Someone here mentioned that they had a relapse at one point. I don’t know whether or not they were taking medication at the time. My son as just started to be medication compliant. Do I now worry that he could have a relapse? How common is it? I have my own mental health issues and know my anti-depressants may stop working at any time. Is it sort of like that? Can the medication he is on stop working at some point? Is this possible?
Yeah that can happen. It is less likely. Stress, drugs, poor management, missed doses, stress, drugs, these things can cause a sz to freak out a bit.
Good to have some sleep aids on hand. Sometimes all it takes is some good sleep to come out of little episodes like that.
I would relapse every couple of months(if not every day) for a while there I couldn’t tell.
It’s odd it becomes so normal that I wake up and forget I have the illness.
I had my first break in 1980 when I was 19. I spent 8 months in the hospital in 1982 where they first put me on medication. I got out and became quite stable. I thought I would never be hospitalized again but I relapsed after being on medication for six years. The fact that I was a crack addict probably contributed to my relapse. It took me about a six months to get stable and back on track. I got clean and sober in 1990 and not coincidentally, that was the year of my last hospitalization.
Medication can stop working after years of being on it.
Taking medication will certainly lessen your chance of having a relapse.
It can definitely happen, here’s a poll about it:
Thanks 77nick77. He’s taking loads of Seroquel of a night to get some sleep. Because they know he needs to be pumped full of anti-psychotic and anti-anxiety medication, they don’t want to give him any Valium as a sleep aid. I can understand that. Thanks for telling me you were on crack at the time. I’m sure it does make a difference. My son is a chronic pot smoker but wants (thank God) to get off. They tell me pot makes Sz worse and I have to admit, it seems to be the case! By the way, congratulations on 15 years of being clean and sober. It’s a mighty effort. I don’t know you but I’m proud of you!! It’s good to know that a relapse is possible. Well, it’s not good but good to know. I hope that makes sense!
Relapse ? Don’t get me started, im a degenerate of the first order.
Have you had a psychotic relapse while taking medication fully as prescribed?
78%Yes
21%No
19 voters
This is what the poll said everhopeful. Thanks for the thread!
I smoked pot occasionally when I was smoking crack. The pot messed me up worse than the crack. I could handle crack and I could handle the four times I shot heroin but pot screwed me up badly. The pot may be derailing your sons recovery.
I reckon it is. I think he may be realizing that, which is great! Do you think regular everyday pot smoking at a young age can cause or bring on sz, in some people?
I think there is evidence that pot smoking can trigger schizophrenia in people who had the propensity to get it anyway. I’m not sure if pot smoking alone causes schizophrenia. It sure doesn’t seem to help in the majority of cases I’ve seen on here in six years.
Thanks 77nick77. I think so too!
Stress can cause a relapse even whilst on meds. I had one last year and so my meds had to be pushed up. In January this year I had another relapse whilst on meds and so I had another meds adjustment.
I think I was born with the Sz switch in my head… I think my drug use helped click the switch on…
Sz.com who hosts this forum has a great informational site… with an entire section dedicated to the complications of pot smoking and this illness…
There is a lot of info about many aspects of this illness… I’m diagnosed… and when I read the main site… I still learn something new.
Yes… sadly… I have had a relapse while med compliant… once I was given too high a dose… once my doc wanted to switch me from Latuda to Geodon… both those weeks I nearly ended up in hospital.
Good luck and I hope things go better for you family.
Never been ON medication and been hospitalized, but certainly have had symptoms. I had a bad shroom trip 16 months ago while I was on medication and ended up in a treatment center, albeit not a mental hospital. Might as well have been though (not because the place was as bad, but because I needed treatment).
Bad shrooms+Abilify was a weird combination. Gave me terrible anxiety.
I’m on meds and I have not had an ep in over 5 years although I know it can happen even when on meds
yeah, I had a relapse while on meds. ;o(
I have only ever relapsed with trying to phase off of medication, but once fully phased off I was doing incredibly well.
I’ve set it out as an ambition that once I am of retiring age I am going to go untreated. Let what happens happens at that point. By them, my life is closer to over than before and I’d rather die an all-natural death & live an all-natural life.
I have the same ambition, by that time i’m allowed to be crazy
Yeah. I had a relapse whilst on meds. Lots of crap happened all at once. Environmental (external) stressors can spark a relapse.
the reverse happened for me. Interesting.