Mental Health Hating life after drug induced psychosis / antipsychotic treatment

[PwrThrashinDeth]

So last November I smoked a quarter of some questionable weed and it sent me into a drug induced psychosis. I smoked a lot of weed last year and never had any problems, but looking back as soon as I started smoking this batch I started having weird thoughts. The psychosis lasted about a week and then my dad ended up taking me to the hospital.

There I was put in inpatient and put on Risperdal, which ended my psychosis, but as soon as it kicked in I started to feel flat/anhedonic and got no enjoyment out of life anymore. I ended up getting off Risperdal mid January, which got some of the awful side effects like akathesia and tiredness to go away. Although no psychosis symptoms have returned, which is great, my anhedonia and emotional blunting still remain.

I think it's sllloowwwly getting a little bit better, but obviously I'd like to speed up the process and get out of this rut ASAP.

Here's what I've tried:
Therapy - I go and try to get something out of it but it really isn't helping at all
Smoking weed again - can't even really get high anymore
Going on Wellbutrin for a month - didn't help and caused insomnia

I'm currently trying acupuncture, I've only had one session so far and the Doc seems to think he can help me but we'll see.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get through this?

 

[herbavore]

If the therapist you are working with isn't helping you may try to find someone else to work with. There is a lot of trial and error (and money spent!) but when you find someone that has the experience and skills to help you go to the deeper levels of your self it can be very empowering.

I would give the weed a rest--a long one-- for the time being. Sounds like that shouldn't be hard if you don't even get any pleasure from it.

Acupuncture can be good for overall balancing. It is subtle but my guess is that it will help you overall. Have you tried taking fish oils or any of the other sources of essential fatty acids?
I find that meditation has been the most helpful in terms of releasing emotions. It sounds like you have a good plan and are moving forward.

 

[PwrThrashinDeth]

If the therapist you are working with isn't helping you may try to find someone else to work with. There is a lot of trial and error (and money spent!) but when you find someone that has the experience and skills to help you go to the deeper levels of your self it can be very empowering.

I would give the weed a rest--a long one-- for the time being. Sounds like that shouldn't be hard if you don't even get any pleasure from it.

Acupuncture can be good for overall balancing. It is subtle but my guess is that it will help you overall. Have you tried taking fish oils or any of the other sources of essential fatty acids?
I find that meditation has been the most helpful in terms of releasing emotions. It sounds like you have a good plan and are moving forward.

I tried talking to a different therapist once but he didn't really seem to think he had anything more to offer to me than the one I already have.

I've indeed been giving the weed a rest, I can't even remember exactly the last time I tried to smoke but it's been at least a few weeks.

I've been taking fish oil every day for awhile now.

I tried meditating with some binaural beats and they seemed to be working at first but then stopped after awhile, I've been meaning to get into more serious forms of meditation, it sounds like a good idea.

Thanks for your reply!

 

[bees_knees]

Coming with the positive psychotic symptoms of 'weird thoughts' and paranoia, is the negative psychotic symptoms of anhedonia, emotional emptiness, amotivation and apathy. So long as the cascade of brain chemistry changes that have caused the psychosis are still making an impact you will have these negative symptoms. It may have triggered chronic psychosis aka. schizophrenia, in which case you'll really have to trial and error your way through a lot of meds before fixing it, it probably won't get better on its own.

That said risperdal is notorious for making negative symptoms worse.

I'm on a Abilify and having some luck.

Clozapine is the most effective for pos and neg symptoms alike but has some risks and protocol, just so you know.

 

[PwrThrashinDeth]

Coming with the positive psychotic symptoms of 'weird thoughts' and paranoia, is the negative psychotic symptoms of anhedonia, emotional emptiness, amotivation and apathy. So long as the cascade of brain chemistry changes that have caused the psychosis are still making an impact you will have these negative symptoms. It may have triggered chronic psychosis aka. schizophrenia, in which case you'll really have to trial and error your way through a lot of meds before fixing it, it probably won't get better on its own.

That said risperdal is notorious for making negative symptoms worse.

I'm on a Abilify and having some luck.

Clozapine is the most effective for pos and neg symptoms alike but has some risks and protocol, just so you know.

My therapist and p-doc don't think I have Schizophrenia, they think it was just a one time drug induced thing, I certainly hope I don't, that would really suck. And I REALLY don't want to take an antipsychotic again. I've been very very slowly starting to feel better (for example, my chest doesn't feel dead anymore) and have been feeling some windows with glimpses of emotion lately, so I have hope it will resolve with time.

 

[bees_knees]

How is it going?

 

[PwrThrashinDeth]

How is it going?

Not bad. I've been doing regular acupuncture sessions (I've had 4 so far), and amazingly feel a slight improvement in my symptoms after each session. I think I'll make a recovery in time, it might just take longer than I'd like it to.

 

[bees_knees]

If negative symptoms continue to bother you ask your doc about very low doses of Solian, say 50 to 100mg (usually prescribed at 400mg to 1000mg). It acts completely differently chemically at that dose range, and should be activating/energising/motivating. I had a bit of a problem with anxiety though so I came off it, thinking of trying it again as it may have been unrelated since I've had anxiety attacks since.

 

[PwrThrashinDeth]

If negative symptoms continue to bother you ask your doc about very low doses of Solian, say 50 to 100mg (usually prescribed at 400mg to 1000mg). It acts completely differently chemically at that dose range, and should be activating/energising/motivating. I had a bit of a problem with anxiety though so I came off it, thinking of trying it again as it may have been unrelated since I've had anxiety attacks since.

If things still aren't really tolerable by the end of the Summer that sounds like it might be worth a shot, thanks for the tip!

So, apparently it's not FDA approved for use in the USA (where I live), guess I won't be getting that haha.