Longest you've gone without a relapse?

Just curious. My intial episode was early 2006 after a breakup and months later I finally sought help because ofvthe thoughts I was having.

I was prescribed Seroquel and Zoloft. I took Seroquel on its own for two months with no relief. I then added Zoloft about 2 months later and after the intial dose I felt immediate relief. I don't know how possible that is, but I don't care because I wasn't suffering anymore. In the Summer of 2007 I came off of Seroquel completely and only took Zoloft (about 20mg daily). Early this year I decided to come off of Zoloft completely and that's when all hell broke loose.

I guess my question would be has anyone gone 5 years or so with no AP and not relapsed? Is that even possoble?

I have. i experienced my first "break" in 2003. it was short lived and chalked up to a PTSD flashback.

but ever since early 2011
things starting going downhill and i have recently been in this state for over a month now i imagine

I don't know if there are any "breaks" that happened a long time ago that I simply failed to recognize... So I unfortunately don't have a long time-period to work with as far as forming a response. I've only been severely affected over the past two years, the last year & four months knowingly. Since then, my relapses are quite short in duration (anywhere from a few days to a month - on average about a week or two) but happen very often... Almost mimicking a bipolar cycle? Though my bipolar symptoms & psychosis are not often related... But as I said, probably an insignificant time period in order to give you a good response. But people have been known to recover completely or almost completely then have relapses. So what you're describing sounds plausible

i too am really just confused about what the symptoms really add up to and what i am going to be willing to do to change it

Are you back/currently on medication?

Im really terrified to go back on because earlier this year I tried going on a few different AD's and they only made me 100x worse! I see a doctor next week, and I'm going to ask about a combo of an AD/AP since that's what seemingly worked last time. Im tired of fighting this on my own, but it sucks when you go for help and it only seems to be worse.

i only take 1 of my anti psychs... i am prescribed 3

hi this is my first time posting in this forum, i thought i had put it behind me but i recently had a huge episode after 2 years of being fine. does anybody know if an episode like this is a sign of me getting worse or just a once off?? i'm really frightened of going back to where i was at the start

Have you stopped your meds at all?

no i have been taking them for 2 years solid, i did miss two days during the week tho

It could have been a withdrawal symptom? When you're on an AP so long, when you go off suddenly -- even for a short time -- it could cause either the symptoms to reoccur or get worse.

i see. maybe that was all it was, i hope so anyway really dont want to go back to that again, thanks

I'm obviously not qualified to say that is DEFINITELY what it was, but it's a possibility. Just like with anti-depressants... When you experience the withdrawal of even missing a day after so long, a depressed person might feel even MORE depressed than they were when they initiated treatment. But just keep taking the med & see how things pan out. Maybe try some other methods of keeping the calm in your mind... Exercise, diet, meditation, distraction, etc.

hmm i'll try it thanks

My last major episode waas in 2010. Eversince by God's grace I have been symptom free...and i hope i remain like this....

That's awesome. Did you stop taking medication prior to the last episode? Did you make any adjustments?

There was a time that I didn't have a psychotic break for several years. That was when i moved from a stressful situation. I moved from Oregon to Washington state. In 2004 I started having minor symptoms but in 2006 I had my first break since 1998. I had another when I was 13 in 1996. in 2006 I had several breaks every year including this year. I had a bad break in May of this year and had to be hospitalized. I took an overdose and was hurting myself. I am doing well right this second. I had an autism conference recently and it went better than I expected.

Was the return of the psychotic episodes because of stopping medication, or did it just resurface on its own?

When I first moved to Washington state I was so stable fir a long time that after awhile the docs took me off the meds. It wasn't until 2004 that I started having prodromal symptoms. I didn't get on meds again until 2006. Then even on meds I have problems. They work great for awhile and if stress or lack of sleep is a problem then I start going downhill. I moved in the year 2000. I still get major symptoms if under overwhelming stress.

I'm like you, Firebird. Stress and/or lack of sleep are the defining factors that make me symptomatic.

Are you guys on a combo of AD and AP? I'm considering starting just Prozac for psychotic depression being that my first episode Zoloft alone worked so well for matience for a bunch of years until I stopped taking it. Now I'm just hoping that the Prozac will work if I ride out the first few weeks

I take both an AD and AP.

No I did not stop taking medicines prior to my last episode. I was on queitapine and it was not working. So I was hospitlaised and they introduced Amisulphride which worked wonders for me and now IAm on a combo of amisulphride, arpiprizole, and clonzapem for side effects.