[thgonace]

They shrink your brain, you are not exaggerating your symptoms or not expressing them properly. When you take anti psychotic medication you are getting dumber. End of discussion. Forced anti psychotic usage is akin to forced labotomization .

The injections used have incredibly long half lives, they take months to really get out of your system. Yet doctors can just ignore the brain damage, claim you are having difficulty communicating your side effects. They don't have to even address the brain damage, it isn't on the side effect list of the medication.

I realize some of you have illnesses which require you to take these drugs in order to survive. I don't, I love my brain and think it is a terrible thing to waste. Sadly, society wants me on these drugs, and apparently they don't even have to recognize what they do.

Forced Invega Sustenna injections have caused me possibly permanent damage and a great deal of discomfort.

I would love to hear from other people on this subject.

[Blue_Bird]

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I'm on invega sustenna and have nothing but great things to say about it, it has really changed my life for the better

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[thgonace]

Originally Posted by Blue_Bird

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I'm on invega sustenna and have nothing but great things to say about it, it has really changed my life for the better

Sent from my A463BG using Tapatalk

Dude it is shrinking your brain, google it if you don't believe me.

so i get to either kill myself now or die slower and stupider. fun fun, thanks for the reminder

[QUOTE=thgonace;4936036]They shrink your brain, you are not exaggerating your symptoms or not expressing them properly. When you take anti psychotic medication you are getting dumber. End of discussion. Forced anti psychotic usage is akin to forced labotomization. QUOTE]

I'm getting "dumber" and I'm "lobotomized"? Also, "End of discussion" isn't a complete sentence. I can tell you've had that terrible experience by how you're wording your rant. I hope you become happy and healthy soon.

Originally Posted by thgonace

Dude it is shrinking your brain, google it if you don't believe me.

You want me to Google it? I'd rather use my university's journals and research. My intelligence hasn't declined one bit. If you think that's untrue read the philosophy of Kant's First Critique on Pure Reason.

[thgonace]

Originally Posted by 0dysseus

You want me to Google it? I'd rather use my university's journals and research. My intelligence hasn't declined one bit. If you think that's untrue read the philosophy of Kant's First Critique on Pure Reason.

I'm sure I could find you a scholarly article on the subject, honestly though the effects are to severe for me to want to compete with you like that.

If you are on the anti psychotics at least part of you knows that your brain is shrinking.

[12AM]

Sorry that you had a bad experience with anti-psychotic, and a bad experience with Psychiatrist as well, I see? I am happy that you don’t need any medication now to survive, and if you do okay without medication, sure you can stay away from it, no matter what the society said to you. But the case with every single person is different. For example, my Psychiatrist did tell me about the brain damage possibilities, and I know I would end up in hospital or prison if I didn’t take my meds. Everyone’s illness is unique just like everyone’s personality is different, even though the name of the illness is just the same. To encourage others, without knowing what their real issue is, not to take their medication, is not a wise thing to do. Oh, and welcome to the forum

[Victoria'smom]

For the safety of myself and family I'll take the injection. It's better than jail or death.

[thgonace]

Since I don't have a psychotic disorder, I know I should be careful not to judge other people who do. That being said, how about trying to maintain control of your psychosis using exercise and discipline instead of allowing yourself to be neutered. This is coming from someone who has experienced psychosis in the past.

Originally Posted by thgonace

Since I don't have a psychotic disorder, I know I should be careful not to judge other people who do. That being said, how about trying to maintain control of your psychosis using exercise and discipline instead of allowing yourself to be neutered. This is coming from someone who has experienced psychosis in the past.

you don't have a psychotic disorder , and your telling other people, that actually do , to exercise to control psychosis.
Its a bit much..

[rep97]

I am on forced invega sustena injections montly.. it has been 6 years almost that I have been taking them involuntarily.. forced by psychiatrists, my parents and the hospital.

I don't know what damage it has caused me but I did try to do something stupid to make them back off and that was that I told them about a sexual incident and I thought they would back off and be shocked but instead it hurt me.

I don't know if it is the trauma or the medication but I am hypersensitive... always on edge around people.

My psychiatrist put me on clozapine since last meeting and I am gona be switching to this new medication instead of invega.

I don't wana be on medication but I have flashbacks that are horrible and I am bored all the time and have disturbing thoughts all the time so I scared if I got a lawyer and challenged them.. then I would be alone and that scares me too.

I guess I am saying I have complex ptsd rather than anything else.. maybe schizophrenia too but these injections are ruining my lives and putting my abusers(father and mom) in charge of my life.

[Loial]

First, I'd just like to say I'm sorry you have had a negative experience with anti-psychotics, I can sympathise that they aren't always very pleasant medications.

But...

Originally Posted by thgonace

The injections used have incredibly long half lives, they take months to really get out of your system. Yet doctors can just ignore the brain damage, claim you are having difficulty communicating your side effects. They don't have to even address the brain damage, it isn't on the side effect list of the medication.

Yes there have been studies showing "brain shrinkage", yet they are far from conclusive about the exact mechanics of the brain damage.

Also, bear in mind the brain is quite resilient... just because it's shrunk a bit doesn't mean you will have a huge loss of functioning. I'm sure someone with a more scientific background could back me up on that one.

A lot of the reporting about the study that showed that was sensationalist.

In fact, it is suggested that not being treated for psychosis over the long-term may have effects that can be just as detrimental...

Taken together, these studies suggest that antipsychotics may contribute to early gray matter loss and, later in the course of treatment, to white matter loss. These effects may be dose-related and probably are not prevented by the use of second-generation agents. This argues for minimizing antipsychotic exposure both acutely and long-term. However, we are left with the additional dilemma that a longer duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) may also be neurotoxic. Longer DUP has been associated with poorer symptomatic and functional outcomes as well as brain volume loss. Studies of DUP have their own methodological limitations and controversies, but they should serve to warn us that the rapid control of psychosis may also be important. Psychosis at any phase of the illness can be extremely distressing, disruptive, and potentially dangerous for patient and family. New approaches for early intervention are needed and, with existing drugs, the potential for neurotoxicity must be weighed against short-term and long-term clinical gains. In the meantime, clinicians should avoid using antipsychotics unnecessarily and, when needed, use the lowest effective dose.

- See more at: Antipsychotics and the Shrinking Brain | Psychiatric Times

I think it's definitely a case of weighing the benefits with the risks. They aren't nice medications, but if you need them... you need them.

I do think sometimes psychiatrists are trigger happy with meds, or prescribe doses that are too high or just don't consider the overall wellbeing of their patients but that's not the medication, that's the system that's bad.

Originally Posted by thgonace

I realize some of you have illnesses which require you to take these drugs in order to survive. I don't, I love my brain and think it is a terrible thing to waste. Sadly, society wants me on these drugs, and apparently they don't even have to recognize what they do.

If you don't mind me asking, why were you put on the Invega?

Originally Posted by thgonace

]Forced Invega Sustenna injections have caused me possibly permanent damage and a great deal of discomfort.

You already highlighted the fact it has an extremely long half-life. How long have you been off meds? It could well take the better part of a year to fully recover.

Don't forget other problems like anxiety or depression can reduce cognitive abilities too. If you have any residual mental health problems it's quite likely they could be causing problems too. Sometimes people are took quick to blame medication for everything.

Personally, I was "lobotomized", i.e. over-medicated, on Amisulpride for something like 10 months, but returned to full functioning after coming off when my symptoms cleared up. It had a massively shorter half-life but I'd say it took 2 weeks for the "zombie" part to fully go away & a couple of months to be back to normal.

I wouldn't condemn yourself just yet, I think it's unlikely you have permanent problems due to the Invega.

Things that can help are exercise, eating healthily & making sure you are getting enough sleep. Other than that it's just a case of giving things some time to return to normal.

Originally Posted by thgonace

Since I don't have a psychotic disorder

cool, everything you've just spouted lost all validity, great job. let's stop talking over people with actual experience with chronic psychotic disorders alright buddy? can we do that? can we mind our business? oh, and trust me, if any amount of exercise were a cure, my gym rat *** would be the first to know. so bye

"oh sweetie everything will be okay, i have a certification from a $20 online class on holistic medicine and i know exactly what the problem is. have you tried meditation? green tea? hot yoga?"

Christ what's with the attitude when someone comes along and suggests medication isn't the best way of sorting your problems. It's nasty stuff and does cause brain damage.

[junkDNA]

i think its a individual thing...not one treatment protocol for everyone. just my opinion... i think thats what has hurt a lot of people with the medical model...not looking at people as individuals, instead a group of people with similar symptoms, so one treatment should work for all. meds, meds, meds. some people respond well to meds and go on living and functioning. some dont. so its obvious this model isn't working

[Loial]

Originally Posted by chickenfoot

Christ what's with the attitude when someone comes along and suggests medication isn't the best way of sorting your problems. It's nasty stuff and does cause brain damage.

I still think people get too hung up on the "brain damage" part. A lot of people use that as scaremongering. As I was kind of alluding to... what does that mean practically?

Trying to find any worthwhile information on the functional effect of the brain matter loss is rather difficult.

I will just point out that brains shrink naturally when you get older, yet there are plenty of people in old age who remain quite sharp. (paraphrasing someone who did a study here talking to NY Times, although yes that particular comment was just in general not in relation to meds)

Also one study I read said it was "a subtle but measurable difference". We are talking brain scans picking up small changes here over decades, not people turning into vegetables.

Then you still have to consider no-one knows to what extent schizophrenia might increase loss of brain matter itself, since it's not ethical to use healthy individuals on APs as a control, or on the flipside not feasible to use unmedicated schizophrenics as a control either.

Don't get me wrong, APs are potentially pretty nasty meds & no doubt have some long term effects but I really don't want to see people who need them worrying needlessly. If you can manage without meds, or on a low dose... peachy... but if not, meds still remain the better of two evils by a country mile.

fear of medication has been the sole reason ive been too scared to seek any real help for my problems, so yeah for Some Reason i get a little pissed when people with no real knowledge come and try to stoke those fears =) oops

Are you sure this is not a cognitive distortion?

Both sides must be weighed. Have you made an evidence for and evidence against your conclusion?

I just hate the pro med bull spouted by the majority on this site and feckin everywhere. The whole "are you off your meds?" "oh, you have a problem, you need more meds!" ... it's patronizing. It helps some people but there are other ways of helping with symptoms for those that don't agree meds are the answer.

And no, meditation isn't stupid, does a lot less damage than psychoactive toxins being pumped into your system every day.

Originally Posted by psycho mantis

fear of medication has been the sole reason ive been too scared to seek any real help for my problems, so yeah for Some Reason i get a little pissed when people with no real knowledge come and try to stoke those fears =) oops

I think there's plenty of knowledge to be had from one's own experience and the experience had by many.

[venusss]

Originally Posted by psycho mantis

fear of medication has been the sole reason ive been too scared to seek any real help for my problems, so yeah for Some Reason i get a little pissed when people with no real knowledge come and try to stoke those fears =) oops

Um meds having side effects and bad ones... that is REAL KNOWLEDGE.

Having bad experience is a personal experience that should not be discounted just because you fear meds.... um, maybe those fears have real basis?

Should all the negatives be muddled just so no person ever decides to get off meds that may not be helping them in the moment? Are you for a censorship?

christ ok ill go **** myself

i am Aware that there are side effects, thats why im not On Anything. im saying that fear mongering like this and saying that all you gotta do is exercise and Control Yourself is holding people back as much as anything