What are some of your experiences with this med? I've been contemplating adding an anti-psychotic, and this is the one my doc is suggesting, if I decide I want to do that. I've been struggling with paranoia for a long time now. Didn't even realize until recently how much it had infiltrated most of my thoughts, and my interactions with people. I'm tired of the mental doppelgangers I create of other people. In my mind is an almost constant stream of ugliness coming from these mental creations. No matter how nice or caring people are, once they're not around, my mind starts coming up with these scenarios of what they must be REALLY saying or thinking about me. Everyone, from my husband, to my psych, to the random strangers I pass by in the grocery store, all end up with a mental counterpart in my mind, spewing criticisms and disgust over my every action. I try to be open with my husband about what his mental counterpart is like. It helps me keep them separate, and helps him understand what is going on when I'm having a bad moment. He hates "mental him." It's nothing like who he really is.

So far I've been able to recognize the difference between reality and the fictional world in my mind. I'm afraid that one of these days I won't, though. It's hard enough to deal with, knowing it's not real. But if I start believing it's true, or these thing are really happening.... it scares me. I've already noticed a problem I have where I can't tell if I've had simple conversations with someone in real life, or I just acted it out in my mind.

Anyone else taking this med? Has it helped? How bad were the side effects?