Helli miller,

I am sorry to hear the drugs haven't worked so far.  I urge you and your brother to keep trying every drug out there, and he may have to try whatever new drug comes out on the market, until he finds better relief.  It really is often trial-and-error.  If he has only been in recovery three years, that is too soon to rule out any positive changes.  It is never too late to see some improvement.

You have suggested the first doctor took him off the meds because your brother was doing better.  Is that right?  I would consider that bordering on malpractice although it is not unheard of for a patient to discontinue meds, at least once, to see if he can live without them.  If the drug holiday doesn't work, the medication needs to be taken for the rest of his life.  You and your brother have learned that already.

You mentioned Zeldox, which in the U.S. is called Geodon.  I am on that drug and I do hope it works for your brother.  I do not make a habit of endorsing specific medications, though.  I'm saying I hope it works for your brother because I think it's a good drug, though it has side effects like any other SZ medication.

Should the Zeldox not work, please consider that your brother may have to stay on some kind of medication even if he has symptoms, to prevent further loss of functionality and brain tissue damage.  There is also the question of the diagnosis.  You do not mention whether he has classic symptoms, like hearing voices, having delusions or paranoia.  Those are the symptoms treated with SZ drugs.  As Dave, a community member here will attest, Dave still hears voices nearly every day even though he takes Risperdal Consta injections.  Not all drugs relieve all symptoms at all times, and a person could have residual symptoms that he has to learn coping skills for dealing with.  Dave pushes the voices out of his conscious awareness and that seems to work for him.

There is also a variant of Risperdal called Invega which a friend of mine takes.  There is Zyprexa, too, and Seroquel.  So don't give up, don't ever give up hope.

I iwsh your brother relief, I really do.

Regards,

Christina

miller

5/28/09 3:58pm

Hello Christina. Thank you for your reply, and yes, I didn't tell before, but my brother have the symptoms like hearig voices, and reply to them. when he watches TV, he thinks they are talking to him. Yesterday was his first day taking Zeldox together with pills for sleep, but he didn't sleep at all yesterday. We need to wait for one week, and then call this new doctor to se how it goes with the medicine. I have been living in US one year ago, but now I lives in Europe. But I apritiate the contact you left for therapy for my brother. And yes, I will not loose the hope, but it is so hard, because the first time he was reacting so fast to the medicine, and now he have been like this since christmas. I just don't know what to do moore. I am so exchausted. thank you one more time, and I'll keep you posted to see how he goes.