Invega Sustenna injection, my son, paranoid schizophrenic

It’s not that the injectable is better. It’s just that it was required to be done as an injectable in his case because he had made violent threats and was involuntarily committed. Maybe it’s different in different states, though.

My son is currently in his 11th psychiatric hospitalization, due to his disorganized and catatonic type schizophrenia. He is 34 and was diagnosed around age 17. He has been on quite a few anti psychotic pills over the years but quit taking any of them around Thanksgiving. He has slightly improved on the injectable anti psychotics and his hospital psychiatrist wants to try him on the Invega once a month injection. I am not spelling this correctly, but am very hopeful for this medication to help my son. He has a history of non compliance of his medications and has become skillful in taking them, then spitting them out later and flushing them.

I m also on invega sustenna since 5 months.all ı can say i m more colorful and oprimistic with this drug.ı didn t weight gain.only problem with this drug it makes sexual dysfunction on me.but i m try to use viagra pills and its work for me.other than this its really great drugs.i never feel this kind of optimistic life before.i was always negative person.but after ı get this drugs everything coming lively.i enjoying long walk under the sun.we are more colourful discussion with my wife.we are enjoying lot of thing since i was on this drug.i.think all about dopamine hormone.i don t know

My son started invega sustenna 234mg injection on 22nd feb and was given another one 156mg on 1st mar. So it has been about 3 weeks since starting. I do not see any improvement. Before this monthly injection he was on risperdal consta biweekly injection for about 8 months. I was hoping that probably invega sustenna will help better. Is it too early to expect improvement or may be it is not going to help. How was it for your son after the first 2 weeks. Did he start getting better or he had to do a med change after waiting for a while.

I had to wait months, but several months, for the Invega Sustenna to work, but now it’s a wonder drug for me.

I waited about 6 months to a year for the delusions to fade, but for hallucinations it was immediate…

Thanks for your reply Minnii. I am looking for at least one improvement to support my decision to wait little longer. Like in your case your hallucination got improved immediately. But in his case it is like a movie running in front of him. Then when I hold his hand and try to bring him into the moment he will say “oh sorry mom sorry” and then a couple seconds later he is again distant. I want to be patient and wait. I waited with risperdal for 6 months and then on risperdal consta for 8 months. My concern is that invega sustenna is another form of risperdal and may be risperdal is not the drug for him. My son does not even do alcohol or other drugs. He has been smoking non stop though since being in a locked facility. I am really looking for feed backs and suggestions.

Yeah, maybe try Abilify? People have good results on it

Except when they don’t, which was our case.

Yeah, meds are different for everyone :worried:

Correct, it is not that the injections are better per se, but rather that they are a better way to ensure compliance.

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My son is in Invega. I can’t accept to see him like this anymore. I am taking him to Ecuador in a month for a surgery that cures schizophrenia . He will be 100% cured, no more invega needed and no more schizophrenia. Name of the doctor JOSE MACKLIFF.

https://onlythedifficult.com/2017/04/13/how-beam-surgery-works/

Minii, can I ask what your hallucinations were like? what were your delusions like? I’m looking for some hope that my son’s hallucinations and delusions can stop. He currently takes abilify, but not very often, He believes that he is working for some major company or organization through his computer at home. He has hallucinations that we say different things to him than we are actually saying, he has ‘people’ over for meetings. He thinks my husband’s cough is meant to insult him, he’ll get real aggressive because he thinks were saying and doing things that we arent’t. He’ll get into s psychotic state and just paces with headphones and loud rapp music playing, he has in the past wore the skin off parts of his feet pacing. .

Hi @Anni, Minnii has not posted for awhile… so might not now.


On the recent post about a newish surgery for sz, om, the description on the link sounds unbelievably theoretical. It relies on science and ideas that are not proven.

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I’ll have to read that post. I’m new to this forum.

My son is on the injection for the last 3 months, and I think it’s working just fine, and thank God he hasn’t gain weight, it may be also because he does walk a lot during the day, it’s actually the only thing he does. Since he lives on his own, it has been very helpful for me not having to go every single night to make sure, he’ll take his meds, so fo far, so good.

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How did this change work for you?

I started smoking marijuana when I was 19. It caused me to get schizophrenia & paranoia & I was feigning really bad when I didn’t have it. When I started invega sustenna, not much changed. It actually got worse & every hit of marijuana caused horrible episodes of schizophrenia, anxiety & paranoia. I quit weed more than 4 months ago & had my last injection a month ago. The bad voices stopped harassing me nearly all the way. I feel so much better after quitting marijuana when I was like your son: didn’t think I could live without it. Invega sustenna is a protein binder and marijuana has amino acids in it, the building blocks of proteins. I think invega connects with these amino acids making schizophrenia worse. It also caused me to miscarry because HCG is a glycoprotein. I am pregnant again & that’s why I quit invega. I feel fine. Now I consider the voices just a part of my mediumship. Talk to your son about quitting marijuana. Tell him my story! My email is amstroud007@gmail.com if you want to get in touch. Like I said, I used to despise health practitioners for wanting me to quit marijuana. I just came to the point by myself where I had to quit. Maybe if he quits, he can get off of antipsychotics! Let me know how it goes! Also, there is no more terrible guilt I used to feel for doing something illegal (I’m in North Carolina) & no more feigning, no more anxiety or paranoia & now I feel like a medium, not a schizophrenic now that the voices are just my immediate family and a few other visitors that are very nice. All over, I feel much better getting off of marijuana & the antipsychotics! I’m wishing you and your son luck!

Sincerely,
Amanda