My daughter has been on the 250mg once a month Envega shot. It worked pretty good but she gained 40 po. So we cut it to150 mg. With 6mg of oral to use when she has a break through. I never know what to expect…I’m her full time care taker and try to keep her world as calm as I can. She does well when we get out of our apartment but it’s a battle sometimes to get her to go any place.
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Envega (paliperidone), significantly decreases the dopamine in the brain.
decrease dopamine = more appetite, more motivation for food
increase dopamine =less appetite, less motivation for food
true anorexics have too much dopamine.
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So that explains it. Thank you. My son said a lot of the meds give him an insatiable appetite. He call pull out everything in the fridge. Noticed it on Zyprexa also.
Now he is on a low dose AP and I doubt it is doing much except helping him sleep a little more which is huge. I have noticed he isn’t begging to get in the Internet or anything. As tempting as this state of relatively calm is, I don’t want to stop trying to help him get better.
Does anyone else feel like they have to choose this or that? The medicated is harder because they get bored yet aren’t able to work so there is all this pent up frustration that comes out on us. There does seem to be more aggression toward us when he has been on high dosage of APs. I work and can’t possible entertain my son all day. I do my best to involve him in what I have to do at home. My husband tries to get him outside.
I’m in a therapist office right now for my son. I realize this is preparation for that. Thanks for being there.
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My grandparents set a schedule for him everyday. They also gave him a list of chores built into the schedule. My dad is able to drive, so they paid for him to take himself to the local social club. That’s actually where my mom and dad first met. She was working at the club. … However, maybe he had too much freedom. By the time my dad was in his 40’s, my grandparents trusted him enough be left alone with his schedule and go to Florida every winter. My dad would sneek my mom into my grandparents home when they were gone. I was subsequentially conceived.
But they did actually fall in love. My mom is illiterate, a Korean immigrant, and speaks broken English.-she lost her whole family in her home country and was ostracised here. They just clicked really well even though they came from totally different worlds. She is also bipolar. At the end of the day, I think my mom is the only woman on earth that could stand by my father for the rest of his life. Psychosis and all.
Your son has basic and complex human needs. Helping him to fulfill these needs, especially on a dvelopmental level, will be quite difficult. As his mom, I trust you know him well. Listen to him with an open heart.
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Sorry mom2 that I’m just answering your question “Does anyone else have to choose this or that.” We have been traveling for Christmas, just catching up. To answer your question I would say YES!!! Most of the time. It was not how I thought it would be when my daughter was diagnosed with Schizophrenia 4 years ago. We started with drugs that made her positive symptoms worse-Geodone, Risperidone, all put her in the hospital. Then the Dr suggested Clozapine…it seemed to be helping her cognitive functioning but we stopped due to low white blood count. She lost weight on all the above medications which she loved. She is on Envega shots once a month now and has gained 40 pounds- every thing is a trade off:face_with_monocle:
I do not eat 
or processed food or sugar and she feels better eating this way. Fish, lots of vegetables, some fruit, eggs, cheese, but sometimes I would love to enjoy a piece of 
with her. If we do she will worrie and get physicotic. I mentally retrace all the early meds and wonder if they might have worked with some add on drug…right now we trade weight and fear for a few hours of peace. The envega works until about 3:00 pm then her voices start and tonight she was looking at the ceiling. I asked her what she saw and she said “Just the ceiling, but I can’t control my eyes” This is new. She sees her Dr on the 3rd of Feb. we started high on the envega 250. With 6 mg of oral as needed, then went down to 150mg because she was gaining so much weight so fast. Unsure what todo now.
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Hailey, thanks for the message. Yes, the weight gain is pretty common. We too try to eat healthfully and I’m going to encourage the gym more when my son gets home. I found a water aerobics and Pilates class that is fun.
I hope your daughter continues to improve on the Invega. I’ve heard it can get better. Blessings
My son has just been accepted into the ACT program and they recommend the Invega shots. This is a team that actually come here. I’m very hopeful as he has had many hospitalizations.
I think the shots are good and you might still want to get them in the habit of writing down symptoms if they are able. God bless!
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