This is a serious illness with a mortality rate. Like all serious illnesses, effective management is important. Medication management to limit side effects is part of this.
If anyone can produce a study that shows mortality rates and other outcome metrics were better prior to first and second generation APs, I would really like to see the data. The people who claim APs are causing the bad outcomes of the illness schizophrenia might want to go back prior to the invention of thorazine and look at the outcomes for the first hundreds of years of information about this illness.
Here is some recent data:
There will always be debate about whether to medicate or not. Personally, I feel if someone is so psychotic that they are hurting others or themselves, the ONLY solution is medication or else worse things may follow like jail. Or suicide.
If someone is so psychotic that they cannot make decisions for themselves, probably they need force medicated.
I used to be VERY against medications of almost any type. Until I had to endure over 3 years of psychotic behavior, delusions, hallucinations, police, domestic violence, self-starvation, and other bad behaviors of my daughter (who used to be almost 24 hrs a day psychotic).
Yes, there are probably side effects that might happen to her from the meds. But the psychosis just didn’t go away by itself, or with rest, or with supplements, or with anything else but force injected anti-psychotics. Hopefully, on the medicine she will never go to jail again, never hurt me physically again, and never isolate for years talking to herself again… I think the side effects, if they happen, will be worth her having an actual life outside of her room tortured 24/7 by her own mind.
Of course, anyone else with a psychotic loved one is free to handle their own situation the way they feel is best. I will never judge actions meant in good faith to help someone.
You might want to look at the work of Joanna Moncriff Her books are well worth a read Mhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joanna_Moncrieff
I do get it that antipsychotic medications are heavy duty drugs and should not be taken lightly. I wish soooo much there was another way … my son has schizophrenia which is hereditary in my family. Every day I cry when I think how unfair and tragic this diagnosis is but medication is a must for some. The older antipsychotics had horrible side effects, the newer ones are far better. The really disabling part of schizophrenia, though, are the negative symptoms like lack of motivation, social withdrawal, flat affect, poverty of speech, slowing of movement, etc., these are symptoms that have always been in schizophrenia, before, during and after any AP meds came along. So these negative symptoms are not caused by the medication. The positive symptoms are scary and can cause danger because of hearing voices, having bizarre behaviors, etc., but at least now we have meds that really do work pretty well for most. But these negative symptoms are more problematic because there isn’t much can be done. So in my opinion, AP meds are important if you don’t want your loved one slipping away into psychosis. I’m so sad that my son has this brain disease, and I do hate that he needs these psychiatric drugs, but that’s just the way it is. Without them he becomes threatening. And that’s not him. It’s the illness.
Hey @naturallycured
How’s it going with the essential daily nutrients and the brilliant routine you have to fix your gut and fight off oxidated stress!
I found the daily essential nutrients highly interesting…
Hang in there!
I apologize if I pulled some chords to some people here
Everybody is doing the best they can
That’s what matters…
I am happy for you and your son
Im just highly interested in getting through this naturally …
In all means possible…
That’s all
We just been hurt pretty bad by the side effects :o
Anyways I hope you have a lovely day and perhaps you find something that can help with those negative symptoms…
Im sure you might of already tried the sarcosine?
Some people find it helps a lot with the negatives…
When my son was diagnosed in 2013, I did purchase sarcosine and also fish oil, but he would have nothing to do with either. He has been on the monthly injectable Invega sustenna since diagnosis, and in 2017, he had a psychotic breakdown, even while he was on the AP med, because he (well, we all were) under a great deal of stress, so distressing, because of a situation in the family that I’m not going into, but believe me, the stress was just too much for him, poor guy, and we probably all know that stress is a huge factor in relapse. He was hospitalized where the. AP med was increased and Depakote and Paxil were added. He was discharged after only two weeks, with discharge papers stating that his condition upon discharge was “critical”! But hey ya know? That damn psych bed was needed for someone else, And I’ve kind of lost my train of thought here, I just want him home and I want him to not have further damage. I pray he can come back as stable as possible. I miss him.