL,at any dose !! This
includes many trials (years ago) on Depakote, and, Eskalith (Lithium), to "Lamictal" (misc anticonvulsant to phenyltriazines)
Haldol? (NEVER!)

I do know some adult and "calm" individuals who take some of the above, or a combination of above meds. They have a DX of
Bipolar I, far more extreme than "Bipolar II". Others have, one of the 10 to 11 Axis II Personality Disorders, in DSM-IV. Others have
some SEVERE medical conditions that warrant their use, for a half way life, with "measurable serenity".

All my various DX's involve Axis I, in common language, a dual diagnosis, of, either, ADD inattentive type, + MDD, (Retardant
Depression a/k/a Treatment Resistant Depression,with a overlap of again Axis I, some traits, of, OCD Anxiety Disorder, (not the
full spectrum). I have tried, ten years of non stop, add on either expensive focus group therapy, or one on one psychotherapy,
(still very expensive) to aid in my pharmacotherapy, to, reach, that "measurable serenity", including two inpatient 28 to
42 day in patient treatment centers, that was a "head start"............. but did not cure me. Some DX's have no real "cure".

In summation, many MD's get frustrated, and IMHO, will prescribe "off label" powerful anti-psychotics, phenothiazines, to "new
generation" drugs as mentioned. IMHO,to just shut the patient up, and, leave the patient, in a continuous lethargic state, with
ensuing often weight gain, etc. and not deal with any DEA controlled pharmaceuticals. Not all MD's do this, but some do, I have
been there, I know. Some pts NEED the anti-psychotics, to lead a independent, reasonably calm life, due to true BiPolar I or
other serious Mental health DX's. Just my 2 cents worth. PS. I have had over 36 ethical pharmaceuticals RX'd to me, after that,
I stopped counting, over the past 40+ years !!

[medi1]

My Doctor/s have tried me on anti-depressants and anti-psychotics. I knew that they would do me no good at all or even make me worse, I realised that my anxiety and paranoia was making me depressed. So after speaking to my Doctor "this was years ago" he prescribed me Diazepam which helped me tremendously.
Only the past couple of years I felt more anxious so I use other meds when needed.