Meds making schizophrenia and bipolar worse

[Ballerina123]

I've been reading a lot of research papers that suggest psychiatric medication in not always necessary and some reports/studies even claim that some medications can make symptoms worse. I also spoke to a mental health pharmacist and he said there are many cases where psychiatric drugs make patients worse and instead of psychiatrist stopping the meds they increase them, assuming it's the condition getting worse rather than considering weather it's the medication causing the worsening of symptoms.

Anyway I think this the case with me.

I'm currently on no psych meds (i have a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder - bipolar type) and although I still have symptoms they are no where near as agrivated as they were when I was on anti psychotics/anti depressants. I feel, in my case, meds make me worse.
It took me a total of 6 years to work this out because like said above, when I was put on meds and got worse I was just offered an increase rather than considering weather the drug was causing the worsening symptoms.

Has anyone else had this experience?

I know some on here live with their illness off meds. Was this the reason why?

[Morpheus]

yes this is teh reason i stopped medication after ten years. we had tired everything and they were just starting the list over and upping doses so in the end, i had enough as i had a feeling the meds were making me worse.

i still have psychotic symptms as well as depressive (i have schizophrenia and periodic depression) but they are no where near as bad now and i have not been in hospital since stopping medication. usually i would have at least one or two admissions a year. often very long.

my team is surprised by how well i am doing. i was actually threatened with police and section if i stopped them against their wishes but i did very well. they were convinced i could not manage my illness without meds but even though i have been through extremely traumatic experiences and a really hard time, i have kept a lot of my symptoms at bay. i have not ended up in a psychosis except for the voices and odd thoughts i have constantly, even when on meds. those are just things i have to live with and after coming off meds i have experienced having more energy to cope with these things.

i also had tons of side effects, both physical as well as emotional and i also felt it changed me as a person where i was always told it was the illness. however i have gotten back to my usual self after stopping medication and though i feel more unhappiness i also feel happiness to a far better degree. i have also gotten my creativity back which was one of the things that really bothered me as i have always been extremely creative.

for me coming off meds was a very good decision and now after seeing how i reacted, people agree. they were worried to start with, especially my family, as they had been told for years that i would die without meds and i could get so psychotic i would get brain damage and things like that, but they have said that its like getting the old anna back. many people have said that.

for me i was told that it was the only treatment and it was just more and more meds or new meds or adding meds. in the end i had enough and i did what i felt in my heart was best for me. i was frustrated that they just kept trying the same thing over and over when it obviously had no effect, at least not a positive one. i didnt get anything but worse for ten years in spite of all teh medication they put me on. this is the first time i have truly felt progress and just learning that i can manage my illnes so well without pills has given me more confidence. i am far stronger than they think. i still have bad time and good time. but i had on meds as well. and i am far better suited to cope with the bad than i was before and the good times are happier and more often. i also feel happy that i am finally doing treatment on my terms instead of having the feeling of constantly doing things you are not comfortable with.

for me it has been really good and i can definitely recognise what you describe. that they just put everything down to illness and never consider it may be the meds you are reacting badly to. trying the same thing over and over even when it clearly doesnt help. its just a matter of finding the right meds or the right combination. in the end, we had tried everything and were just starting over. and they never cared about the side effects i had to go throuh each time, ruining my life. they were not listening when i voice my concerns as i am just mentally ill and in tehir experience medication works. ut after stopping i did a lot of research on the subject and i realised that many people have the same experience as me.

[not_so_insig]

I wish I could stop meds. I feel as though a holistic approach would be a lot better for me. But my cpn keeps on coming to do my depot.

Last time I asked if my cpn could ask if I could go on tablets because I wanna see my cpn less. I also want to try med free lifestyle which I can do on tablets.

Five years ago I took myself off antidepressants because I didn't feel depressed and the side effects were terrible. My psych was not happy but five years later I don't have depression. I have also managed within the past three years to cut down my procyclidine use to a prn basis rather than a daily basis too.

I feel as though there's more to life than taking meds. I know I needed them in the past but not any more. I am currently going to a hearing voices group and although it's early days I am sure that I will find it more beneficial than any meds. I think the professionals should give cbt more rather than shoving meds down our necks (or in my case a jab in the bum!).

[Cacoethes]

I think everyone should be given the opportunity to at least try without meds.
I was on strong meds from age 12 to 19, usually 3 medications at a time and I asked to stop them just to see what happened. So psych took me off them one by one and it turned out they weren't really doing much. Wish I'd been allowed to do it years before that!

[Morpheus]

on meds i couldnt feel anything wich meant the therapy i was getting was useless as well most of the time. as they would ask how i felt and i would say nothing, due to medication. which was the honest truth.

i have started seeing a psychologist now and ofr the first time, i feel i can benefit from it. i think therapy and cbt and helping the patient understand their illness, give ways to cope with symptoms etc. is often far more helpful than putting tons of medications in your body that causes side effects as well that you then have to find a way to cope with.

i also started going to group for people who hear voices a couple of years back and that was a way to cope with them without medication and tehy had a completely different aproach than my psych. it was extremely helpful. sadly i had to stop due to physical health issues and being unable to get there. but i really want to start up again at some point. it was also far less formal than the groups i ahve been to before and we talked about both good and bad things in life and laughed and talked about odd episodes caused by hallucinations. i guess we made it less serious (not that we didnt take it serious but we also saw some of the funny situations it could create) there was room for serious and more light hearted cnversation but it was very supportive. it wasnt just woe like group has been before, it was finding positives in your situation as well. but also supportng each other through the bad times.

i have found these things a 100 times more helpful than any meds i have been on. and i feel like i am finally gettign somewhere rather than just trying to oppress the symptoms i have (which didnt work, it just oppressed all feelings) rather than teaching me how to live with them, what to do in these situations etc. i know the symptoms will be there for the rest of my life so the sooner i learn to live with them the better. but i honestly feel like i wasted 10 years of trying to find the right medication and in and out of hospital still, in stead of actually getting better.

sadly its so much cheaper to just put people on meds and hope hey work and not offer the help that may make the bigest change in their lives. i dont think anyone likes being dependant on medication if they can avoid it. i know for some, meds make a huge difference but there is a large group of people who gets worse form them or just dont benefit and its like they are not acknowledged because they talk against their wonder drugs.

[bitomato]

I know that it took a while to find the "right" combination of meds- and to be on the lowest effective dosage. However, recently I feel as though I am relapsing and I am reluctant to have my dosage increased. Basically my life is very stressful and the psychiatrist claimed even a "drug holiday" would be ill avised because of the sheer amount of pressure I was under. For me though, it is annoying, because I do feel like I am putting a lot of crap in my body when I should be doing things- eating, exercising, meditating, sleeping... in order to stay well. I am not sure whether anything besides headaches and hand tremors are side effects- I just know that coming off at least one of the meds could potentially be lethal if I went cold turkey.
I usually get really upset with any threads where people talk about not being on meds- because I do not feel like I have a choice. I get really annoyed as the pharmacy has run out a few times and not told me the distributor could not bring in any. Ultimately it is a choice- but I think you need to have support in place. If I did I would not choose to be on meds anymore. I hate the dependancy. But compared to the depression- even now relapsing it is not as bad as it was in the beginning- when I was not functioning.