Reassuring increases in cortical thickness with atypicals...

Cambridge Journals Online - Psychological Medicine - Fulltext - Divergent effects of first-generation and second-generation antipsychotics on cortical thickness in first-episode psychosis

One of the scariest things for me is that we know so little about what is going on in the brain either with psychosis or with antipsychotic use....there have been a number of studies showing a reduction in brain volume under both conditions....but this is the first I've seen showing an increase in parts of brain in this case the cortex.....I have to say it's somewhat reassuring that this is occurring in reponse to atypicals. It really makes me want to stay on my meds rather than take another trial off. Do you guys worry about the long term effects of the meds?

i do worry.
obviously i found out about the physical side of long term with meds when i was borderline diabetic while taking seroquel. a physician specializing in endocrinology tested my thyroid and blood levels and such and said that if i continue taking the meds AND continue my lifestyle that i had with eating that i would no doubt become diabetic. that was in 2010.

as far as the brain changes ive only ever had 1 ct scan and 1 mri scan. and my brain volume was normal. my only problem was that i had a Chiari I Malformation of my brain but i believe i was told that that was genetic.

I think of this all this time! My brain went through so much trauma that year of frightening psychosis that my memory was shot. my hippocampus must have shrank so much because it's susceptible to stress so easily. I take omega 3s and multivitamins now along with trips to the library to keep it up to speed. I don't want to end up with dementia or a cognitive impairment. That scares me. I don't mind my antipsychotic. However, I loathe my antidepressant. Sigh. It takes away my soul. I no longer feel when I'm on it. It's either that or I kill myself from severe panic attacks though. The wages we fight for our humanity...

I've been worried about it in a vague way. Mainly I'm just glad I'm no longer delusional. I worry about the med stopping working though. I have a lot of fears regarding my future. If I believed I would live much longer I'd be very worried about Parkinson's.

i worry a lot abt the damage of meds. im trying out alternative approaches to reducing them. like diet changes. ive beendoing pretty good with my new diet change. but its only been about a week of that