Looking for support

Hi there
my name's Olivia. I have been diagnosed with schizophrenia and forcefully treated with risperidone, clopixol and halperidol for the last two years.

I find like everyone else that I have literally no emotions or empathy, no motivation, loss of intellect,trouble focusing and very bad memory problems.

My family are the ones who put me in hospital and so they support me being on medication. They don't believe that it is literally taking my reasons for living away.

Unfortunately there is no way for me to get off the meds for at least another six months and even then I'll have to go under the radar and go off them cold turkey.

In the mean time I am going to get some ginko biloba and go on a raw diet and see if it makes any difference at all. I am on 4mg of halperidol now...

Anyway just wanted to say hi to any one else in a similar boat.

Anyone else having trouble with convincing loved ones that the meds are damaging?

Welcome to the forums

I find like everyone else that I have literally no emotions or empathy, no motivation, loss of intellect,trouble focusing and very bad memory problems.

Though I don't have schizophrenia, the lack of empathy, motivation, trouble focusing and memory problems reflect me quite well.

On a more relevant note, I think some extra detail on the 'forced treatment' part would be useful. I've heard accounts of it that really grind my gears, and are one reason why I've chosen to stay as far as I can get away from psychiatry.

Another point of relation, my mother was ridiculously stubborn about thinking she knew what was best for me, even as a fully grown man (Almost 20, and this was semi-recent). She was insistent on kicking me out of the house to live with my dad if I didn't take them consistently, which ended up happening (for a different reason) about 2 years ago. Basically, the only reason I didn't want that is because her house was a year newer than me (built 1998) and about $150,000, meanwhile this place, my dad's house, is over a century old and was $14,000. The meds were garbage and I'm more than glad I went cold turkey on them months ago. (As my signature indicates )

If nothing else, at least in six months your family will see what kind of difference it makes for you to be off the meds and probably think twice about themselves. For me, quitting venlafaxine, aripiprazole and bupropion made me way less irritable and violent-outburst-prone, and I've gone all the way from struggling with my weight after gaining ~25 pounds to losing roughly 40 and looking to gain a bit back.

I guess i 'acted' pretty randomly when I heard voices. But the most part was they would put me in hospital for camping on my dads property. And then lie about me not taking care of myself.

Then after successfully being off the meds for six months they found me again and put me in hospital again.

The worst thing is hearing what they say in court the doctors twist and exaggerate things and make up lies.

I hope my family sees a difference when I quit the meds I barely make conversation now and am not interested in doing anything.


How did quitting the antidepressants go for you?

Did you have any wild withdrawl symptoms?

They'll do anything to make a buck. I wish more people out there understood what a hostile "profit over consumer" asset the pharmaceutical industry really is.

My method was to pretend that I was still taking the medications when I was actually just pitching them in the trash. Or, if my dad was nearby at the time, I'd take a swig of water while he wasn't looking and secretly put the pills in my pocket, stashing them in a hidden spot later. It did help restore some emotional stability, as much as I can get anyway. I've always been inept at recalling the moods of past experiences, but if it was elevating enough to have been worth it, I think I'd probably be aware of that. I feel, though, that I actually have more motivation to get out and do certain things, still not a lot, but better than dreading absolutely anything that involved leaving the house, as it was when I was on the prescriptions.

I had pretty intense anxiety from the withdrawal. It happened in a few bouts that lasted a number of days at a time. Can't think of any others, but that was plenty bad enough in itself.

Coming off steadily probably would have made it less tumultuous, but I didn't have the option. Had to break the rules for my own sake. I'd recommend taking the gradual course, if possible.

Yeah and I hate how no one will take the patients word seriously it's all about the doctor because they have studied even though they do next to nothing just prescribe pills

I was doing the secret stashing of pills too however I got caught unfortunately.

Yeah I remember having abnormally bad anxiety when I was off the pills


I will be going cold turkey too...

greensforlife wrote:They don't believe that it is literally taking my reasons for living away.

Hey family if you want me to take these pills the least you could do is spend ONE day on this 'medication' and see what it is like. Here are the pills I take, would you like a glass of water to wash them down with ?

The opinions from people who have never taken psychiatric drugs are worthless.