Hi My name is Destiny I have a brother who has been Diagnosed with Schizophrenia, He is doing really bad. He just lost his job and moved in with my parents. I have some questions. People who have Schizophrenia do they shake? Have trembles? He was on Seroquel but just took him off and put him on ablify. He drinks with his medications and smokes that not a good mixture right? When he has his episodes he shakes and if you ask him a question he will answer it fine? IDK my family and I have so many questions on how to deal with this. Anyone please help???
For some people some of the med’s make them shake. They should be able to find a med. for your brother that he can tolerate. I’m on Geodon and Seroquel, and I did a fair amount of drinking on them. I don’t know what kind of damage it did to my liver and other organs. I’m 56 years old, and I don’t have anything signifigant wrong with my health, at least not that I know about. I was on Abilify for a while, and it did some good things for me, but it got me a little too amp’ed up. They had to take me off of it. They have time released injectable anti-psychotic medications for those who have trouble being med. compliant. They have time released Haldol, Prolixin, and I think they have time released Geodon now. One shot lasts about a month. You might try that to get him stabilized. Talk to a doctor about it.
Shaking can be a side effect of medication unfortunately. It may go away if he’s just changed to something new. I.e. The shaking may be a side effect for him as a result of the old medication and he may not experience this side effect on the new medication.
I’m sorry I had a bad day “D”, because my lawn equipment took a dump and it’s the first time in a month that I have gottin out to do something. I’m delusional . I’m sorry . I have this way of filling in the blanks only because I don’t know as much as I should about a lot of people for sure and so I don’t bother trying to find out. I have been told I have an overactive imagination and that I am mostly thinking negatively.
tobornottob - it was good of you to recognize what you had said was going the wrong direction and providing an explanation. Well done.
Thanks valleypenne for that reply and comment otherwise I would have a guilt trip the rest of the day and probably for a long time otherwise.
Misbehaving lawn equipment can ruin anybody’s day!
@desperez13 , all I can tell you is I experienced this shaking side effect when first going on abilify, and then it went away. I also experienced it briefly on seroquel. Even if 2 medications have the same side effects, it depends on the person as to which ones they’ll actually experience on each med. It’s all a bit trial and error at the end of the day. Make sure your brother has regular check ups (blood pressure, blood tests, the normal stuff) as some side effects are serious, like elevated prolactin (sp?)
If you feel brave you can Google abilify side effects. Be prepared though!
I shake and tremble when I drink too much caffeine. You will get much information here on schizophrenia on this site if you ask for it, and support. but I would also suggest reading up on it, either online or the many books that have to do with schizophrenia.
I’ve read multiple books on my illness of schizophrenia but I think the best one is “Schizophrenia for Dummies”. I’m sure you’ve had yourself or heard of the "Dummies’ series of books that are about just about anything. But I read this book and it is the easiest to read, most comprehensive, detailed, easy to understand, simple, most helpful book I’ve come across on schizophrenia. And I’ve read at least 14 or 15.
The book covers medication, treatment, symptoms, the different subtypes of schizophrenia, what to do in a psychiatric schizophrenic crisis, recovery, prognosis, relapse and relapse prevention, diagnosis, negative symptoms, positive symptoms, paranoia, delusions and much, much more. It’s available at Barnes & Nobles or Amazon.com.
Surviving schizophrenia is a good book despite how pessimistic the author may seem.
There are some medications that counteract the side effects of other meds. My son had to take cogentin to get rid of his tremors from Prolixin.
Alcohol can worsen the situation, and any other recreational drugs can almost cancel his meds out, or not work as effectively.
This site has a lot of info. Check out other websites too.
Wishing you luck!
Hello @desperez13
I’m a younger sister of a man who has been living with this illness as well. I’m sorry to hear your brother lost his job and had to move back home. It’s a hard adjustment.
When my brother was on a very high dose of Haldol he did develop Akathisia and other shakes. The doc had to change him to Seroquel. It seemed hard on his system changing from one A.P. to another. It took a while for his body to adjust. Another thing to look out for is Tardive Dyskinesia. Another form of shakes. These are things to mention to his doctor.
I’m glad your brother can still answer questions.
As far as smoking, the people I’ve met who live with Sz seem to be heavy smokers. Not all of course, there are some like my brother who worked hard to quit. However, there seems to be a connection between nicotine and Sz.
My brother battled with drinking and that was more of a danger then smoking. So hopefully your family will address the drinking first.
Please direct your family to the following:
www.nami.org - They have a lot of answers.
www.schizophrenia.com - has so many resources
Schizophrenia Daily News Blog: Recommended First Aid for Schizophrenia and Psychosis - first aid for psychosis.
Schizophrenia Coping and Recovery - recovery tips.
I hope your brother get the help he needs soon.
Thank you for letting me post.
NEVER mix alcohol with anything …it seems that the effects are amplified.
I very much support kidsister’s post. There’s a =tremendous= amount of good info on the www. There’s also some junk, but everything she’s suggested is good stuff. If you want to get a fast course in schiz, look for 24. Schizophrenia - YouTube and move the slider to about 24:30 if I recall correctly. Sapolsky is one of the giants right now, even if cam get a bit dramatic.
I very much support kidsister’s post. There’s a =tremendous= amount of good info on the www. There’s also some junk, but everything she’s suggested is good stuff. If you want to get a fast course in schiz, look for 24. Schizophrenia - YouTube and move the slider to about 24:30 if I recall correctly. Sapolsky is one of the giants right now, even if cam get a bit dramatic.
Smoking cigarettes or smoking pot?
Hi @onceapoet Nice to see you. How have you been?
My brother quit smoking pot ages ago and he quit smoking cigarettes in September. So far he’s been doing well not picking up the smokes.
Nice to see you too 
I’ve been doing pretty well. I don’t usually get on here when I’m doing well because I don’t feel like I have anything to say. How about you? How has life been?
I hope your still doing well. I think you have a lot to offer. Things with me are fine. I’ve been busy with school and work, and other things.
I’m oddly in the moment. I think the best way to explain it is like when I had braces. After two or three days of getting braces I couldn’t remember what it was like to not have braces. I didn’t hate my braces, they were uncomfortable but all I had was a dim memory of smooth teeth. So from day three to year five (I had horrible teeth) I was very accepting of braces because I couldn’t couldn’t remember a different time. It’s the same now. I remember braces being unpleasant and I can talk about how they used to rub sores in my mouth but only dispassionately, almost all the emotion is gone from the memory.
So when I feel recovered I can’t relate to anything anyone is saying because I can’t remember what being sick is like. Usually though when I am recovered I am a lot more socially active.
When I am sick. I might be frightened, sad, angry, happy, any of it or all of it, but I don’t imagine what being recovered is or what I would be doing in this moment if I was recovered. My moods and symptoms can change often instantly (I’ve been diagnosed as bipolar no instead of depressed as the affective part) but whatever I am now I might as well always be.
I hope that makes some sense.