No Meds

So I have schizophrenia and PTSD. I do not currently take any meds. I have been on prozac, abilify, trazadone, risperidone, lurasidone HCL, and lithium to name a few. Nothing has ever worked for me. Prozac had no effect. Traz made me a zombie even when I was taking a quarter of the lowest dose. Risp and Lura worked for a week and then stopped even after upping the dose to the max. Lithium made my head buzz and my body tingle. I have been off all meds for almost three years. I have also not had many severe symptoms until very recently. I put in a request at the VA to see a therapist and start a CBT class. In response they mailed me a ninety day supply of risperidone. They know from their records that this is ineffective. I guess my question for you all is, Is there anyone who feels like, or has, tried every med out there and nothing works? I feel like the VA just wants to give me meds and send me on my way. If that is my only option, is there anything you have found to be effective after going through a list of other non-effective meds? I would prefer not to take any meds but it seems my skills training is not enough to combat this last surge.

Depakote or Zyprexa. I've been on them both. They both worked well for me. However they both have similar side effects. Weight gain being one of the most common. They can also make you feel flat if your on too much. Good luck!

For me, things will work for a bit and then stop... usually several months. Invega worked really well for me. It's similar chemically to risperidone, so maybe since that did work (although for only a week) it might be worth trying. It was pretty expensive when I was on it though.

My experience, otherwise, is that I do better on older medicines. I currently take Seroquel 800mg as an antipsychotic and mood stabilizer, Trazodone for sleep, Effexor for depression, and Prazosin for C-PTSD symptoms (mostly night terrors).

My guess is that the doc didnt really do a thorough read thru of your records, and I'm guessing they didnt speak to you either. You'll need to advocate for yourself with what meds you've tried, what worked, what didn't, etc, but also, don't make them think you are being non-compliant. Hopefully, the prescription was more like "this was the last thing they took so we'll send this" and not "send this to shut them up".

Good luck and take care of yourself.

Can you describe your symptoms? I'm unsure what you're dealing with as you have PTSD and Schizophrenia. (I have PTSD so I know what has helped me on that front.) Hugs.

Childofchaos831, I want to actually get in to see and talk to somebody to discuss what I should do. I really want to get back into therapy and the best thing they offer is CBT. I don't know if there are no therapists available or what. I will definitely explore the med world again tho. It sounds like you don't take Invega anymore, may I ask why? I know that one was suggested to me in the past but I never took it. Also risperidone wasn't even the last thing I took! haha

Goldenwaves, I'm having more and more frequent visuals along with the voices trying and sometimes succeeding in convincing me some of my delusions are true. I have been successful in the past with basically telling everybody to shut up or playing music when they start in. Lately they have just been incessant. Keeping up a running commentary or playing on old psychotic episodes. This past weekend was especially bad but I did find what I think may be a trigger to one of them. Its getting really bad so I want to go in and talk to someone about it and maybe learn some new techniques for dealing with it but the response I have gotten has been sub-par to say the least. Meds are my last resort mostly because they haven't worked in the past.

I absolutely understand wanting to speak with someone in person. I have some friends that have dealt with the VA before... they basically got told when to come in and just had to wait til then... could they have sent the risperidone to get you til then?

Also, the invega... I am on Medicare from being on ssdi... I fell into the coverage gap while taking the invega and had to switch to something cheaper (Haldol, nightmare situation, now have tardive dyskenesia because of that) because the invega was $1000 a month...

meds are standard for a lot of problems these days, especially on the psychotic spectrum. That's not to say you should necessarily take them--some people do better without an antipsychotic, some people take them then taper, some people only take them when they're feeling out of sorts, etc.--but they're probably just "going by the book" or whatever.

Have you thought about maybe trying the risperidone or something when you feel like you need something, and then either taking a lower dose daily or no tranquilizer at all most days? I take Abilify every day, but I"m trying to taper it and eventually discontinue, which will take a while. From what I've read about people who have recovered from psychotic problems, some people can do without the drugs most days and then they'll take something for a couple weeks at a time, when needed.

Good luck.

Interesting that you were prescribed lithium for your two particular diagnoses. Were you experiencing depression associated with these two things as well? Lithium is known to really help with suicidal thoughts and tendencies.
In terms of schizophrenia, the main idea of prescribing antipsychotics is for the antipsychotic effects, which help with hallucinations and delusions.

Serotonergic antidepressants (SSRIs) are particularly helpful for PTSD (Prozac for example) Other types may be used as well (such as Trazadone)

There are plenty of antidepressants to try out, from various types of antidepressants, as well as many antipsychotics.

At the time I was on lithium I was very suicidal. It seemed to help marginally but the side effect was extremely disconcerting. I'm not really depressed anymore but I do have some motivational issues. But I'm pretty sure i'm just being lazy. haha

I have minimal experience with meds, but I think the great false dichotomy of the mental health biz is this notion that it's meds or therapy.

Here is another avenue to consider:
https://www.amazon.com/Nutrient-Powe...liam+walsh+phd

I have problems with this model, as it is too close to the pharma model, but if one is going to treat mental illness as a medical problem, using targeted nutrition to resolve biochemistry problems is at least potentially real medicine rather than drugging of symptoms. He has vast amount of data showing results with psychosis, depression, etc.