Hallucinations :(

I'm been having a lot of hallucinations lately, mostly visual but sometimes auditory. I take 10mg of Saphris a day which for the most part works well. I'm beginning to think I need a higher dose of my antipsychotic. I'm also on 500mg of Lamictal a day. I was on a lower dose of Lamictal (as a mood stabilizer) until I saw my epileptologist (I have epilepsy and might be a VNS candidate soon).

I've seen cats jumping off tables and chairs (my mom has 3 cats and I've been staying here until I find a new job; I got laid off in January of this year). I saw my mom walk into the kitchen once, only to find out she was in her office. I've seen random people in the corner of my eye. Usually the hallucinations disappear quickly. They are typically only a few seconds long. I've never had both visual and auditory hallucinations at the same time.

I'm a bit tired today because I had a sleep study done last night and they woke me up at 6am (I normally sleep for 12 hours a night). My mom has a small goldfish tank and just a moment ago I thought the bubbles were insects. I called mom over to have a look and sure enough what looked like bugs were actually just air bubbles floating up. This is unique because normally I notice my hallucinations but in this particular case I didn't.

It's all so surreal at this point. My psychiatrist appointment is in a month, so i'm just going to wait it out. Hopefully it won't get worse. Oh well.

Sorry to hear you're dealing with this right now. I strongly suggest contacting your psychiatrist and trying to get an earlier appointment so you can get a med change and treat this sooner rather than later and avoid thing's getting too bad. Take care and hugs if wanted.

Thanks for the hug

I feel like I really am disintegrating. I think I might've had some paranoia yesterday, or maybe some delusions. I had a sleep study done on Saturday night (which I forget I already mention) so I had to wake up very early. Late that day, I was thinking about the study and it seemed odd to me that I felt like they weren't actually monitoring my sleep. I never saw the technician plug my jack box into the recorder (it could've been wireless and battery powered). I get this weird feeling that the technician was trying to come on to me even though she was probably just trying to be nice. It's not worth overthinking these things so just best to put it aside. I get this weird feeling when this happens, like I know I'm not thinking rationally. Easier to just shrug these things off when they happen. Overthinking doesn't do me any good, it just gets worse. Honestly though, I really wouldn't mind if she was interested, heh.

I feel pretty awful today. I slept 15 hours last night, like I used to do back when I had a job and would get sleep deprived from having to wake up so early. I think I forgot to take my medication last night (not the saphris tho; I can't sleep without it) so today I'm having lots of seizures and just feel off.

I've been starting to feel very nervous lately. I'm really excited about a job here in Orlando that I have a good chance of getting an offer for, but since I can't drive I feel very stuck. I like being able to walk to bars and restaurants (even by myself) and have a few drinks. I will miss downtown St. Pete a lot. Living alone makes me feel depressed and anxious. I suppose I could find a room mate but there's a difference between a room mate and a friend.

Writing this is difficult, I'm actually crying now. I'm going to relax with some music and forget about the world for now.

I hope you feel better soon. Your plan to listen to music and relax sounds good, hope it helps. I would get in touch with a doctor ASAP esp. if you're having seizures.

I've been seeing a psychiatrist regularly for 2 years now, and I'm seeing an epileptologist right now who is very good. For the most part, I've been okay with the schizoaffective, but things are flaring up. I blame being tired yesterday and today on the issues. Oversleeping doesn't help much, I still feel exhausted. My seizures have never really been controlled so that's a work in progress. My doc says I'll be a VNS candidate if the meds don't work (max dosages on Lamictal and Keppra).

There's a clear pattern to my SA. I'm usually more depressed in the morning (to the point of not being able to get out of bed), and now I feel elated even though I'm tired. I've always been that way, not sure why.

It sounds like you've got a good treatment team going for ya, now it's just time to be patient being a guinea pig unfortunately
I hope all works out well for you

Things have been better. I was pretty sleep deprived last weekend after a sleep study. A good nights rest is hard to come by. I had a sleep study titration done and I'm hoping I'll have a CPAP machine soon. If it works, I look forward to getting a sound nights rest for once. It is common for epilepsy to be comorbid with sleep apnea. That is also true for mental disorders such as schizoaffective disorder.

Still having a few hallucinations though. I saw what looked like insects inside of a goldfish tank so I called mom over. Turns out it was just bubbles from the air hose

I'm starting to get annoyed by my pdoc. They haven't given me a refill of my saphris and my prescription has no refills left so have to have doctor approval. I'm going to be pretty stern with them come Monday; they'll get a nice wakeup call when I tell them I only have a weeks worth of meds left.

Sorry to hear about the hallucinations. It sounds like you are unsure if your current medication will work. Keep your head up, focus on getting your mind past the hallucinations, and attuned to reality. Don't worry about other things until you do if you can avoid it. Have things gotten any better?

Things are definitely off. I've had ever increasing visual hallucinations over the course of the past few months. It's probably the result of my previous psychiatrist reducing the dose of the meds when I complained of sleeping 12+ hours a night. That change did nothing for me in terms of effectiveness.

I was at my apartment the last few days packing stuff up (lost my job, lease ending, etc. etc.). I don't have any cats and I'm usually just alone in there. It was just odd seeing cats walking around in the corner of my eye briefly. Usually the hallucinations go away after a second or two, but I can definitely notice when they happen.

resaebiunne wrote:Things are definitely off. I've had ever increasing visual hallucinations over the course of the past few months. It's probably the result of my previous psychiatrist reducing the dose of the meds when I complained of sleeping 12+ hours a night. That change did nothing for me in terms of effectiveness.

I was at my apartment the last few days packing stuff up (lost my job, lease ending, etc. etc.). I don't have any cats and I'm usually just alone in there. It was just odd seeing cats walking around in the corner of my eye briefly. Usually the hallucinations go away after a second or two, but I can definitely notice when they happen.

How are things going? Sorry to hear you were experiencing visual hallucinations. If hallucinations develop on meds try hard to ignore them, and trust that the meds will work in time. I have been there with meds that worked, and then some later point serious hallucinations returned (this was like 4 years ago). It lasted about two to three weeks for me, but was very miserable. Then for some reason the hallucinations became faint, and later on they left me. During that time I believed that they would go away. Like with what some call "imaging", imagine that you don't have hallucinations (even when you do), it may help. Then again it may hurt, I tried to stay positive with hallucinations, before I was ever diagnosed, and went a year and a half without any help (my life completely fell apart, lost touch with all friends etc.). Hopefully things go better soon, but try to stay positive, even as it seems you are experiencing another setback caused by the disease. You can also try new meds you haven't tried before. Maybe your doctor will let you lower one dosage, and take a new med at a low dosage, and then you work your way off the med that isn't working right now the way it is supposed to.