who else here take medications?

hello im new in the forum im andrea im 25 i want to share whit you im getting medications entact 10 mg and risperdal 4 mg for avdp whit the risk of going in psychosis
who else take medications here ? and how you feel whit the medications? want to share whit me thanks all the replies
sorry bad english im italian

Hi Andrea,

I am Tan, 53. I see you got an antidepressant and an antipsychotic. I got that too (Venlafaxine and Amisulprid) and additionally a mood stabilizer (Orfiril). It is for schizoaffective Disorder.

I feel okay now since I added the antidepressant. Before I had severe dysphoria in the afternoon, I guess it had something to do with fear, but I do not exactly understand what it was from a therapeutic perspective. It has been a while now since I saw my Therapist.

Some years ago I was on Risperdal too and felt no real difference, but of course it helped keeping me on the tracks.

I am a sleep addict now, but no one can tell if this is the basic illness or the medication. Anyway I sleep about 10-12 hours a day. Dreams play an important role now determining my mood and I need enough time to get through the drama to the good ending. When I stop sleeping before, I feel sick the whole day. lol.

I read you have an avoidant personality disorder with psychotic tendencies? That must be terrible hard to cope with! I cross my fingers for you the medication works out nicely. I guess you are quite new to the meds and unsure if they are good or bad for you.

I needed years of try and error to find a good medication and learn to accept I really need it under all circumstances. Any time I tried to get rid of it I ended up in terrible states of mind and found myself in the psych ward.

The good news are most side effects wear off with time, and if not you can try alternative medication.
Some side effects are inevitable though, but considering I can live an almost normal life due to my meds I regard it as acceptable cost.

It is mostly the sleepiness and exhaustibility that bugs me a bit. The fact that I lost my libido however is more a source of fun. I watch flirting guys and honeymooners with the interest of an entomologist now and wonder about their motivation to behave this weird, lol.

Finally I would like to encourage you to have therapy. It helped me a lot to find kind of a provisional peace. You see, it is okay to be different. All people seem to be sane until you get a little closer

Have a good day, ciao.

Risperdal became the top anti-psychotic 20 years ago. I saw plenty of people on it at the psych hospital and it looked to me that people were better off on the older haldol. Especially in terms of weight gain. If you really need and anti-psychotic and risperdal makes you gain too much don't be afraid to ask for haldol.

Have you tried cognitive behavioral therapy? I would try that first before taking riserdal. It has been shown to help with psychotic disorders as well as anxiety.
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/special ... -disorders

Hello. I take Abilify 5mg. I think I sweat more than usual because of it.

I am not sure I need medications because my root cause of depression is in personality disorder.

Have you ever been psychotic before? I don't understand what is "the risk of going in psychosis" orhow it can be calculated precisely, it doesn't seem very scientific to me, it more like conjecture and fortunetelling atm. Both of those drugs are antipsychotics, and I know this woman taking Arisspa for AvPD and from my limited insight she seems to be doing worse... she looked and acted better on the beginning of therapy then now.

In any case if you were not psychotic at any point it's off label use. I don't support using antipsychotics on the non-psychotic people with PDs That's both my professional and personal opinion. In your place I would ask for second opinion (not that I would personally request help ever, I kinda like what/ how I am). But don't discontinue the drug on your own now that you have started.

N1ghty wrote:In any case if you were not psychotic at any point it's off label use. I don't support using antipsychotics on the non-psychotic people with PDs That's both my professional and personal opinion.

I take Abilify 5mg and don't really think I need to take it because it treats symptoms but not the root cause. I think the root cause of my depression is my personality disorder which can be treated with CBT techniques. But my physician never speaks about this... Why do I have to take meds if I there is a therapy?

N1ghty wrote:Have you ever been psychotic before? I don't understand what is "the risk of going in psychosis" orhow it can be calculated precisely, it doesn't seem very scientific to me, it more like conjecture and fortunetelling atm. Both of those drugs are antipsychotics, and I know this woman taking Arisspa for AvPD and from my limited insight she seems to be doing worse... she looked and acted better on the beginning of therapy then now.

In any case if you were not psychotic at any point it's off label use. I don't support using antipsychotics on the non-psychotic people with PDs That's both my professional and personal opinion. In your place I would ask for second opinion (not that I would personally request help ever, I kinda like what/ how I am). But don't discontinue the drug on your own now that you have started.

Apparently many people believe in 'psychosis risk syndrome'. It was considered but left out of DSM V. However they got it in under another name - “Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome”. interesting article here:

Psychosis Risk Syndrome Is Back

by Allen Frances, MD

It was at a cocktail party 4 years ago that I first heard about the plan to include a “Psychosis Risk Syndrome” in DSM-5. The idea was to diagnose and treat subthreshold psychotic symptoms early enough to prevent the later development of full-blown psychotic disorders....

The motive for introducing “Psychosis Risk Syndrome” was noble, but I knew immediately that the results could be disastrous—misdiagnosis, stigma, and exposure to unnecessary and harmful antipsychotic meds. Most youngsters meeting criteria for “Psychosis Risk Syndrome” would never go on to develop a psychotic disorder. Given this high false-positive rate, the very real risks to the many seemed far to outweigh any theoretical benefits to the few.

But there is an unnoticed and quite disturbing sequel. It turns out that, despite APA assurances, “Psychosis Risk” has sneaked into DSM-5 in an unexpected place. Under its alternate name “Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome” (APS), it is now included in the section on Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders as one type of “Other Specified Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder”/”Other Psychotic Disorder.” And it can be coded for reimbursement purposes as 298.8 (F28).

N1ghty wrote:Have you ever been psychotic before? I don't understand what is "the risk of going in psychosis" orhow it can be calculated precisely, it doesn't seem very scientific to me, it more like conjecture and fortunetelling atm. Both of those drugs are antipsychotics, and I know this woman taking Arisspa for AvPD and from my limited insight she seems to be doing worse... she looked and acted better on the beginning of therapy then now.

In any case if you were not psychotic at any point it's off label use. I don't support using antipsychotics on the non-psychotic people with PDs That's both my professional and personal opinion. In your place I would ask for second opinion (not that I would personally request help ever, I kinda like what/ how I am). But don't discontinue the drug on your own now that you have started.

hi no i i never have been psychotic before ...what mean for psychotic? if it is hallucination i never had this
sorry for bad english

-- Sun Jul 01, 2018 3:36 pm --

HotPepper wrote:

N1ghty wrote:In any case if you were not psychotic at any point it's off label use. I don't support using antipsychotics on the non-psychotic people with PDs That's both my professional and personal opinion.

I take Abilify 5mg and don't really think I need to take it because it treats symptoms but not the root cause. I think the root cause of my depression is my personality disorder which can be treated with CBT techniques. But my physician never speaks about this... Why do I have to take meds if I there is a therapy?

maybe your psychiatrist is not a psychoterapist try to contact a psychoterapist

dippo wrote:hi no i i never have been psychotic before ...what mean for psychotic? if it is hallucination i never had this
sorry for bad english

I think you're doing quite well with your English. Psychosis/being psychotic is where you lose touch with reality. People might see or hear things that aren't there, have very disordered thinking (like being convinced people are going to hurt you) or have very odd behaviour, among other things. They can't tell what's real and what's not.

HotPepper wrote:I take Abilify 5mg and don't really think I need to take it because it treats symptoms but not the root cause. I think the root cause of my depression is my personality disorder which can be treated with CBT techniques. But my physician never speaks about this... Why do I have to take meds if I there is a therapy?

Meds can help with some of the other symptoms like depression and anxiety that go with it. Like lifting your mood just enough so that therapy can be of help to you (which is the case for me- the alternative for me is being severely depressed), and lowering anxiety so you can function a little easier. But they are usually used in combination with therapy. If your doctor hasn't talked about therapy with you before, perhaps it's worth asking if they could refer you to someone?

N1ghty wrote:In any case if you were not psychotic at any point it's off label use. I don't support using antipsychotics on the non-psychotic people with PDs That's both my professional and personal opinion. In your place I would ask for second opinion (not that I would personally request help ever, I kinda like what/ how I am). But don't discontinue the drug on your own now that you have started.

Personally, I disagree. I take an antipsychotic- antidepressants just didn't agree with me. I reacted violently to most of them. Seroquel has done far more to stabilise my mood and help my anxiety than any other meds I have tried and I can tolerate it considerably well. I have never had psychosis, and my only hypomanic episode was triggered by a very high dose of venlafaxine. I did have one antidepressant that worked really well for me, but the price made it unaffordable. Seroquel is the best option for me. Different things work for different people.

I'm on the antipsychotic/mood stabilizer Haldol. I might have AvPD but my diagnosis is schizophrenia.