Posted by nfc on August 16, 2008, at 18:42:41
In reply to Paranoid Schizophrenia, posted by vicksnow on August 2, 2008, at 13:29:38
hi vick,
sorry for the late response. i've been dx'd w/ skits also. i abbreviate the spelling cuz im lazy.
anyway how's your bf doing now? when i was hospitalized back in nov05 they put me on ativan for my anxiety and tremors which they later changed to clonazepam, and 3mg risperdal for the psychotic symptoms. yeah i had all the paranoid thinking, mind reading, hidden cameras and microphones, tv talking to you, suspiciousness, accusational, my mind was in a cloud, thoughts telling me all kinds of irroneous things. what an awful time. there's more to it but i'll leave it out.3 weeks later i was feeling flat and depressed w/ psychotic symptoms going into remission but still present. i was then put on zoloft and took that for a year w/ little to no improvement. I blame the risperdal for the flat depressive symptoms. i then went on lexapro w/ a little improvement then it would go back to square one. after a year and a half of risperdal i changed to abilify cuz i researched it to not have the same depressive effects like risperdal. my previous pdocs i tell u i'm quite P.O'd at them cuz instead of changing me to abilify sooner, they just kept raising my zoloft and lexapro which gave me nasty diarrhea. and for that they tell me take imodium AD. idiots!! the abilify made quite a difference and after being on close to a year i noticed another leap in improvement. i'm not so flat and depressed anymore. my social skills are way better and feel better about life in general.
my take is this. assess all the symptoms your bf is having and treat them all w/o overmedicating him for a long time or else he'll just be a zombie for a long time. the psychotic symptoms is what really drives sufferers up the wall. i remember how i was and w/o meds to help me I'd have to be locked up to avoid causing a ruckus to society.
if his psychotic symptoms r still present and strong, gotta nuke'm w/ AP's. try risperdal if u haven't yet. I feel its a good first line treatment antipsychotic plus its atypical. once you see improvement change to something w/o all the negative symptom effects like abilify. once he comes to, setup therapy w/ him or u can learn more about his condition and other stuff and be his therapist.
take these things I said as suggestions as I'm not a pdoc but u if you're acting in his behalf should have a say in his treatment unless the laws are different in your area. Learn all u can about the illness, keep posting here and get therapy for him when he comes to and is coherent.unfortunately skits is a complex illness and u may see an improvement relatively quickly maybe or maybe not because everyone is different. fortunately i've improved but its almost been 3 years since i've been diagnosed. and i've come along some ways but still not 100%. once your bf comes to, introduce him to this site also where he can get support from like me and others.
again being dx'd w/ skits pdocs have told me its a chronic illness. but if u can get your symptoms if all or most undercontrol, u can still live a productive life. again once he comes to then have the med dosage lowered and reduced to a point where he's under control and not overmedicated. that's like the optimal state he can be in. usually i've learned, read and spoken to pdocs that have said those w/ skits usually have to take AP's for the rest of their life. sad but true.
Oh and I can't stress enough, that he be consistent in taking his medication as prescribed everyday. This is very important in the beginning as the body is trying to adjust to the meds and work against the psychotic thinking. What should happen when taking AP's is that the psychotic thinking should die down and he come to like out of a trance. and w/ therapy and w/ time on his own to reflect and think about the times when he was psychotic he can see how he once was and how he's improved. that really helps as you can gauge what should be relatively quite normal thinking and what is psychotic thinking. this way u can talk to your pdoc if you feel psychotic symptoms are coming back and prevent a full blown relapse.
feel free to post some more and ask me any Q's.
wishing the best for the both of you and take care,
nfc
poster:nfc
thread:843706
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080814/msgs/846720.html