I sure hope you're one of the rare, very rare people who do not need medication.

I'm sorry my answer might not comfort you.  I have a hardline approach.  When people say they want to get away from the diagnosis of schizophrenia I wonder if it is because they buy into the stereotype of someone diagnosed with SZ.

I tell community members here all the time to get a second opinion from a qualified psychiatrist if they are not satisfied with their diagnosis or with the current treatment.  So do get a second opinion to put your mind at ease.  Also: a diagnosis can change over the years based on the arrival of new symptoms or a re-assessment of the current diagnosis.  This is not unheard of either.

However if you feel ashamed to have a diagnosis of schizophrenia that is another story.  You're a long time community member here, you've read my SharePosts I hope and hopefully you understand why I can say there is no shame in having this diagnosis.

The time between starting a drug holiday and relapsing can be quick or it can be gradual over the course of a number of years.  I know someone who had a mild form and was off the medication for two years and then the voices returned and she was in hell. 

The descent from having a rational mind to crossing over a line and believing your thoughts and not realizing they are paranoid and untrue will happen at some point only most likely you will not know when that point is because you will have crossed that line without realizing it.

Although I had a mild form I relapsed within three months.  I went back on the Stelazine and continued to take it for 20 years until I was switched to Geodon with no side effects and no symptoms.  I take a hardline approach to staying on medication and staying in treatment.

You could try a traditional drug like Stelazine, Navane or Haldol or Prolixin if the atypicals cause adverse side effects.  You should try every drug out there and even the new ones coming on the market before you give up.

Now I do not know the laws in the U.S. states however I can give you my personal opinion: a person diagnosed with schizophrenia or another mental illness who is not taking their meds and risks a relapse is in no way a candidate for raising a family and if she wants to raise a family while she's not in treatment I wonder if she'll have a harder time doing so.

I feel this way because I decided not to have kids.  I understand that every woman is different and a lot of women diagnosed with schizophrenia want to have kids and raise a family.  However I've heard too many hard luck stories about women with schizophrenia who have it extra hard when they have symptoms and are trying to raise their kids. 

It is not going to be easy raising kids if a woman has schizophrenia or another mental illness and is experiencing symptoms.  You will have to work twice as hard.  You might need day care even if you're not working for the times when your symptoms are so severe you need help with parenting.

It is also possible to be off the meds for a longer period of time and then have a relapse quite unexpectedly.

It is also possible that in a very rare case a person can function without the medication.  I was not willing to risk a second drug holiday after my first one failed.

Only you know what your symptoms were and their level of severity.  Only you know what you felt like when you were not well.  The choice to discontinue the meds was yours alone to make and like I say I hope it works out for you because everyone I know who discontinued their meds relapsed and has now a much harder time of it. 

One guy was drug-free for close to four years and then one day he just snapped after four years of hearing voices and behaving in an irrational way all the time, including causing a scene in a restaurant which could've landed him in jail.  Now he can't even work at a job of any kind.

Again I sure hope your decision works out.  I wish you all the best.  Try Googling

to get information about grants or log on to the small business administration government web site.

Sorry to sound so grim.  Maybe it will turn out you're one of the rare minority who doesn't need drugs.  Only even if your diagnosis turned out to be different the likelihood is that the new diagnosis would require some kind of drug treatment, like for bipolar.  In some instances people with depression can recover without medication.  For bipolar and schizophrenia most likely not.

Regards,

Christina