Mental Health Coming off Invega Sustenna (paliperidone)

[Narshe81]

Well, I just got back from my doctor's appointment.

I'm not sure if it went well or not. As soon as I got there my doctor asked me how I was feeling. I explained to him in details how I am feeling and how I have not felt any improvement yet. I then asked him that if it is because Invega Sustenna has such a long half life that is why I haven't felt any better. He said no. I then brought up how I have been reading online and explained to him about the cases that I have found where people still experience anhedonia after stopping antipsychotics. He then said that my being anhedonic is because my psychosis was probably induced by weed, and that it is common post weed psychosis to have anhedonia.

I asked if antipsychotics could cause permanent brain damage. He said no again. I then said to him that antipsychotic drugs can cause things like tardive dyskinesia which is permanent. I asked him if that proves that antipsychotics can in fact cause some permanent brain damages. He said no and that I was reading up too much junk.

He then brought out my files and began to go through them. He began to ask questions about my past hospital visits since I was young. He said that the record shows that I was abused as a child which prompted him to believe that I may be in fact experiencing a form of PTSD and mood disorder. After having said that, he made an appointment for me to see a mood disorder specialist on the 24th coming up.

I told him about cigarettes, alcohol, and other substances that used to give me pleasure all have stopped working. He asked me what I meant by stopping working and could not give me a straigth answer. He just brushed it off and then reaffirmed me that this could be PTSD and mood disorder. He said that I will just get better and better.

So that was my appointment with my doctor today. At the end he then prescribed me some more mirtazapine and sent me home. A good thing about this appointment though is that today they have canceled my CTO (Community Treatment Order). This means that cops will no longer come and drag me to the hospital if I refuse my medications or fail to show up for appointments. I really don't know what to make out of it all, but there's really nothing that I can do aside from waiting to meet with the specialist on Christmas Eve.

Also I wanted to add something. I did find an interesting study I thought I might share:

By Harrow, Martin; Yonan, Cynthia A.; Sands, James R.; Marengo, Joanne
Schizophrenia Bulletin, Vol 20(2), 1994, 327-338.
Abstract
Investigated the presence of a full depressive syndrome in schizophrenia years after theacute phase and factors linked to these depressive syndromes. 75 schizophrenia and schizoaffective patients and 32 patients with bipolar affective disorders were studied prospectively at index hospitalization and followed up 4.5 yrs later as part of the Chicago Followup Study. All Ss were aged 17–30 yrs. Over 30% of the schizophrenia patients showed full depressive syndromes during the followup year. Schizophrenia patients on neuroleptics were significantly more likely to show full depressive syndromes than those not on neuroleptics. This relationship held after the level of posthospital psychosis was controlled. Data suggest that neuroleptic use is 1 factor linked to the depressive-like syndromes found in the posthospital phase in nonchronic schizophrenia samplesarrow-10x10.png. The data indicate a strong link between neuroleptic use and anhedonia. (PsycINFO Database Record © 2013 APA, all rights reserved)

 

[starkid]

I'm not sure if it went well or not. As soon as I got there my doctor asked me how I was feeling. I explained to him in details how I am feeling and how I have not felt any improvement yet. I then asked him that if it is because Invega Sustenna has such a long half life that is why I haven't felt any better. He said no. I then brought up how I have been reading online and explained to him about the cases that I have found where people still experience anhedonia after stopping antipsychotics. He then said that my being anhedonic is because my psychosis was probably induced by weed, and that it is common post weed psychosis to have anhedonia.

I asked if antipsychotics could cause permanent brain damage. He said no again. I then said to him that antipsychotic drugs can cause things like tardive dyskinesia which is permanent. I asked him if that proves that antipsychotics can in fact cause some permanent brain damages. He said no and that I was reading up too much junk.

Your "doctor" sounds like most psychiatrists to me. Is he a psych?

Sidenote: stay away from psychiatrists. There are a few OK ones, but in my personal experience, the majority of them are:

1. Not intelligent (that's the best I can do at stating this in a polite way).
2. Better classified as marketers and salesmen, not doctors.
3. Prone to causing devastating harm to those unfortunate enough to come to them.

I have not met a single intelligent psychiatrist in my life. I've met one nice one (out of about six psychiatrists total), but none of those that I've met would I ever consider listening to or taking their advice seriously.

Stick to GPs. I've had much better luck with them (in general). They might claim to "not known" much about the things psychiatrists deal with, but that's actually a good thing because the so-called "knowledge" that psychiatrists have is (1) bullsh*t courtesy of BigPharma, and (2) dangerous to your health.

What's worse is that they are not aware of this, and, because of the undeserved respect that others place in them, they end up surrounded by people who do not contradict them and allow them to torture their patients to the point of suicide.

That's a long way of saying: if I were you, I'd never visit this doctor again, *and* I would leave him a terrible review so that others are less likely to do themselves the misfortune of seeing him too.

 

[KitCat]

Antipsychotics mess you up... been there, done that. It will take at least a couple of months but fingers crossed you will start to feel again. I did

 

[Jerry Atrick]

Your "doctor" sounds like most psychiatrists to me. Is he a psych?

Sidenote: stay away from psychiatrists. There are a few OK ones, but in my personal experience, the majority of them are:

1. Not intelligent (that's the best I can do at stating this in a polite way).
2. Better classified as marketers and salesmen, not doctors.
3. Prone to causing devastating harm to those unfortunate enough to come to them.

I have not met a single intelligent psychiatrist in my life. I've met one nice one (out of about six psychiatrists total), but none of those that I've met would I ever consider listening to or taking their advice seriously.

Stick to GPs. I've had much better luck with them (in general). They might claim to "not known" much about the things psychiatrists deal with, but that's actually a good thing because the so-called "knowledge" that psychiatrists have is (1) bullsh*t courtesy of BigPharma, and (2) dangerous to your health.

What's worse is that they are not aware of this, and, because of the undeserved respect that others place in them, they end up surrounded by people who do not contradict them and allow them to torture their patients to the point of suicide.

That's a long way of saying: if I were you, I'd never visit this doctor again, *and* I would leave him a terrible review so that others are less likely to do themselves the misfortune of seeing him too.

While I agree that the OP should find a different doctor, 99 percent of this ^ post is bullshit. Just because you had a couple of bad experiences does not mean the majority of psychiatrists are as bad as you are over-exaggerating them to be.

Telling someone to stay away from psychiatrists is absolutely insane in and of itself. What you stated in your post is dangerous too. There could be someone who reads it and thinks he does not need to see a psych when in fact he needs it very much.

 

[Narshe81]

Well... I really don't know what to make of it all. Frankly I am not pro-med nor am I anti-psych. I just want to get better. I know for a fact that I started to have anhedonia right after my first injection of Invega Sustenna. There is no way anyone could tell me otherwise. Another person I met at the hospital who was diagnosed as schizophrenia also had his anhedonia started at around the same time mine started. We started Invega Sustenna just a few days apart. Then I also found reports of other patients experiences that are identical as ours.

I didn't argue with my pdoc because I found it to be pointless. The medication also rendered me so docile and apathetic that I could not bring myself to argue with him. I was just thinking what is the point since the damage has already been done and there is little that he could do for me. The only thing I can do is to wait and let time decides whether or not I can recover. The fact that I really don't know when or if I will ever recover is extremely frightening.

Antipsychotics mess you up... been there, done that. It will take at least a couple of months but fingers crossed you will start to feel again. I did

Thank you.. I really hope you are right. I am suffering on a daily basis. It gets harder and harder as this drags on for it feels like it's going to be forever. I don't think there's a way for me to describe in words how torturous this experience is.

 

[starkid]

99 percent of this ^ post is bullshit.

In your opinion.

Just because you had a couple of bad experiences

I said "about six". That is not a couple. And I am by far not alone in this opinion:

https://www.google.com/search?q=psychiatrists+dangerous

If you'll notice, I qualified all of statements, so you actually don't have a leg to stand on.

For example, I said: "but in my personal experience", and "I have not met a single intelligent psychiatrist in my life.", and "if I were you".

Notice how, unlike you, I did not make universal statements and attempt to present my subjective opinions (based on my life experiences), appear like objective truths.

Telling someone to stay away from psychiatrists is absolutely insane in and of itself.

And I think that telling someone to go to a psychiatrist is absolutely insane in and of itself.

What you stated in your post is dangerous too.

And based on my personal experience, and the experiences of others, I've come to believe that telling someone to go see a psychiatrist, especially for neuroleptics, is extremely dangerous, and potentially equivalent to telling them to go kill themselves. Perhaps you haven't noticed the suffering that has been described in this thread by those treated with neuroleptics. I suggest you re-read the entire thread.

 

[Narshe81]

I'm so jealous of you starkid. You recovered enough to be able to enjoy life again. Right now I forgot how normal feels like. It has been a bit more than a year now that I have to live like this. I want to continue on because I want to experience love and joy again, but some times it's just so tough. Some days were harder than others. Today was especially shitty.

 

[starkid]

I'm so jealous of you starkid. You recovered enough to be able to enjoy life again. Right now I forgot how normal feels like. It has been a bit more than a year now that I have to live like this. I want to continue on because I want to experience love and joy again, but some times it's just so tough. Some days were harder than others. Today was especially shitty.

Who's taking care of you at home?

 

[Narshe81]

Who's taking care of you at home?

No one... I am living alone in Canada at the moment with no family. My mom is coming to stay with me in April though.

It's been really tough. I just woke up at 4am now and haven't been able to fall back to sleep.

I am still waiting to feel that 'first improvement'. I really can't wait. Do you remember when you started to feel an improvement? Did you really have to wait for a whole year to feel it or it gradually got better?

 

[KitCat]

It gets better gradually. Some of these medications can take a long time to clear out of the system and your brain has to readjust as well. Not sure if winter affects you personally but you may be a bit extra down because the nights are long and the days are short. Try not to stress about it too much... take it as your period of veging out. That's how I thought of it... many animals hibernate over winter, so can I. I used to stress a lot, was very self conscious, moped around, felt sorry for myself and I honestly think I was just making it worse for myself. Then I gave up and just went with the flow, lived my zombie existence for a couple of months and then "spring" came and voila, slowly awakened and everything came back to me... the good time and the bad and everything in between. My diagnosis is bipolar so that's a bit different to you but I'm sure you can relate to some extent. I went through the whole kit kaboodle of medications and treatments... nothing was ever right, doctors telling me I need treatment, I need to socialise, I need to do sport, I need to do this and that, I need therapy, I'm not well, I'm too hyper, I'm not enough of that, or too much of the other blah blah blah... it was during one of those anhedonic, dark depression times I decided to call it quits, not kill myself but just not do shit or give a damn about it. I switched myself off and just ran on autopilot and it was just what I needed. If I ever get depressed again... that's exactly what I plan on doing, veg the fuck out and when it's all over I'll feel rejuvenated and will just get on with life.

 

[Narshe81]

It gets better gradually. Some of these medications can take a long time to clear out of the system and your brain has to readjust as well. Not sure if winter affects you personally but you may be a bit extra down because the nights are long and the days are short. Try not to stress about it too much... take it as your period of veging out. That's how I thought of it... many animals hibernate over winter, so can I. I used to stress a lot, was very self conscious, moped around, felt sorry for myself and I honestly think I was just making it worse for myself. Then I gave up and just went with the flow, lived my zombie existence for a couple of months and then "spring" came and voila, slowly awakened and everything came back to me... the good time and the bad and everything in between. My diagnosis is bipolar so that's a bit different to you but I'm sure you can relate to some extent. I went through the whole kit kaboodle of medications and treatments... nothing was ever right, doctors telling me I need treatment, I need to socialise, I need to do sport, I need to do this and that, I need therapy, I'm not well, I'm too hyper, I'm not enough of that, or too much of the other blah blah blah... it was during one of those anhedonic, dark depression times I decided to call it quits, not kill myself but just not do shit or give a damn about it. I switched myself off and just ran on autopilot and it was just what I needed. If I ever get depressed again... that's exactly what I plan on doing, veg the fuck out and when it's all over I'll feel rejuvenated and will just get on with life.

I guess that is what I will do since I don't really have a choice. Aside from working part time two days a week, I do nothing else. Even those part time shifts are almost unbearable. I wish I could just feel at least a bit of an improvement so that it will give me hope that things will get better. So far nothing yet.

KitCat, what med were you on and for how long? How many months did it take for you to notice that first improvement?


Thanks for the advice. I'll do my best.

 

[KitCat]

I was on risperdal, lithium, saphris and occasionally on prozac. Risperdal is the medication that breaks down into the same active ingredient as invega. I was on tablets though, they clear out of the system faster compared to depot injections. First I weaned myself off everything over ~8 weeks. Risperdal and saphris almost cold turkey, sporadically took small doses in the first three weeks, lithium a gradual reduction over those 8 weeks. Then it took about 2 months before I noticed some changes which depending on interpretation can be positive or negative... it was feeling disturbed, discontent in short bursts. Basic definition of anhedonia is inability of feeling pleasure... and for me it was also inability to feel strong negative emotions, a sort of emotional flatness. The first emotions that came back were the negative ones... but due to the situation I actually interpret this as good. Some negative emotions are better than nothing at all. I thought... if I can suddenly feel intense emotional discomfort, then soon... i will also begin to have emotions on the positive end. I wasn't optimistic at all times... it felt a bit like the calm before the storm and my concern was that completely off medication shit will hit the fan so to speak and I'll get increase in energy levels but without any increase in mood = depression on steroids, very bad combo. This was the most critical period that lasted about 3 months. I took it as confirmation that I still have ability to feel strong emotions but for the sake of self preservation I would say to myself I'm not ready yet, I'd open the floodgates a bit and then retreat to my autopilot state to preserve hibernation if that makes sense. Then one day I noticed something really really angered me and I blew up in a fit of anger... picture an italian mama having a rant. That was about 6 months into the "clean living". The experience was catharsic when I did a bit of reflection a couple of hours later I realised that the reason I got so upset was because I was able to finally derive some subtle pleasure from something trivial I was doing at the time and someone messed it up for me. Two observations here... I am able to get genuinely temperamentally angry again and over a thing I enjoyed. I enjoyed something and that was a good sign. I laughed histerically for a bit when that lightbulb clicked in my head and then I felt smug about it. Enter the awakening phase... still putting no pressure on myself I gradually started noticing that I feel pleased when doing certain things. Bored one day I purposelessly scrubbed the bathroom and felt content afterwards. Enjoy those little moments. Some weeks later I hung some artwork around the house and again... days of content feeling followed whenever I saw them hanging on the walls. That was my cue... follow instinct and start doing things I felt like doing... I felt like doing some stuff... good sign. Then one day I found myself on a random pub crawl with some ex coworkers... bit unusual because up to that point I had no desire to go out and socialise but I went with the flow that night. So buds obviously thought I was in the mood that night and we had a couple of drinks and then somehow ended up in a strip club (I'm female btw... never seen strippers before haha). That was about 10 months into the process. One thing led to another and whoa... I felt sexy and naughty and I slapped some asses and then somehow we all ended up in the back room having lap dances... bwahaha, pretty hilarious when I think of it now. Fantasy ability is back in operation, sex drive is back, light cheeky mood is back. For days after I felt blissful and I though gee... I can have all these experiences I never thought I could, time to get on with life. Fully disengage the autopilot and start purposefully doing things that bring me joy in everyday life. Gradual improvements continued over the following months, more drive to do things, greater range of emotions, deeper experiences, less worry about relapse into illness, autopilot assistance needed less often.

 

[Narshe81]

I had it pretty rough last night...

I was, as usual, having trouble falling asleep and was up at 4am this morning. I felt so frustrated and sick of my condition. I didn't know what to do and I just started to punch myself. The pain felt almost satisfying. To feel something different instead of that emptiness and despair. I almost trashed my apartment before I tried my best to settle down. At the back of my mind I kept thinking this is going to be permanent and that my life is over.

I really don't want to feel like this anymore but there is nothing I can do or anyone who can help me. I curse the very day that I was given those injections against my will. This is nothing short of a torture. I really don't think I can go on like this forever.

 

[khaverim7]

I had it pretty rough last night...

I was, as usual, having trouble falling asleep and was up at 4am this morning. I felt so frustrated and sick of my condition. I didn't know what to do and I just started to punch myself. The pain felt almost satisfying. To feel something different instead of that emptiness and despair. I almost trashed my apartment before I tried my best to settle down. At the back of my mind I kept thinking this is going to be permanent and that my life is over.

I really don't want to feel like this anymore but there is nothing I can do or anyone who can help me. I curse the very day that I was given those injections against my will. This is nothing short of a torture. I really don't think I can go on like this forever.

Hang in there man. I am right there with you, still. I feel like I'm locked in a steel box all the time - same emptiness and despair. I fall asleep pretty well but I wake up at 2,4,6,then 8am. It's only been 1.5 months since my injection and I suffer every day. Almost everything bothers me at this point. I have certainly lost all interest, motivation and desire.

The only thing about my situation is that I'm not sure if it's really the Invega Sustenna anymore that renders me lifeless and depressed. I just don't know. Everyone's got their story; my experiences might be the real culprit. In my case, I hope it's the drug. THEN I hope that it will go away with time

 

[Narshe81]

Hang in there man. I am right there with you, still. I feel like I'm locked in a steel box all the time - same emptiness and despair. I fall asleep pretty well but I wake up at 2,4,6,then 8am. It's only been 1.5 months since my injection and I suffer every day. Almost everything bothers me at this point. I have certainly lost all interest, motivation and desire.

The only thing about my situation is that I'm not sure if it's really the Invega Sustenna anymore that renders me lifeless and depressed. I just don't know. Everyone's got their story; my experiences might be the real culprit. In my case, I hope it's the drug. THEN I hope that it will go away with time

It's good to find another person who is going through the same thing as you. I understand all too well what you are going through and I think much of our symptoms are identical.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3267352/

Explains that neuroleptic drugs can indeed cause anhedonia for it is the sought after therapeutic effect of the drug.

For me I am more than certain that it was caused by Invega Sustenna. I have found this:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3267352/

Apparently sarcosine and Vitamin B12 will help with 'negative symptoms' of schizophrenia including anhedonia. I will start taking vitamin B12 supplement tomorrow onward and see if it helps.

Good luck to you. Feel free to keep posting and update your condition. I will respond as soon as I can.

 

[treezy z]

two things, first off those medications are diabolical, i was force fed them during after i spent some time in a forensic hospital (a couple years) off an insanity plea and court ordered to take them. they would shoot that shit into me if i didn't take it. so i feel your pain.

second off the lack of pleasure is a symptom of schizoprenia so you might have it, although personally i don't think it's a real condition, rather a rather broad set of symptoms for anyone who's odd/eccentric and or a little burnt out.

 

[Narshe81]

two things, first off those medications are diabolical, i was force fed them during after i spent some time in a forensic hospital (a couple years) off an insanity plea and court ordered to take them. they would shoot that shit into me if i didn't take it. so i feel your pain.

second off the lack of pleasure is a symptom of schizoprenia so you might have it, although personally i don't think it's a real condition, rather a rather broad set of symptoms for anyone who's odd/eccentric and or a little burnt out.

My anhedonia set in a week or so after my first injection of Invega Sustenna. My doctor already ruled out that I am not schizophrenic. I had a weed induced psychosis that went away after a couple nights of good sleep at the hospital. My psychosis happened when I wasn't sleeping much and was always up smoking weed and hung out with my ex girlfriend.

Tons of studies have already proved that more often than not neuroleptic induced anhedonia is mistaken for negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Almost everyone I read about or talked to that have taken neuroleptic drugs before all have experienced anhedonia. The ones that didn't get it were on really low dose for a short period of time.

 

[paranoid android]

And based on my personal experience, and the experiences of others, I've come to believe that telling someone to go see a psychiatrist, especially for neuroleptics, is extremely dangerous, and potentially equivalent to telling them to go kill themselves. Perhaps you haven't noticed the suffering that has been described in this thread by those treated with neuroleptics. I suggest you re-read the entire thread.

I have absolutely no love for psychiatrists but i can honestly say that anti-psychotics have saved my life more then once even. When i am manic or mixed state and out of my mind some olanzapine with some clonazepam will bring me down back to earth within a hour or 20 minutes if it is zyprexa zydis. Noone force fed me these medications but if someone gave me the choice between living my life in a manic nightmare and having to take anti-psychotics the rest of my life then i will take the latter.

I am currently on 300-400mg's of seroquel a day (thinking about increasing that), 300mg's of bupropion a day, 200mg's of lamotrigine a day and 4-6mg's of clonazepam a day. I get basically no side effects from this combo of meds at all. Well i do get awful dry mouth which leads to dental problems no doubt but that's a small price to pay.

I don't think the problem is with anti-psychotics at all i think it's with how they are prescribed. They should be used for their intended purposes which as treating schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and as a add on to anti-depressants in treatment resistant depression. Although i do feel that some shrink reach for the seroquel or risperdal too quickly as Lithium, Lamotrigine (Lamictal), divalproex (Epival, Epilem, Depakote) and possibly carbamazepine (tegretol) should be tried before anti-psychotics are tried. That is for maintenance therapy because if someone is manic or worse yet in a mixed state a anti-psychotic usually with a benzo is the only thing that is going to stop a episode dead in it's tracks. After the initial episode is over i do think that mood stabilizers and anti-manic drugs should be tried first.

I have been on seroquel, zyprexa or risperdal pretty much everyday since 2006 to treat my bipolar disorder. I have suffered no long term effects from these drugs at all. I know other people who have been on atypicals and even typical anti-psychotics like loxapine, Thorazine and even the high potency ones such as Haldol or Clopixol. If not for the fact that these drugs put a stop to the episode they where suffering from they may very well not be here either. So neuroleptics are certainly not evil drugs for everybody.

 

[Narshe81]

I have absolutely no love for psychiatrists but i can honestly say that anti-psychotics have saved my life more then once even. When i am manic or mixed state and out of my mind some olanzapine with some clonazepam will bring me down back to earth within a hour or 20 minutes if it is zyprexa zydis. Noone force fed me these medications but if someone gave me the choice between living my life in a manic nightmare and having to take anti-psychotics the rest of my life then i will take the latter.

I am currently on 300-400mg's of seroquel a day (thinking about increasing that), 300mg's of bupropion a day, 200mg's of lamotrigine a day and 4-6mg's of clonazepam a day. I get basically no side effects from this combo of meds at all. Well i do get awful dry mouth which leads to dental problems no doubt but that's a small price to pay.

I don't think the problem is with anti-psychotics at all i think it's with how they are prescribed. They should be used for their intended purposes which as treating schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and as a add on to anti-depressants in treatment resistant depression. Although i do feel that some shrink reach for the seroquel or risperdal too quickly as Lithium, Lamotrigine (Lamictal), divalproex (Epival, Epilem, Depakote) and possibly carbamazepine (tegretol) should be tried before anti-psychotics are tried. That is for maintenance therapy because if someone is manic or worse yet in a mixed state a anti-psychotic usually with a benzo is the only thing that is going to stop a episode dead in it's tracks. After the initial episode is over i do think that mood stabilizers and anti-manic drugs should be tried first.

I have been on seroquel, zyprexa or risperdal pretty much everyday since 2006 to treat my bipolar disorder. I have suffered no long term effects from these drugs at all. I know other people who have been on atypicals and even typical anti-psychotics like loxapine, Thorazine and even the high potency ones such as Haldol or Clopixol. If not for the fact that these drugs put a stop to the episode they where suffering from they may very well not be here either. So neuroleptics are certainly not evil drugs for everybody.

I completely agree with you on that other medications (sedative types) should be tried before giving neuroleptics. I honestly believe that I should not have been given something that is so potent and has the longest half life on the market right now. Now that I have been misdiagnosed, I have to live with these side effects for God knows how long. I just hope that it will not be permanent.

Here is a good read with regards to what you have posted there:

http://www.hedweb.com/bgcharlton/neuroleptics.html

 

[Jerry Atrick]

And based on my personal experience, and the experiences of others, I've come to believe that telling someone to go see a psychiatrist, especially for neuroleptics, is extremely dangerous, and potentially equivalent to telling them to go kill themselves. Perhaps you haven't noticed the suffering that has been described in this thread by those treated with neuroleptics. I suggest you re-read the entire thread.

Don't get your panties in a knot, I don't need to re-read anything. I have been on anti-psychotics since 2004. Started out on seroquel. Ended up on risperdal pills and stayed on them for a while. Tapered off the risperdal over a summer at the end of which I went into a tailspin for about 9 months and ended up in a state hospital where a judge ordered me to receive risperdal shots. Was on the shot for at least two months but it is difficult to remember exactly how long. After I got out of the state facility a doc put me back on the pills. I dunno. I could go on and on. Ended up in another state hospital in early 2007 and they put me on abilify, which I have been on to this day.

Through all that I have had side-effects. On seroquel I was extremely tired all the time. I've had the brain zaps but they went away after some time passed. For a while I could orgasm but not ejaculate i.e. no semen would come out. Honestly, I had never heard the term anhedonia before this thread but after looking it up, but I prolly had that during and after the time I was on the risperdal shots. All those things went away with time.

I found a combination of one neuroleptic and one SSRI anti-depressant that work for me and have not missed two consecutive doses since 2007. I now suffer no side-effects that I am aware of. All your bold and underlined words look fancy but you still have not convinced me of the evils of psychiatry. It was men in white coats who saved my life and I'm not saying they are all perfect but your experiences do not match mine. What the fuck? You mean to tell me that two people can have opposite experiences with the mental health system?

Like I said, the MH system in this country as a whole is not perfect and the states are ranked 1 to 50 based on how good their respective MH systems are. Maybe you live in Alabama or something. I'm sorry you're from Alabama. When it comes to crisis mode and a life/death situation, I stand by my assertion that psychiatrists and doctors should generally be given the benefit of the doubt.