Mental Health Coming off Invega Sustenna (paliperidone)

[Invegis]

Kyliepsychic: I did not experience what you are talking about, I usually don't drink but it happens that I had a drink or two since taking Invega, although I did not get drunk, i did not feel like vomiting or anything.

 

[Kyliepsychic]

Thanks heaps for your reply.

 

[invegascrewed]

how are people doing this week?

 

[Kyliepsychic]

Really good. I've just had my first injection of invegA 25mg down from 50mg. I'm hoping I remain emotionally stable with the drop as I would like to be off this horrendous drug altogether by Christmas. How are you

 

[Invegis]

Still recovering, next week it is going to be 2 months since my last injection, the effects are still very noticeable although my relatives tell me that I look normal from the outside, I pretty much feel like i'm in a mental prison, lethargic and incapable of experiencing pleasure or joy. Like it has been said on this thread before, I take it as a waiting game and just let time pass, waiting for my full recovery once the drug will have left my body.

Kyliepsychic, it is a good news that you have reduced the dosage, I hope you will feel better with that reduction, patience is the keyword I believe cause there is nothing we can do to ease the suffering. What about you invegascrewed? How are you doing?

 

[signalsign]

It's also been two months since my last injection. Nobody has noticed from the outside and I feel stable, although I do have more energy and have lost about 5 kilos. It takes me longer to fall asleep and I have to be more conscious about relaxing in the evenings. Reading instead of playing video games. But so far, so good. I'm happy with my life. I was OK on the 25mg injection but this is a definite step up. I met a painter and I'm helping him out. Good therapy.

 

[drewm17041704]

Dpdr

Hey out of the all of the stuff I read, http:///dpselfhelp.com recovery sections etc. it's best not to smoke pot since it could be a trigger; alcohol, caffeine etc. Derealization/depersonalization is most likely due to a heavily traumatized central nervous system. Something heavy duty like Invega plus just the psychological experience of it might had triggered it. For me there was also clonazepam and cogentin involved which was discontinued too abruptly after just a month of use. Recovery from DPDR is hard to determine, that's the scary part about it, but I will say there's definitely been marked improvements. It's a bit more bearable. Waking up in the morning and just looking outside is still a drag, and the terrible part about it, is you really don't get the nice feeling you get when you look at nice places, but that could both be DPDR or Invega- for there's still a bit of distortion going on for me- There's also a lot of suggestions to just not focus on it, and be as busy as possible. It seems time is the best medication, and you just have to let the brain find its own natural homeostasis. I don't know if Khaverim7 experienced DR but he had some form of depersonalization and got better within a year. Most people make some kind of recovery from Invega in a 1-2 year period. It's hard to say they will be the same person, but I guess for each person it's different. Most DPDR recovery seems to be around that time too. 3-4 months, 6-9 months, or 1-2 years etc. Active engagement seems to be a big part of it.

Hi, I've never posted in this forum, but read through it albiet briefly and it seems to me that most people who have taken this drug are experiencing depersonalization disorder. I first got DP after a spice/shrooms experience at 16, but was already a very anxious person to begin with. I was given risperidone and the DP got tens times worse, and that was after a single dose. Seroquel and Latuda would do the same, not nearly as much though. I'm my case, I found strong dopaminergic drugs (amphetamines, cocaine, cathinone derivatives) and benzodiazepines to be the only thing that would give me brief moments of feeling "real" again. I was also on Abilify at this time, which may have played a role in this. Anyways, I struggled off and on depending on the cocktail of drugs I was using (prescribed and unprescribed) and also ended up in many rehabs, halfway houses etc when I knew deep down I wasn't an addict, I was really just trying to treat my anxiety and depersonalization. Eventually, at 21 and five years of feeling as though life was unreal, like getting in a car or going in my house was a new experience every time, I was able to convince my parents that what I'd been saying for years was the problem was actually the problem. I found a doctor who actually listened to me and believed me, and I haven't been the same since. The combination of subutex, low dose benzos, Lyrica, Zoloft, Lunesta and provigil has literally saved my life. Luckily, the P.A. whom I see is allowing me to stay on these drugs the rest of my life, and has changed things that weren't working anymore upon request. I've taken every antipsychotic medication in the US, every ssri and every drug outside of psychedelics you can think of and suffered from TERRIBLE depersonalization for 6 years, and in the one year I've been "cured" of it have gotten a nursing license, started seminary school and established and reestablished relationships I never thought possible. THERE IS HOPE. Reading this blog reminds me of everything I felt at 17, 18 years old. The straight agony of feeling nothing, feeling uncormfatble every second of every day. Feeling like this is forever, and someone Will have to take care of me the rest of my life. Suicidal thoughts were ever present and I didn't think I could make it another day. I got through 6 years of it, 16-21, while watching friends make something of themselves and I was terrified to even walk out the front door. I'm here to tell you it was worth it, and gave me a whole new level of appreciation for my own life and everybody in it. It brought me back to my faith. Without this disease, I'd be a stuck up frat boy and a terrible human being. I now take care of people, and have faith that I experienced what I did to help others. I'm going to dedicate my life to it, and finally feel as though I have purpose. Just keep having faith, and hope for the best and seek out a doctor who will actually listen, no matter how long it takes. They are out there, I promise.

 

[signalsign]

I read a book "the man with the electrified brain" -simon winchester. In it he describes how he used to suffer 9 day bouts of depersonalization but he was cured by a series of ECT treatments. On a side note he is a great author.

 

[Symbolicone09]

Going cold turkey on the ganja, i ended up getting the job... i wish ya all well.... been up and down but not low

 

[Kyliepsychic]

Going cold turkey on the ganja, i ended up getting the job... i wish ya all well.... been up and down but not low

Cannabis is the only thing that restores my full sexual function. I'm staying away from it because I'm concerned about becoming unstable on this lower dose of invega (25mg). I am supposed to be taking 6mg tablets of invega but I'm not. I'm coming off this pathetic drug.

 

[Kyliepsychic]

When did you guys start losing weight? I am hoping to soon. I need to shed some of this weight. The only thing affecting me psychologically is my weight gain from this awful drug.

 

[invegascrewed]

hey - still quite detached and not quite in life, dr improvements, and some dp improvements - here's some stuff i found on yahoo - https://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130830142644AAHYl8y

 

[paranoid android]

When did you guys start losing weight? I am hoping to soon. I need to shed some of this weight. The only thing affecting me psychologically is my weight gain from this awful drug.

I never gained any weight on Risperidone but then again i never gained any weight while taking Seroquel and Depakote/Epival together either which is weird to say the least given that both are notorious for weight gain never mind both together. Have you had any blood work done lately for hormone levels, blood sugar and anything else that atypical anti-psychotics can throw out of wack? If you haven't i would strongly suggest doing so just as a precaution more then anything else. Better to be safe then sorry after all.

 

[invegascrewed]

is anyone else experiencing a blank mind as not sure what to do about the day or where to go about things - it's like i have a hard time figuring what to do about one moment to the next - do people get that too?

 

[paranoid android]

is anyone else experiencing a blank mind as not sure what to do about the day or where to go about things - it's like i have a hard time figuring what to do about one moment to the next - do people get that too?

Umm doesn't everyone get that? Not to make light of the situation but i experienced that long before i ever took a psych med and i think most people do to some degree.

 

[Kyliepsychic]

I never gained any weight on Risperidone but then again i never gained any weight while taking Seroquel and Depakote/Epival together either which is weird to say the least given that both are notorious for weight gain never mind both together. Have you had any blood work done lately for hormone levels, blood sugar and anything else that atypical anti-psychotics can throw out of wack? If you haven't i would strongly suggest doing so just as a precaution more then anything else. Better to be safe then sorry after all.

I have huge prolactin levels apart from that everything else is normal

 

[invegascrewed]

what are your thoughts on actual brain damage - i still can't imagine i been so screwed up from one shot (156, 234, or 117 mg)

 

[paranoid android]

what are your thoughts on actual brain damage - i still can't imagine i been so screwed up from one shot (156, 234, or 117 mg)

I can't see any actual brain damage arising from it. It's not like Haldol which may be neurotoxic due to other properties or anything so i wouldn't worry about that at all.

I have huge prolactin levels apart from that everything else is normal

Well if you want to loose weight i would suggest a low carb high protein diet. That's essentially what i am on now ever since i found out i was allergic to wheat and i can barely eat enough to stay at 160lbs.

 

[AlphaMethylPhenyl]

"brain damage" is one of those pop-psychology phrases that people tend to throw around way too often. While it's clear that, for instance, a brain scan can point out that chronic, long-term alcoholic has a shrunken, pickled brain, and that someone who abused methamphetamine at high doses for years has holes in their brain, there's no real scientific consensus on what exactly "brain damage" is beyond these extreme examples.

There are a lot of questions to consider: does "brain damage" imply permanence? what is the difference between damage and adaptation? is it "brain damage" if a part of the brain that has been overactive/enlarged relative to others (generally speaking) now has a smaller amount of activity? can brain damage also consist of various parts of the brain growing?

 

[invegascrewed]

Thanks guys for your insight. Just a bit hard at the moment facing dpdr to think there's not something very wrong. Ho Chi Minh I think you mentioned you were injected with Invega before, how long did it take for you to get back to 'normal'?