I feel/think that antipsychotics/tranquilizers in general are kind of a mixed blessing, at best. Whether its psychosis or mania or...whatever...they usually work, but it seems they come at a high cost.

As a group, the severely mentally ill in the US have a lifespan over 20 years shorter than 'normals.' Poverty is an issue. The high rate of drug and alcohol abuse is an issue. However, some critics thing the psych drugs are part of the problem.

I'm just thinking out loud. I take a ton of Abilify (30mgs.every.single.day), and it works, but now...I dunno. Every drug--legal, illegal, prescription, whatever--taxes the body and can cause problems. The tranquilizers just seem to be an especially noxious class of drugs.

Have any of you out there tapered a long term antipsychotic/tranquilizer? Or at least reduced the dose? I'm doing massive doses of vitamins with my tranquilizer (Orthomolecular), and that seems to keep the tics, tremor, dysphoria, etc. at bay. I would think+hope flooding my body with b-vitamins and antioxidants has additional benefits as well, but...there's not a whole lot of data on Orthomolecular, at least not compared to pharmaceuticals.

My long term goal is either to get down to 10-15mgs/Abilify --or-- get off a daily tranquilizer and reduce the antipsychotic use to when I'm on edge. I guess an inbetween solution would be to try a low(ish) daily dose and then ramp it up to a higher dose when needed (if needed...).

What are your experiences with the tranquilizers? The new(er) ones aren't as rough on people w/ mood problems as the older ones were/are. That's what's strange...there's some indication that people with mood problems are more prone to TD and other problems from the tranquilizers, but now everyody (and their mama) is on a tranquilizer, usually for non-psychotic problems.