What is the point of taking antipsychotics? Am I taking them to rescue my dopamine?

[deadendgame]

It really does not make sense that I'm taking zyprexa and I'm getting all these goddam side effects with no visible benefit. I know that it antagonizes the D2 dopamine receptors which is what causes the side effects. Since I already know its pharmacology, that is why I refuse. Is there another reason why I am on this? Is it to rescue my remaining dopamine and serotonin supply? Unless it does that, I will keep refusing. I will only comply if some therapeutic benefit can be attained.

 

[Memantine]

It's usefull for psychosis. Other than that yes it is garbage.

They did a study on monkeys and zyprexa decreased the weight of the monkey's brains over time.

 

[...]

The theoretical point of antipsychotics is to suppress mesolymbic activity (the circuit that runs from the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens). Mesolymbic hyperactivity is believed to result in delusions and hallucinations.

I always wondered if my thoughts against antipsychotics were the result of delusional thinking or sound logical reasoning.

Either way, there are antipsychotics out there with fewer side effects than olanzapine, which is among the worse drugs in terms of sedation and metabolic side effects (weight gain, hunger and hyperglycemia). Aripiprazole, for instance, has more than a tenfold reduction in histamine affinity, and is a partial agonist at 5-HT2C (so less hunger and weight gain than olanzapine).

 

[Solipsis]

The [rhetorical] question is: why were you prescribed them?

If the negatives vastly outweigh the benefits discuss it with your psychiatrist. I am going through the psych mill but have personally not worn through a whole lot of medications like some have, I get why people can get upset if they are resistant / immune to therapy is what I'm saying.

Sorry if that is your case. Try to stay headed in a healthy direction anyway..

I guess in some cases people are prescribed low doses of antipsychotics for various reasons other than psychosis though... for me as mild ASD case it is actually relatively common, rather than the pregabalin for my anxiety symptoms that I proposed myself.
I tried seroquel (quetiapine) to be fair to my psychiatrist, keeping options open but found it dirty for my purposes / needs.

 

[Memantine]

I too got it for ASD for 4 months. But now I regret it because I just found out that most antipsychotics actually raise tissue transglutaminase in cerebrospinal fluid, a biomarker for neurodegeneration(apoptosis).

Now i'm afraid that i damaged my brain

 

[Cotcha Yankinov]

It all depends on what you were prescribed it for, but there are probably much better options for improving your life than Zyprexa. Antipsychotics do seem to be harmful to the brain, so that harm must be weighed against the harm of not treating a psychotic disorder in most cases. If you don't have a psychotic disorder then we should find you something else.

 

[Bad Robot]

I wouldn't take them unless forced too, too many horror stories and it's no fun living with limited dopamine

 

[TheBlackPirate]

You shouldn't discontinue anti-psychotics abruptly. They create rebound withdrawals possibly lasting months. I am familiar with the fact these drugs produce side effects. If you discontinue, taper your dose over ~two months or more.

Modern anti-psychotics produce lame side effects such as diabetes. Look at Jerry Garcia. Jerry Garcia was a virtuoso on the guitar and never took anti-psychotics (Do you consider LSD an anti-psychotic? ). Jerry Garcia did have diabetes and that sucked. If only they had medications capable of reducing negative symptoms of mental illness while producing fewer side effects, that'd be great.

 

[...]

How does discontinuing an antagonist cause withdrawal?

 

[Cotcha Yankinov]

I don't think withdrawal is the best term, I'd say "rebound" is more suitable, and the theory is an antagonist blocks the receptor so less activity leads to receptors being up regulated and sensitized, so when you remove the antagonist blocking the receptor you get rebound activity.

 

[...]

sounds more like a deposit

 

[duncancrow]

Selegiline for dopamine reuptake inhibition

I wouldn't take them unless forced too, too many horror stories and it's no fun living with limited dopamine

My wife and I both have selegiline to increase our dopamine; hers for depression and mine for ADHD. It works marvelously with no side effects except longevity and it's neuroprotective

 

[Bad Robot]

I wish my doctor would prescribe me some, they sound good, wanted mirapex but got offered seroquel lol

 

[Bagseed]

I too got antipsychotics (olanzapine and later risperidone) presribed for a while, 2-3 years ago, but I kicked both after less than 4 months. I got it for anxiety and derealization (most psychiatrists think this is a psychotic symptom, so they figure APs might do the trick). never really helped, made my depression much worse over time and in the case of risperidone even almost impotent after a couple of weeks. also the olanzapine mad me gain a few kg already after some months, so if I stayed on it long term, I probably would have become fat as well.

In my opinion they are not really suited for many things except real psychosis (or mania), and are overprescribed. but what do you expect? when I first went to the psych ward freaking out they didn't give me benzos but antidepressants.

 

[dopamimetic]

Yeah, indeed these antipsychotics are being prescribed much too readily. I think one shouldn't take dopamine antagonists at all unless when you have a serious psychotic disorder that actually responds to them (there are quite some psychotics who take Zyprexa and it does nothing or even worsen the symptoms, auditory hallucinations are listed as a 'common' side effect!). Anxiety and depression definitely aren't indications for anti-dopaminergics, I'd say they should rather be contraindications.

Some psychiatrists don't know fuck about neuroscience and believe in whatever the pharma lobby tells them. I've been prescribed Seroquel more than once at up to at least 600mg/d, and all it did was inducing horrible side effects - tachycardia, vertigo, orthostatic hypotension, intense restlessness / akathisia accompanied with anxiety is what I remember. Quitted it cold turkey when I managed to got out of psychiatry - well, had some nice euphoric days thereafter.

No, antipsychotics won't rescue anything. Unless you're really psychotic, the best way is to take nothing and let your brain heal itself naturally.