Any long term success with Haldol?

Hi @Cat_Nip . No, my daughter was only on pills for a short time with the shot given in the hospital. By the time she came home from the hospital, there were no pills to take. However, the 1st shot was definitely wearing off by the time she needed her 2nd one and she almost slid back into psychosis before the 2nd took effect. That was Dec 2018/Jan 2019. She takes no other meds than her monthly shot.

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Thank you for sharing your daughter’s experience, it has helped me more than you know!

@oldladyblue Okay, so weird that you just mentioned that your daughter almost slid back into psychosis right before her second shot because today my son told me he wasn’t feeling well and that old thoughts were starting to come back. He is due for his second shot on Thursday so now I’m nervous that it must be wearing off (which doesn’t make sense since he’s overlapping with the 15 mg pills and has been for a month- unless he isn’t really swallowing them). Anyway, what did you due to prevent her from falling back into psychosis between the first and second injection? Was that the only time that happened? I hope this isn’t an indication that this isn’t going to work for him after all since we’ve seen so much improvement in the first month. For the first time in a year I feel like our son is back.

Hi @Cat_Nip , I hope your son got his 2nd injection. As each month passes, his stability will increase and the insight will grow: in tiny steps. Prolonged use will bring about desirable changes if this medicine is good for your son like it was for my daughter. I was lucky that there was a court order for her to stay on medicine during those first few months and that by the time the court order was over, she was ok with taking her monthly shot.

Just Friday, she was due for her shot and to see her psychiatrist. For the first time, she asked her psychiatrist if she could come off the Haldol Dec Shot and go onto Haldol pills. The doctor urged her to stay on the injection, and my daughter agreed. I was very relieved as I don’t think she would ever ever stay on daily pills.

@oldladyblue he did end up getting his second injection and I was able to get him in a few days earlier since he wasn’t feeling well. He does seem to be doing really good and so far seems to be committed to continuing the injections. The only thing that concerns me is that he has been EXTREMELY tired since getting it to the point where that’s almost all he can do is sleep, he hates being so tied all the time. I hope that this doesn’t discourage him. Does your daughter have this side effect as well? I’m hoping that it’s only because his body is getting used to it and eventually it will subside.

Hello @Cat_Nip , I am glad that he got his second shot, since you were worried that he might not. The effects of Haldol seems to be gradually cumulative. Yes, my daughter seemed to sleep a lot at first, but now she sleeps about 9 hours nightly. She likes to sleep in and sleep more on her days off work. Almost every aspect of her life seems pretty normal and usual now. Those nights and years where the psychosis was really bad seem so far away now. I believe that the extreme tiredness might subside.

@oldladyblue Thanks! So happy she has come so far! My son is continuing to do well also, he actually just started a job and so far he’s doing good with it, just tired. I tried to get him to hold off until he was further along in his recovery but he was determined to get a job. I actually had him apply for SSI the week prior but if he’s is able to keep this job I guess he won’t need it. The only “hiccup” we’ve had is he did start denying again that he has SZ, he believes that what he was going through was just “stress”. This was very upsetting since he had previously gained insight that he has it. I quickly learned that it was not helpful to try to convince him he does so as long as he continues the shot it doesn’t matter if he believes he does or doesn’t.

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Yes, I agree Cat_Nip, for your son to continue the shot is the important thing. A medicine that works is a blessing. I think it is great that he started a job and is doing good with it. A job is such an important factor in self worth and independence. My daughter thinks the shot is needed for her because she has something physically wrong with her brain. For awhile it was because the shot helped her to hold a job. Whatever her reason for continuing the shot is fine, as long as she continues the shot.

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