Treatment of Schizophrenia

I've been having severe mental problems for more than a year now. My question is: Can Schizophrenia reach the point where it is not treatable. I had always did really well on Seroquel for years, then something drastically changed with my brain after getting stressed out. I no longer feel like the same person. I have severe confusion and I perceive reality in a different way. My psychiatrist has tried several different psyc meds and anti-depressants, but nothing has worked. I started taking Clozaril about a month ago and don't notice any improvement with that. They even did a CT scan of my brain and could not find anything. This thing has me really baffled. I just cannot understand why my brain doesn't work the way that it used to. Physically and cognitively I still do really well. I've thought of try to get ECT but it's expensive and it might not work either. Any insight anyone might have will be greatly appreciated. This thing has ruined my life and it seems that there is nothing that I can do.

What are your specific symptoms?

Are you at an effective dose of clozapine yet...I know they start it slowly...it is the best for treatment resistant sz but I'm wondering about other options if it doesn't work out. Have you ever tried haldol or risperidone both of those bind the dopamine receptor with much higher affinity than either seroquel or clozapine. What will work best depends on your overall genetics. There is also the option of poly pharmacy where they can give you two meds together....it's not preferred but sometimes one of the stronger d2 binders is added to clozapine.

About a quarter to a third of patients with sz are treatment resistant...so can it get this bad yes...unfortunately it can...

I am always confused. I see reality in a totally different way. It's really weird and really scary. I've been on both Haldol and Risperidal. Now I'm on Seroquel as well as Clozaril. My doc slowly increased the dose. Right now I'm on 400mg of Clozaril each day. I take 800mg of Seroquel daily. Thanks for the replys.

Are you a guy or a girl...if female estrogen levels can change over time but you can supplement with estrogen. Being female always gives you an advantage with sz.

There are a couple of weird meds that treat sz but are ridiculously experimental not in the sense that the medicines haven't been approved but in the sense that they aren't typically used for that purpose. So one is warfarin...as part of an unrelated study 5 people with sz stopped hallucinating when being placed on warfarin for other reasons. The other is famotidine which is Pepcid which is an antihistamine like all other a anti-psychotics...the dose needed for Pepcid is much higher than for heartburn because you have to get enough across the blood brain barrier. This is just an over the counter med but something you should discuss with your doc if you want to try it because neither of these meds has really been officially tested for sz.

Here is a link about it....

Does Heartburn Drug, Pepcid, Hold Promise for Schizophrenia? | Psych Central News

I'm a 42 year old male. Thanks so much for the responses. I think that Pepcid might be something that I could try. Do you know how much you should take?

200mg a day but the safety of that dose hasn't been studied a typical dose is 20-40mg....it's also a med that isn't supposed to be used for more than 6-8 weeks...and I have no idea how it would interact with your other meds...thus for sure mention it to your doc before you even try it. I know my doc was even worried about herbal supplements etc so it's important to keep them involved with all your meds.

Thanks. I'll talk to my psychiatrist first then.