I want to get off my meds. I'm going to make a list of advantages/disadvantages.
What's the good, the bad, and the ugly?

[s_tartini]

For me going off medications is not an option. Each time I have gone off my meds I was suicidal. My psychiatrist helps me understand all the effects of each medication before I start taking it. We discuss the medications he doesn't just give it to me and so I feel very blessed. He is the best psychiatrist I have ever had and I've had many over the years. I've been doing this for 30 plus years.

[still_crazy]

clozapine can cause a horrible discontinuation syndrome if you're not very, very careful. any antipsychotic/tranquilizer can, but clozapine is apparently well-known for all kinds of withdrawal-emergent problems, if the taper isn't done slowly+skillfully. ((lithium discontinuation can also cause a lot of problems...ugh...).

other than that, i think i cant really tell you anything about your life and your situation, lol. in long term studies, some people with 'schizophrenia' end up either not on any tranquilizers or only on tranquilizers on an as-needed basis (under stress, im guessing), and they do well, as a group. there's some newer data out that would seem to show that long term tranquilizer use (especially at higher doses) = less recovery, more long term impairment, more disability, and (oddly enough...) more relapses and psychosis, over the long haul.

but its complicated. some people do well on tranquilizers, that's it. some people need them, then don't, then do again. some people should probably never, ever be put on tranquilizers, and go thru hell until and unless they can get off of them.

my personal advice would be to see about a way to very, very slowly taper off a tranquilizer. i did read on this one holistic shrink's blog that she'd switch people off some 'atypicals' on to other drugs and then taper off that, plus she'd load them up with supplements. sounds like a good idea to me, intuitively.

[wiretwister]

ever time I decrease my meds ... I regreat it ... right now I am going back up on my lamictal ... I wish I could say I will never do it again ... but I know I will ... I have quit many meds ... I will not take an ap ... but I know I need something ... I have proved it over and over .... if you are going to do this ... be as slow as you can cut the med .... 5% or 10% at a time ... and give your body and mind weeks or months to adjust before you go futher ... be very careful my friend ...

[franz kafka]

I want off my meds too, but I'm going to stay on them anyway.

Cons are side effects, particularly oversleeping and the long-term fear of TD.
Pros are that my mood is stable and my psychosis is minimal. Whether or not that has to do with taking medication, I can only find out by stopping meds. If the meds have indeed caused the stability, then going off meds could be disasterous.