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Coming off Invega/Xeplion (paliperidone) injections v 12

Sharing some progress. As is known, the risk with amantadine is that it can cause insomnia, especially in higher doses, but during my last appointment my doctor recommended it to me for extrapyramidal symptoms. I decided to start with less than a quarter of a pill just to see if it would help. Ever since the Invega injections, I’ve had this “tight helmet” feeling around my head — or more like a band-like pressure, as if a hoop is squeezing my scalp, making my facial muscles feel tense and restricted. Now it’s the second day of taking a very low dose of amantadine. The “tight helmet” effect is weakening, colors seem brighter, and space feels more three-dimensional again (after Invega, everything felt flat and gray). My brain definitely seems to be lacking dopamine. We’ll see what happens next
 
I need to gather the courage to meet with the doctor who prescribed me Invega again. She has a lot of experience in psychiatry, so maybe she could suggest something for the side effects. But what upsets me about her is her arrogance — she is an intelligent woman, but she lacks empathy. She never really listened when I tried to explain that antipsychotics were making me feel terrible.

My current doctor is a young man who probably graduated from university not long ago. He had never even heard of Invega, but when I explained that I had always felt bad not only from the injections, but from antipsychotics in general, he believed me and didn’t insist. He also believed that I don’t have a mental disorder and that this has all been a huge mistake.

I feel like I’m caught between two fires. But in any case, I need consultations with both of them
 
So it’s been a year since my last shot now, I feel pretty good most days. I still struggle with depression relating to my psychosis and the relationships I strained or ruined with it, but I know it’s going to take longer to heal from that.
I bought a new video game (like a proper console game not a mobile game like I’ve been doing) and I’ve been having so much fun playing it. I still get bouts of insomnia, but I’m pretty sure this is because of the vyvanse since I don’t seem to have this issue on weekends.
My vyvanse is working again, I noticed this a month or two ago but wasn’t sure if it was just a fluke or not. Honestly, it might be working a bit too much because it was making me tired when it started to work the other day, but mentally I felt awake and wanted to do things. The only thing is that I still don’t really feel the effects of weed, I feel caffeine and nicotine just fine though. I’m less upset about not being able to get high though, I still do miss it but I think it’s good that I’ve kind of been forced to not get high because honestly, I feel like the emotional effects it used to give me would have made it harder to recover.
I still keep to myself most days but I am able to go out with coworkers and have fun. They all like me, and my bosses also like me and think I do a good job.
I feel like I have emotions again, I’m not overly emotional and I still haven’t properly cried in a while, but I do get sad and angry and annoyed, and most importantly feel happy. I feel that the reason I am less outwardly emotional is because of the vyvanse also, it can have that sort of effect it makes you more “serious”. But I do think it’s a good think I’m not feeling extreme emotion, because extreme emotion leads to bad decisions and impulsive behavior unfortunately.
I do feel mentally fast, I feel more opinionated on things again, I’m able to concentrate on things longer, I’m able to get my words across better. And I’ve lost almost all the weight I’ve gained I think (I don’t know the exact amount since I don’t own a scale but clothes are fitting again)

I think the most important thing you can do is just go outside and interact with other people, if you can’t get a full time job find a part time one or even volunteer. I promise people aren’t going to be awful to you unless they’re just awful people, but you also have to not ruminate on invega so often. I’ve seen some people have others turn away from them because they only thing they talk about is invega and I think that’s sad. It’s just not healthy to think about all the time, if you can’t think of anything to talk about try to remember the things you used to like.
 
invegaloner said:
So it’s been a year since my last shot now, I feel pretty good most days. I still struggle with depression relating to my psychosis and the relationships I strained or ruined with it, but I know it’s going to take longer to heal from that.
I bought a new video game (like a proper console game not a mobile game like I’ve been doing) and I’ve been having so much fun playing it. I still get bouts of insomnia, but I’m pretty sure this is because of the vyvanse since I don’t seem to have this issue on weekends.
My vyvanse is working again, I noticed this a month or two ago but wasn’t sure if it was just a fluke or not. Honestly, it might be working a bit too much because it was making me tired when it started to work the other day, but mentally I felt awake and wanted to do things. The only thing is that I still don’t really feel the effects of weed, I feel caffeine and nicotine just fine though. I’m less upset about not being able to get high though, I still do miss it but I think it’s good that I’ve kind of been forced to not get high because honestly, I feel like the emotional effects it used to give me would have made it harder to recover.
I still keep to myself most days but I am able to go out with coworkers and have fun. They all like me, and my bosses also like me and think I do a good job.
I feel like I have emotions again, I’m not overly emotional and I still haven’t properly cried in a while, but I do get sad and angry and annoyed, and most importantly feel happy. I feel that the reason I am less outwardly emotional is because of the vyvanse also, it can have that sort of effect it makes you more “serious”. But I do think it’s a good think I’m not feeling extreme emotion, because extreme emotion leads to bad decisions and impulsive behavior unfortunately.
I do feel mentally fast, I feel more opinionated on things again, I’m able to concentrate on things longer, I’m able to get my words across better. And I’ve lost almost all the weight I’ve gained I think (I don’t know the exact amount since I don’t own a scale but clothes are fitting again)

I think the most important thing you can do is just go outside and interact with other people, if you can’t get a full time job find a part time one or even volunteer. I promise people aren’t going to be awful to you unless they’re just awful people, but you also have to not ruminate on invega so often. I’ve seen some people have others turn away from them because they only thing they talk about is invega and I think that’s sad. It’s just not healthy to think about all the time, if you can’t think of anything to talk about try to remember the things you used to like.
Click to expand...
How were you on months 9? I'm just 9th month, i still feel completely disabled, i don't have motivation, i tried Vyvanse in month 7 it didn't work so good for me. When did you feel Vyvanse working? Is it working like pre invega Vyvanse would make me super smart like one of the smartest people in the room is it still like that?
 
InnerReturn said:
I need to gather the courage to meet with the doctor who prescribed me Invega again. She has a lot of experience in psychiatry, so maybe she could suggest something for the side effects. But what upsets me about her is her arrogance — she is an intelligent woman, but she lacks empathy. She never really listened when I tried to explain that antipsychotics were making me feel terrible.

My current doctor is a young man who probably graduated from university not long ago. He had never even heard of Invega, but when I explained that I had always felt bad not only from the injections, but from antipsychotics in general, he believed me and didn’t insist. He also believed that I don’t have a mental disorder and that this has all been a huge mistake.

I feel like I’m caught between two fires. But in any case, I need consultations with both of them
Click to expand...
It might lessen the side effects but its gonna make you worse long term. Ounce you get to the point that you get to many side effects from antipsychotics you gotta stop or you take the risk of getting permanent side effects.

I find whether they have big degree or not dont matter. My brother has decent one that doesnt believe in handing out antipsychotics willy nilly and hes new one he sounds 100× better than the old dogs. Chinese too lol, guy understands I was worried the guy was gonna fuck my brother up like they did to me. He was pissed apparently they gave my brother a antipsychotic at rhe emergency room for insomnia.
 
lostsoulowen said:
How were you on months 9? I'm just 9th month, i still feel completely disabled, i don't have motivation, i tried Vyvanse in month 7 it didn't work so good for me. When did you feel Vyvanse working? Is it working like pre invega Vyvanse would make me super smart like one of the smartest people in the room is it still like that?
Click to expand...
I noticed my vyvanse working again around 2 months ago so month 10, I’ve started to get physical side effects again and get that “wired” feeling for the first hour or so after it kicks in. I’ve also been taking it consistently since I was released from the hospital (except for weekends). That feeling you described of feeling super smart is only something I’ve felt when I first started taking ADHD meds, I don’t think it’s something you should chase since to get that feeling you’ll need to raise your dose more and more until you reach the max dose allowed. You should focus more on if you feel more calm (because your mind is quieter), more focus, more of a baseline energy. I know before I was diagnosed with ADHD and given medicine for it I could fall asleep very easily if something I was doing wasn’t stimulating enough.
You may feel disabled, but you’re more capable than you think. I got a new job shortly after being released from the hospital and I did not feel I was ready or capable of having a job. But I didn’t have a choice in the matter because in my situation, if I didn’t have a job I would need to give up my home and move back in with my parents which would make my mental health worse than it was. It was very hard, especially with the vyvanse not being effective, and I did luckily end up getting another job afterward because i did realize the first would be too stressful for me long term. But I promise you it’s better than sitting at home all day. Even now on my weekends I can feel worse than I do at work which stresses me out sometimes, because I won’t be doing much besides laying around, and it gives me more time to think about negative things.
When I was at my partial hospitalization program (one of my requirements for being released from inpatient) they had some arts and crafts therapy. I ended up picking up crochet, I recommend it, it’s very simple and once you get the hang of it and there’s so many patterns online to follow if you want to make something. It’s fun and it requires counting so it takes up your focus. Yarn and crochet needles are also pretty cheap. I also recommend playing sudoku to stimulate your mind a little, it was one of the things that I did while still in the hospital, there’s an app called good sudoku that is very good at teaching you how to play and techniques used in the hardest puzzles.
I know it’s hard when you already have low motivation, but if you try to commit to it for at least 15 minutes a day it’ll get easier and easier!
 
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invegaloner said:
I noticed my vyvanse working again around 2 months ago so month 10, I’ve started to get physical side effects again and get that “wired” feeling for the first hour or so after it kicks in. I’ve also been taking it consistently since I was released from the hospital (except for weekends). That feeling you described of feeling super smart is only something I’ve felt when I first started taking ADHD meds, I don’t think it’s something you should chase since to get that feeling you’ll need to raise your dose more and more until you reach the max dose allowed. You should focus more on if you feel more calm (because your mind is quieter), more focus, more of a baseline energy. I know before I was diagnosed with ADHD and given medicine for it I could fall asleep very easily if something I was doing wasn’t stimulating enough.
You may feel disabled, but you’re more capable than you think. I got a new job shortly after being released from the hospital and I did not feel I was ready or capable of having a job. But I didn’t have a choice in the matter because in my situation, if I didn’t have a job I would need to give up my home and move back in with my parents which would make my mental health worse than it was. It was very hard, especially with the vyvanse not being effective, and I did luckily end up getting another job afterward because i did realize the first would be too stressful for me long term. But I promise you it’s better than sitting at home all day. Even now on my weekends I can feel worse than I do at work which stresses me out sometimes, because I won’t be doing much besides laying around, and it gives me more time to think about negative things.
When I was at my partial hospitalization program (one of my requirements for being released from inpatient) they had some arts and crafts therapy. I ended up picking up crochet, I recommend it, it’s very simple and once you get the hang of it and there’s so many patterns online to follow if you want to make something. It’s fun and it requires counting so it takes up your focus. Yarn and crochet needles are also pretty cheap. I also recommend playing sudoku to stimulate your mind a little, it was one of the things that I did while still in the hospital, there’s an app called good sudoku that is very good at teaching you how to play and techniques used in the hardest puzzles.
I know it’s hard when you already have low motivation, but if you try to commit to it for at least 15 minutes a day it’ll get easier and easier!
Click to expand...
How did you get Vyvanse after being diagnosed as "mentally ill" and getting invega?

You seem properly smart, i can tell your smart just by looking at your writing style I'm barely functioning autistic dyslexia, i think invega pushed me to retarded zoon.
i uses to be a programmer, that's the only thing i was kind off good off, and even that i was only good Because i abused Vyvanse and was the quickest person in the room.
What job do you do? Anything that really required Vyvanse like computers or finance?

Did you feel Vyvanse at 5-8 month after last shot?
Regardless off Vyvanse I'm only 9 months and 5 days off the posion, when do i get to recover?
Did you get the last few shots in the butt or hand?
 
Last edited:
hey guys.
12 months and 9 days since my last injection now and i am doing very well.
i’ll be returning to my studies in july and have been doing short courses in the meantime to keep busy… early on in recovery i couldn’t even imagine being able to go back to my studies and even bailed on something as simple as renewing my first aid cert because invega had me so messed up but that is no longer the case, i’m good.
experienced some heart break about a month ago and cried my heart out but have also felt immense joy so my emotions are definitely recovered, might even say i feel things deeper than i did pre invega.
most weeks i’m doing 50+ kms on foot playing pokemon go which has definitely helped with my mental heath - don’t ever doubt how much of a positive impact exercise can have on you especially while recovering from these injections. have also made friends with some local players on pokemon go which has been awesome, cannot stress how important it is to be connecting with people during recovery so please don’t isolate yourself.
i had sex last week for the first time since november 2024 (2 months before my psychosis) and it was amazing so i’m definitely 100% recovered in that regard too.
i don’t think too much about the injection anymore and when it does cross my mind i simply just acknowledge how hard it was to go through but making it through just makes me more confident to face hard times in life and get through it.
sending you all love, you will get through this, you just need to give it time.
 
lostsoulowen said:
How did you get Vyvanse after being diagnosed as "mentally ill" and getting invega?

You seem properly smart, i can tell your smart just by looking at your writing style I'm barely functioning autistic dyslexia, i think invega pushed me to retarded zoon.
i uses to be a programmer, that's the only thing i was kind off good off, and even that i was only good Because i abused Vyvanse and was the quickest person in the room.
What job do you do? Anything that really required Vyvanse like computers or finance?

Did you feel Vyvanse at 5-8 month after last shot?
Regardless off Vyvanse I'm only 9 months and 5 days off the posion, when do i get to recover?
Did you get the last few shots in the butt or hand?
Click to expand...
Well I was already diagnosed as mentally ill with the ADHD lol, when I was in PHP I just told the program’s psychiatrist I take vyvanse, and he could see my medical records to verify so he filled my script along with the invega shots. I got all of them in my arm. I had been taking vyvanse for over a year before my psychotic episode, and before that I was on adderall for a year so they weren’t really worried about me abusing them, and since I was taking an antipsychotic with it they weren’t concerned about psychosis either.
Months 5-8 I noticed it working only occasionally, my usual signs that it’s working were the physical symptoms like heart rate. My psychiatrist actually raised my dose to 70mg, the largest dose allowed to be prescribed and I still didn’t feel much, so it was lowered back down to 50mg. I was prescribed bupropion 3 months ago as well, I’m not sure if this contributed to me feeling vyvanse again though.
My job doesn’t deal with computers or math at all, it’s all hands on but requires me to focus on one task for over an hour at a time (was really hard for me before without feeling like I was being tortured mentally), and doing multiple things at once while keeping track of the timing of everything (helps me not feel overwhelmed with the amount of things I’m doing).
I’ve always done a lot of research on things though, and even though I may not know how to code, I’m able to do complex things on the computer if I find instructions, learned from playing Minecraft as a child lol.
I’m autistic as well, wasn’t diagnosed until I was an adult and only after my ADHD diagnosis though. I can’t speak for dyslexia since I don’t have it, but I know it’s not curable and you aren’t dumb :( your brain just works differently. When you’re able to feel vyvanse again though, please don’t abuse it. I’ve been there too, taking an extra dose for the extra boost, taking extra just to be better at video games, or mixing it with weed. It’s just not worth it in the long run. It feels great in the moment, but the crashes just become more severe because you’re pushing your mind and body to their limits. We all know that taking too much can cause psychosis, but the withdrawals can also cause psychosis! I feel more stable just taking it on weekdays, you can’t fully rely on the meds you have to change your habits and mindset as well.
 
fuckabout89 said:
It might lessen the side effects but its gonna make you worse long term. Ounce you get to the point that you get to many side effects from antipsychotics you gotta stop or you take the risk of getting permanent side effects.

I find whether they have big degree or not dont matter. My brother has decent one that doesnt believe in handing out antipsychotics willy nilly and hes new one he sounds 100× better than the old dogs. Chinese too lol, guy understands I was worried the guy was gonna fuck my brother up like they did to me. He was pissed apparently they gave my brother a antipsychotic at rhe emergency room for insomnia.
Click to expand...
A similar situation to what happened to your brother happened to me too..
They started giving me antipsychotics after one sleepless night caused by high blood pressure. I actually managed to sleep the following evening, but they still put me on Invega pills, and later switched me to injections, refusing to discharge me until they gave me the third shot. Later I found out this was part of an experimental program — I had signed a document without really understanding what I was agreeing to, because no one explained anything to me
 
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InnerReturn said:
A similar situation to what happened to your brother happened to me too..
They started giving me antipsychotics after one sleepless night caused by high blood pressure. I actually managed to sleep the following evening, but they still put me on Invega pills, and later switched me to injections, refusing to discharge me until they gave me the third shot. Later I found out this was part of an experimental program — I had signed a document without really understanding what I was agreeing to, because no one explained anything to me
Click to expand...
Why in the world would they give you antipsychotics if you have high blood pressure? :( They raise blood pressure, don't they?
 
InvegaAnon said:
Why in the world would they give you antipsychotics if you have high blood pressure? :( They raise blood pressure, don't they?
Click to expand...
Now that I think back on it, I realize it probably wasn't just about the high blood pressure..
I think the reason I was kept in the hospital and put on antipsychotics is that I had arguments with my foster mother. To put it very briefly — I have a heavy background: I was in an orphanage at a very early age, and I also experienced SA when I was 12. The following years after that were hell. I often had misunderstandings with my foster family. I wanted to move far away from the place where it all happened, but no one helped me back then... Later, I started to realize that people often don’t so much destroy as they just don’t know how to build. Sometimes, close people just don’t fit together like puzzle pieces — their traumas start to clash, and it becomes unbearable to continue communicating. I came to this understanding recently, at 26. That’s how it was with my foster family. When the doctor found out about all this, she decided that antipsychotics were the best solution. Some women with anxiety or psychological trauma have also been prescribed antipsychotics. So, mistakes do happen in psychiatry. And that's deeply sad
 
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