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Originally Posted by SmileHere
This thread is why I joined PsychCentral - okay, and other reasons too... 
Sometimes Psychotic, are you med free now and without psyhosis/schizophrenia?
Did you feel your tapering off went alright or do you wish it had gone more slowly, the 10% way?
I don't expect my psychiatrist to know all the answers, so hoping to research all this well before I even start tapering off.
I'm on 10 mg Abilify now which is according to my psychiatrist the lowest working dose for psychosis/schizophrenia.
I went from 20mg to 10mg fairly quickly without any noticeable side effects, so I'm hoping it wouldn't have to be 10% a month reduction from there, though I'm willing to do it slow if needed. What do you guys think?
I'm wondering whether to buy a scale or not, for cutting/scraping the pills and going the 10% way.
My psychiatrist is otherwise a fan of high doses and would like to have me on Abilify 'forever', but agrees that according to our system here after 2 years one is 'entitled' to discontinuation (though she thinks it very unlikely that I'd be alright without meds, that's why I'm looking for another psychiatrist  ). I doubt her to be an expert to tapering off.
In the light of success of Open Dialogue Finland, which is a low/no med approach to treatment of psychosis, I wonder if 2 years are random time or if any real studies back this up? Does anyone know? |
So I went by 2.5mg each time down and it was fine....I did get some knocking hallucinations at one of the lower doses but it went away. I was off for 9 months then I started hearing the knocking then music but no voices. I was under some stress and concerned about relapse so I just went back on that was about two months ago. also I was having visuals. My relapse was mild but it got treated right away. I plan on trying to go off again though after at least 6 months stable....I'm at about a week or two with no symptoms now so it will be a while.
My pdoc says 6 months no symptoms, I'm not sure where he got that number...there are two studies one by harrow and one by wunderink both suggest time off meds is good. Harrow set the two year mark, basically that study was naturalistic so it's just when people went off...no scientific basis...