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Originally Posted by Secretum
I went off my meds for about four days (I ran out and the pharmacy didn't have anymore; they had to order them) and my hallucinations pretty much disappeared. When I started the meds again on Monday, the hallucinations came back.
Now that I think about it, I didn't really have frequent clear hallucinations until I started taking Abilify, the first antipsychotic I tried. I had other psychotic symptoms, but not hallucinations.
Does anyone know if it is possible for antipsychotics to cause hallucinations? I don't think I'll go off the zyprexa, even if it is causing me to hallucinate, because it is so effective against depression and I find depression much more distressing than the hallucinations. I am merely curious.
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In theory yes, and Zyprexa is certainly one of the ones that could do it. Zyprexa takes a shotgun approach in that it acts on a wide array of neurotransmitter systems. One of those it has a very high affinity for is the serotonin system. From personal experience, I am highly sensitive to drugs that manipulate serotonin, i.g. traditional antidepressants. They have a strong tendency to induce psychosis, mix episodes, and mania in me. This type of response is common among a certain subset of people, and I think you may be one of them. You indicated you suffer from atypical depression which further indicates you may be one of these people who can't take serotonin manipulating drugs.
Furthermore, individuals who have this type of responce are almost guaranteed to suffer from a form of bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder, and usually respond very we'll to bipolar medications such as lamotrigine, latuda, and lithium. Wellbutrin is also another viable choice because it is fundamentally different from most commonly prescribed antidepressants and acts on different neurotransmitter systems.
I suggest taking this to your doctor and tell him what's going on, he can prescribe something that's equally effective against your treatment resistant depression and doesn't have these side effects.