Daily Bread 1/08 - a Difficult Subject

Hi

You definitely should continue to take your medication.  I went through the same reasoning.  I know about the side effects and the pain and impatience and yes denial. My friend saved me by keeping at me until I agreed to take my medication.

I amdoing the same for you.  Consider a newer antipsychotic with less side effects like weight gain and sedation.  And have patience!

bretsch

Meds or Not

I have been taking a combination of drugs for the past eight years with relative success. Risperdal and Paxil were my first medications. The Risperdal took away all feelings and made me very focused with a side effect of extreme weight gain and subsequently diabetes. Before Risperdal my mood swings were exaggerated from low to high; with auditory hallucinations running my life. I was violent and destructive; having little or no friendships as I was a loner and an introvert.

I have had the hallucination and voices since I was three; never being diagnosed until I was forty. Suffering from drug an alcohol addictions made it doubly difficult to live a sane life; self medicating was a fact of my existence. I smoked three packs of cigarettes a day; quitting four years before I was diagnosed. This habit left me with emphysema.

After three years of Risperdal and Paxil I changed to Geodon and Welbutrin; still living with the side effects of weight gain but recovered emotions. I am able to live well enough that my moods no longer run my life.

I have been in a twelve-step program for the past twenty five years and have found the benefits in keeping engaged with people by going to a meeting on a daily basis. I found that the meetings help me stay out of my head and help me connect with others as a way of healing. I also live a spiritual lifestyle cultivating Dao through prayer, meditation and working with others.

As for the overeating, I can't control the medication side effects but I can control what I eat. Eating fruits and vegetables, nuts and grains, chicken and fish and cutting out red meat as a primary source of protein has made it possible for me to control my weight gain. When I am hungry I used to eat fatty, sugary foods that promoted bad health. Now I eat lots of salads and drink vegetable juice and fruit juices to detoxify my liver and give me lots of fiber.

I have learned that I can live in fear or live in love. Living in fear makes me digest bad food that gives me mood swings and disempowers me by pushing me into despair. Living in love, promotes loving things that effect my health in a positive empowering way.

Combining acts of service with others, asking for help, letting the spirit in and being loving to myself through positive eating habits I gain power over the side effects of the medication. I am no longer powerless and at the clutches of my illness.

It's easy to throw up my hands and drop to my knees in despair. With the support of a power greater then myself I can manage my life successfully.

Hello Carolyn,

Have you tried Geodon, too?

Also keep the hope up that a newer drug could come on the market shortly, one that works better than the Zyprexa.

It is never too late to make a change.

I was on Stelazine for 20 years before it stopped working, someone I know is still on Navane.

I will ask my friend who is on Zyprexa how she deals with the weight gain, and get back to you.

Regards,

Chris

Hi Carolyn,

I had the same problem as you do on Zyprexa, and could not in fact tolerate it after many many tries, though I was on it for years. I finally tried Abilify. It worked, in that my symptoms were treated successfully enough, but it was extremely agitating, made me very irritable...until  we combined it with a calming drug, which in my case was Geodon, but in your case might be something else. Have you tried a combination of antipsychotics or does your psychiatrist insist on monotherapy? I have only had success with polypharmacy; nothing else has worked. It took us five years to work out the combination of drugs I am currently on, tweaking this and that, but we did, and I have been quite well for months now, really for two years, despite a couple of relapses due to extreme stress. (See my profile for the present combination of drugs I'm on if interested.)

Disclaimer: I too have stopped the very minor dose of Zyprexa I was taking, a mere 2.5 mg, basically because I believe I do not need it and it was making me gain weight even so. I think stopping that amount (I once took 40mg) I do not risk a relapse, only minor discomfort that I can easily remedy with a PRN of Haldol from time to time if necessary...However, I do know that I might be in some unknown and unpredictable danger of relapse even so, I just don't happen to think so.

Pamwagg