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  • TDS Moderators: AlphaMethylPhenyl | paranoid android

Done with antipsychotics!

It's a baby!

It's a baby!

Bluelighter
Joined
Dec 23, 2007
Messages
652
I'm finally off antipsychotics! I can't smoke weed again, I can't trip again, I can't be an alcoholic again (all things that can trigger psychotic states), but goddamn if I'm not happy to be done with Abilify.

I went from 5mg (was still experiencing delusions on this dose at first) to 2.5mg for two weeks and today is my first day entirely without them. The 5mg/day was actually giving me anxiety attacks and panic attacks. It's a very stimulating anti-psychotic. I would wake up in the middle of the night all the time, all that stuff.

If I've noticed any withdrawal at all it's a bit of mopiness and somnolence, definitely very much preferable to psychosis. The abilify is still in my system, I'm staying on 1mg of cogentin per/ day for the next week (abilify gave me pseudoparkinsonism that the cogentin treats), but I'm basically done. My friends say I seem like myself again, my family says I seem so much better, I'm just feeling great! Very happy to be coming out of the woods as it were.

Be careful with those shrooms everybody, especially if you have a family history of psychotic disorders as I do.
 
Congratulations man. Yeah I learned that the hard way too, unfortunately. I actually really wish I was off mine but my family isn't so sure. I know that my friends would like me more though. I don't think I can ever trip again too, and I DEFINITELY can't be an alcoholic. You can't smoke weed again ever? Bummer!
 
Ho-Chi-Minh said:
Congratulations man. Yeah I learned that the hard way too, unfortunately. I actually really wish I was off mine but my family isn't so sure. I know that my friends would like me more though. I don't think I can ever trip again too, and I DEFINITELY can't be an alcoholic. You can't smoke weed again ever? Bummer!
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Are you seeing a psychiatrist who could judge when it's safe to come off them? I think drug induced psychoses are often over-treated. Friends who went through the same thing I did would come out with diagnoses of Bipolar I.
 
He actually told me that it was up to me whether I want to stay on this low dose or not but I think he may not have put too much weight on this statement because he knows that I pretty much do what I want. He also recommended that I stay on it; however, what psychiatrist wouldn't? People are definitely over-prescribed and diagnosed, especially in the United States. Its hard to say if I need it or not; sometimes I think I do, sometimes not.
 
Out of curiosity what do they have you on?

I feel so sleepy, it's ironic, I was worried going off the antipsychotics would make me feel super jittery but the abilify was actually making me jittery and going off of them feels like coming down from amphetamine (achey, sleepy, a little emotional)
 
Ho-Chi-Minh said:
He actually told me that it was up to me whether I want to stay on this low dose or not but I think he may not have put too much weight on this statement because he knows that I pretty much do what I want. He also recommended that I stay on it; however, what psychiatrist wouldn't? People are definitely over-prescribed and diagnosed, especially in the United States. Its hard to say if I need it or not; sometimes I think I do, sometimes not.
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It's odd that people say the anti-psychotics are over prescribed because just about every asshole shrink Ive been to where so weary of the diabetes risks and such that they thought really hard of giving me one even though i clearly needed it. Hell my last shrink would give me extra benzos before giving me a anti-psychotic. Unless it's temazepam or something and a high dose it's not going to calm me down when I'm flipping out manic. These days i take seroquel but i hate some of the side effects such as that horrible dry mouth and night sweats. Unfortunately the only atypical anti-psychotics my insurance covers are seroquel and risperidone and i have no real desire to go back on risperidone. Talk about a zombie drug :p . Seroquel doesn't work as much as i would like it to either. Zyprexa works the best for me by far but i can't get it covered and it costs a fortune.

Oddly enough i have had nothing but positive results from shrooms, LSD and Cannabis. Alcohol is a totally different story 8( . Neither shrooms or acid ever set off mania in me and if anything i felt calmer and more relaxed after the trip. I had mental illness before i touched either so i don't think the 100 or so mushroom trips Ive taken made me any worse off. As for Cannabis it almost acts as a mood stabilizer in some ways and definitely helps with the impulsiveness i get.

But everyone is different :\
 
But everyone is different :\[/QUOTE]

I'm on a super low dose of Risperidone, which, with just recently starting to take caffeine again as well as with a fairly new lowering of the dose, has pretty much destroyed my sleep. It does make sense to me one might feel that way after coming off of Abilify; it sure is a unique medication (an anti-psychotic that speeds one up which can double as many other things).

I don't necessarily think anti-psychotics are over-prescribed, but medication in general. In the United States that largely means SSRIs and Benzodiazepines. I think doctors generally understand the potency and risks of anti-psychotics, and mine tried GABAergic mood stabilizers (noTrileptal, thank you) before moving on to this heavy hitter.

As for mania, benzodiazepines, even in a small dose, seem to do the trick for me very well; though I really fear becoming dependent on them due to reports of brain damage and basically diminished IQ, as well as small signs (after i take a little) a few times of withdrawal.

Its been over a year since Shrooms, but it seemed to have a profoundly beneficial effect on my mania and depression alike even a few weeks after the fact. The same goes for weed, just a little bit shorter. The jury is out on whether opiates set off my cycles, but I wouldn't want to be on that crap unless I could safely get it every day anyway.

Regarding my issues, I think my family is generally pretty neurotic, and the people who've abused drugs (such as myself) tend to end up taking medication, some after realizing serious problems, but importantly they don't just become sick by themselves. I think that if I develop the proper habits for long enough and stay away from a few classes of particularly mind-bending drugs (at least for years) then I could survive better in the world without medication than on it. So right now I am sort of screwed up, though its not an eternal judgement by any means.
 
Is Zyprexa any good for Panic attacks, Anxiety? Also, is Zyprexa safe to take with Phenibut & Piracetam? Does it block the effects of MDMA?
 
I tripped shrooms in 05 thru me into a 7 month psychosis. And now I'm on a Hell of a cocktail of psych meds. And I'm ready to give them up.
 
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