Mental Health Coming off Invega (paliperidone) injections, v 5.0

[Nina2021]

I'm not sure actually. @AlphaMethylPhenyl or @Jerry Atrick do you know? Perhaps it's simply via testing prolactin and creatinine, as @Fanzy said.


Methylphenidate increases synaptic dopamine, and increased dopamine is also present in certain parts of the brain in people experiencing psychosis. So it's possible that Ritalin can cause psychosis, although I haven't heard of any specific cases where this has happened. I just had a quick read over some articles and it appears that Ritalin has less risk of causing psychosis than other prescription stimulants such as dexamphetamine.


I'm so sorry you're struggling so much Nina. Please try to hold on. I still believe that there is a good chance you will get better with more time.

They killed me with the 6 injections and now they think I have psychosis to invenga. There is nothing I can do all day besides writing in this forum or chatting and my friends don't believe me. I lost besides a couple plus my partner. I don't know how long I can hold just looking at the ceiling

 

[MatteM92]

They killed me with the 6 injections and now they think I have psychosis to invenga. There is nothing I can do all day besides writing in this forum or chatting and my friends don't believe me. I lost besides a couple plus my partner. I don't know how long I can hold just looking at the ceiling

if you have a garden try sunbathing. group b vitamins. st john's wort ... i would recommend welbutrin but i am not a doctor. you already sleep little. and find better sleeping pills

 

[John78]

Hi, does invega sustenna block me from getting high with weed? Also from getting a buzz on nicotine?

Thanks

Yeah. Not much you can do until you get off and recover. Takes a while with Invega. Several months I mean, to recover.

 

[Snafu in the Void]

Hi, does invega sustenna block me from getting high with weed? Also from getting a buzz on nicotine?

Thanks

I was able to get high on weed just fine while taking risperidone. Maybe a minor blunting effect, but I never noticed anything at all. I continued to be addicted to weed for a long time after I started taking risperidone.

I've never taken Invenga (paliperidone), but it's a direct metabolite of risperidone, so I only imagine they are similar when it comes to this.

Nicotine worked just fine.

 

[John78]

I was able to get high on weed just fine while taking risperidone. Maybe a minor blunting effect, but I never noticed anything at all. I continued to be addicted to weed for a long time after I started taking risperidone.

I've never taken Invenga (paliperidone), but it's a direct metabolite of risperidone, so I only imagine they are similar when it comes to this.

Nicotine worked just fine.

Depends on physiology really. When I was on Invega before Risperdal I could not feel weed or alcohol, but on Risperdal I have that blunting effect with alcohol and can't feel weed at all.

 

[Snafu in the Void]

Depends on physiology really.

yeah, and probably subjective as well

I was on high dose risperidone for over a year and continued to enjoy cannabis, kratom/opioids, alcohol, benzos, nicotine, I could even feel euphoria from adderall/amphetamines

But things like meth/coke and obviously psychedelics were all blunted to the point of uselessness

 

[plumbus-nine]

Remember that cannabis can and does exacerbate psychotic stuff in some unlucky people. If you're on Invega for a legit reason (as opposed to stupid shrinks throwing them at everybody) then you should be careful with drugs, even when I'm for sure aren't the first person to mention this.

Besides that, there's possibly less euphoria but antipsychotics don't mess with cannabinoid receptors so there won't be a full blockade. Nicotine rush is a weird thing as it happens sometimes and in others not, but again antipsychotics don't block nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (in my experience, nACh7 was the most effective in blocking nicotine) so in theory you should still get some effects from nicotine.

@Snafu in the Void Afaik is Risperidone the most selective AP for D2 out there, so there'll be some D1/D3 type receptors still available for amphetamine euphoria.

 

[rmakoutz1]

I read through the first 20 or so pages. It sounds like people generally get better after about a year.

Starting December 2020 I had 8 shots of 156mg
Then 3 shots of 117mg
Then 3 shots of 78mg
And then 4 shots of 39mg

My last 39mg shot was on May 24th. This is my last shot.


I’ve noticed big cognitive improvements with my dosages being lowered. I’ve also noticed some improvement with having joy and interest.

I was hopeful that I would be feeling better by the end of the summer, but it sounds like it’s more like a year of recovery. That’s kind of a big disappointment.

I feel so bad for the people still on the high doses. I’m so glad to be coming off. I really hope I don’t get insomnia like some people did with withdrawal. I do take 25mg of seroquel at night to sleep so hopefully that keeps working.

It’s been a really rough stretch on this drug. I’m so sorry to hear all the bad experiences. Mine wasn’t quite as bad, but still, really bad.

Thanks for posting all of your experiences. You guys have given me a realistic timeline.

 

[n3ophy7e]

I read through the first 20 or so pages. It sounds like people generally get better after about a year.

Starting December 2020 I had 8 shots of 156mg
Then 3 shots of 117mg
Then 3 shots of 78mg
And then 4 shots of 39mg

My last 39mg shot was on May 24th. This is my last shot.


I’ve noticed big cognitive improvements with my dosages being lowered. I’ve also noticed some improvement with having joy and interest.

I was hopeful that I would be feeling better by the end of the summer, but it sounds like it’s more like a year of recovery. That’s kind of a big disappointment.

I feel so bad for the people still on the high doses. I’m so glad to be coming off. I really hope I don’t get insomnia like some people did with withdrawal. I do take 25mg of seroquel at night to sleep so hopefully that keeps working.

It’s been a really rough stretch on this drug. I’m so sorry to hear all the bad experiences. Mine wasn’t quite as bad, but still, really bad.

Thanks for posting all of your experiences. You guys have given me a realistic timeline.

Hi and welcome to Bluelight, thanks for sharing a bit of your story with us. I'm really glad to hear you're coming off invega and I hope you continue to do really well

 

[Jerry Atrick]

Here I should mark the little progress I made at just 2 months off and right before checking in with the psych:

-Obviously I still suffer from anhedonia and cognitive issues: I spend most of my day at home in bed looking at walls, browsing this thread or gluing my eyes on YouTube pretending to actually watch stuff (I can't make out much of what I'm looking at most of the time)

-TV shows are also very hard to follow to the point in which I just sort of give up after a few minutes.

-Reading is also extremely hard and that's something I wish I can get back asap

-Emotions feel either completely absent or fake: sometimes I let out a little chuckle for a really clever joke but I don't really feel happiness from it. Sometimes I get really annoyed at things but I don't get angry or sad over anything though I did cry during the first month off while talking to my therapist about all the things I've lost because of Invega (and almost cried a second time when I saw a co-worker being extremely energetic and happy to do stuff because it reminded me of how I used to be). Music also does absolutely nothing to me emotion-wise and I have no idea of how I will possibly get that back

-Sometimes I go outside with my parents for a walk or to help with their work/groceries. I feel extremely lucky to be in a situation where they're against Xeplion/Invega just like I am while also being supportive and encouraging me to do some simple activities outside.

-A few times a week I also get encouragement from a dear friend (who is aware of my situation) to play some complex fast-paced video games, though I'm still not sure if it's a good idea to overstimulate my brain with this kind of activity since it kinda hurts to focus while doing it and the anhedonia makes it just feel gross anyway (Having gotten a lot worse at playing them doesn't help). Other than that I can handle Minesweeper and some Sudoku on my own when I need to pass some time (just a little though)

-I am capable of taking walks on my own for at least 1 hour a day, I walk around the 5km track that I used to run 3 times a week regularly right before injection.

-Occasionally (like once a week) I am also capable of alternating a couple of very short jogs (like 1km) to my walking sessions, though my stamina has drastically lowered to the point of being unable to even attempt this very often (I used to run 5km nonstop alternating full sprints the day before my first injection and barely even take a sweat but now even a short 1km jog leaves me with no breath)

-My physical strength is also way lower: I still do a bit of exercises with my dumbbells sometimes, as well as some situps once a week. I know I should go for more but the pain and the lack of motivation keep getting the best of me

-The weight gain doesn't seem to be noticeable to others while I'm wearing a shirt (they do notice my face being less thin and they just say I look better this way but I strongly disagree) but I sure do feel it, especially on my back which makes the aforementioned exercising that much harder to do, though I'm still not sure if it's caused by Invega or if it's because I've been letting my parents cook for me instead of doing it myself (they cook A LOT more than I used to do). One of my fears is that this issue is only going to get worse for the next months even if I make sure to be as strict as possible on my diet because of everyone else's experience with it for the first 4 months.

-I have this strange type of constipation in which I just get no stimulus which tells me I need to go to the bathroom, I actually have to remind myself every couple days to go or else the body will never send the signal. I spent the first 5-6 weeks taking large amounts of laxatives thinking it was just a regular constipation

-I have erectile dysfunction, as expected (didn't check my prolactin yet but it's probably all-fuck high). This would not be an issue to me if I didn't end up in a situation in which some chick just confessed her feelings to me and I have to try and hide this fact until it's hopefully solved

-I believe it's important to mention that I never smoked, did drugs or get much into alcohol in my entire life. Hopefully this plays a nice role in the possibilities of my recovery

-I'm currently taking Delorazepam to help with insomnia (it seems to be working, though I'm probably taking a huge amount as prescribed by my old doc) but that's about the only drug I'm taking right now

-My daily supplements currently consist of a multivitamin containing B3,B6,B12,C,D,Magnesium, Zinc and then I have Fish Oil containing O3,DHA and EPA. I drink coffee twice a day (one in the early morning and one in the late morning).
When the situation demands it I also take one stick of Akuten which contains Folic Acid, Thiamine and Sam-E. I also believe I drink an appropriate amount of water almost every day

-I have access to 5htp and st john's wort, though I'm holding on to them for when the time is right (IE after visiting the new doc and coming off Delorazepam)

-My birthday is fairly soon, July 13th. It's probably going to be the worst birthday of my life but I would like to receive some tangible improvements and signs that I will be able to fully recover as a gift. A wise man once said that life gets a lot better if you manage to get past your 30s without any major permanent fuckups. Now I'm soon to be 31 and Xeplion has been a major fuckup which hopefully doesn't end up being permanent on me.

Thank you for posting this. It leads me to believe that being active and getting outside plus eating well and taking supplements can help with the recovery. I imagine there are some days you absolutely do not feel like exercising but if you force yourself to do it anyways, that means you have self-discipline or at least some outside motivation like having parents "encourage" us to get outside. Please keep us updated with your continued recovery!

 

[Nina2021]

if you have a garden try sunbathing. group b vitamins. st john's wort ... i would recommend welbutrin but i am not a doctor. you already sleep little. and find better sleeping pills

Today I slept 2:30 only. Invenga has really destroyed me. I don't know why. I read people with 8 big shots still having joy an interest and sleep. At injection 4 all stopped for me.

I try to be in the sun a little but this drug has destroyed me so much that I don't see anything else besides suicidal. I don't recover with time. I take 6 sleeping pills and I don't sleep. Now I have asked more psychiatrist anonymously about my case but I get no answers

 

[Nina2021]

4 month is still pretty early ...u gotta wait 2 months more and you will see some improvements .

I waited 2 months more and I saw no improvements

This is unbearable. I don't know why for me is so bad. People can after 6 sleep, or feel some joy, or watch tv,... Nothing is possible for me besides watching at the ceiling. Why am I so unlucky?

 

[t_xeplionhell]

Today I slept 2:30 only. Invenga has really destroyed me. I don't know why. I read people with 8 big shots still having joy an interest and sleep. At injection 4 all stopped for me.

I try to be in the sun a little but this drug has destroyed me so much that I don't see anything else besides suicidal. I don't recover with time. I take 6 sleeping pills and I don't sleep. Now I have asked more psychiatrist anonymously about my case but I get no answers

you maybe are recovering but you dont notice because its very slow.

 

[EsseWasGreat]

Just noticed that for a good moment I felt anger over something I discovered today (not very related to Invega)


Is this a sign that my emotions are slowly coming back or is anger just something that Xeplion allows me to have?

 

[kicki]

maybe it's interesting for someone. I have checked my prolactin levels 6 months off and they are 22 ng/ml. Slightly above but I am taking vortioxetine which also raises the levels.

Personally, that confirms the feeling that my body is recovering faster than my brain. I don't know if I am the only one.

 

[Nina2021]

you maybe are recovering but you dont notice because its very slow.

You are always so optimistic. I keep on looking at the ceiling my sleep with pills is even getting worse. Today I had to take another diazepam because of extreme anxiety. I am not recovering. It is just very hard the idea that only suicide is left for me

 

[Nina2021]

Just noticed that for a good moment I felt anger over something I discovered today (not very related to Invega)


Is this a sign that my emotions are slowly coming back or is anger just something that Xeplion allows me to have?

I had anger and the capacity of crying from the beginning. What I lost with the 6 shots was joy.

 

[rmakoutz1]

I’ve been on 39mg shots for the last 4 months. I’ve been tapering down for 9 months. My next shot would be tomorrow but this is the first time I will be on 0mg since December 2020.

I absolutely cannot wait to feel normal again!!! I’ll take slow recovery for 12 months. It beats the shit out of still being on 156mg shots!

I have big cognitive improvements coming down to 39mg and I hope the improvements only get better at 0mg. I’m still super lazy and unmotivated and struggle to find joy. But it’s better than it was and should only get better!

Hang in there ya’ll. It gets better!

 

[rmakoutz1]

I do feel like my testosterone went way down on this drug. I have no confidence and low energy. Cant wait to start feeling energy and confidence again!

 

[Nina2021]

you maybe are recovering but you dont notice because its very slow.

When do you begin to feel better?