True dude yea have sza… even for sza I think 5mg is pretty low, and I miss doses some days etc. been holding stable as well as I’m on it. I been watching videos though explaining how people who take meds see reduced brain mass. The doctor was saying it’s caused by aps which I believe, BUT the thing is i believe it’s only caused by OVER PRESCRIBING medication. I.e. if you have a low/moderate dose then it won’t cause so much shrinkage. But if your doctor is blasting your brain with sz meds then it will shrink.
The ventricles you see larger in mri scans I believe are not caused by sz, but by sz meds. Meds are not bad tho. That’s the puspose of them.
Basically meds slow down thoughts, which slowest brain activity. And like with muscles if you don’t use it you lose it. So because the brain is less active it shrinks a bit. This is generally fine if done moderately because that’s what was required, a less active brain. Sz Brain’s are overactive. But again if your doc is blasting sz meds more than your brain needs then it will cause too much brain relaxation, which causes the brain to atrophy (if you don’t use it you lose it) and a smaller brain.
Overall meds are good. They help when dosed to the minimal effective dose. That’s not why I’m quitting them, I’m quitting them because I dont want to be dependent on the pharmacological system and also because of other side effects.
If I can find some kind of a replacement supplement. There’s brain tranquilizing/ relaxing supplements. The one I’m eyeing now is hops. It has a significant brain relaxing effect to it. The question is will it be enough for me. For most people the answer would be no but if it’s equal to say 3mg abilify I might be able to get away with it. Well see. Still have to do some research.
I’m not really sweating about taking it, and I dont believe it’s about balancing neurobiology at its core. I mean maybe you could describe it that way. Most aps are dopamine blockers. Dopamine is responsible for the intitialization of thoughts and movements. So using dopamine blockers to reduce the amount of dopamine attaching to neurons recuces brain activity and slows the mind. So yea you could describe it chemically that way too. The sedating effect of meds being tired etc is not a side effect… its the main effect of the med, that’s what they do… inhibit neurons from firing by reducing dopamine. If you need 20mg of aps then it’s not smart to get it from supplements maybe, but I’m holding steady at about 3mg… I take 5mg but I miss days etc… that’s pretty close to what a supplement is able to provide I’m hoping. Anyways gonna give it a shot.
Ya man im not trying to talk you out of it im complete in favor of aiming for remission med free. Just remember what country youre in though. Highest forced psychiatric treatment rate in the world. If you go psychotic and police get involved theyll dose you up good
Yea I have good control of it, if I start hearing voices I’m going to take the abilify again, plus I’m not going to stop cold turkey. Going to wean myself off of it. I still have to do research but yea I plan on taking it slow. Maybe I’ll take it every other day at first and if the voices come back, I’m gonna take abilify right away again. Ive stopped meds a few times in the past year or so. It would take months of stopping before I go off the complete deep end. As long as I take meds when the voices slowly creep in I’m able to get back to where I am now without going floridly psychotic. Thanks for the advice man I know you mean well brother.
I saw a study done on chimpanzees who took olanzapine and they saw slightly reduced gray matter. But other studies show that if you relapse severely long enough you lose more gray matter. The best is off meds and no relapse but thats very rare with sz. I know a guy with bipolar with psychosis and he never relapsed after stopping. He only took lurasidone for a short time and said it suppressed his thoughts and motivation. He manages his bipolar with therapy and meditation only.
For me I relapse much faster now after stopping meds max 10 days, before I have gone months without symptoms and my energy came back I took 5 classes in university and got good grades. I relapsed into the second 5 ocourses semester.
I fear that too, I read every new relapse is worse than the last one and comes faster as the brain becomes supersensitive to dopamine. I was never forced to take meds but I fear next time I will lose that freedom if I do something stupid while psychotic. I don’t want to be on a treatment court order as then I will lose the freedom of reducing or stopping my meds, but sometimes I think that will help with adherence as sometimes I stop my meds and think I am cured.
I see thanks for the information. I think if someone relapses and goes far off the deep end the brain shrinkage you see afterward is probably due to the massive amounts of aps they’ll probably have to prescribe them in order to get them back to a stable condition.
Again I dont think appropriate amounts of meds cause brain shrinkage, I think being over prescribed them does. Idk I’m not an expert but I do believe it is indeed the overpresciribing of meds that’s causes it. It makes more sense to me. The video is watched was on very recent research done. I can link it if you want
I was straight up overmedicated and abused. They massively injected me with invega repeatedly to cause psychotic relapse to enforce prescriptions. They had me on 100mg paliperidine injection for years. I get by now three years on half a 3mg pill of rexulti
I am on 8mg risperidone lol Before my 2 year long relapse I was on 10mg Abilify for years. I fear the next long relapse I will become treatment resistant and will need Clozapine.
I’m on olanzapine 20mg and Vraylar 1.5mg. I’ve been on olanzapine for more than a decade.
I know psychosis causes brain damage. From the first episode I felt like my brain was damaged. I’ve slowly crawled back but I can still feel there is something wrong with my brain.
Psychosis causes brain damage, meds cause brain shrinkage. I don’t think there is any way around that.
I wish I could lower my meds but I hear voices non-stop.
Grey matter damage can cause memory loss, loss of language, judgment, and reason, and an inability to make complex decisions. This type of brain damage also affects fine motor skills. There is no treatment for grey matter damage
I agree. I think they key is balance. If you take no meds or supplements you will overthink and your brain (like an engine running at too high of a speed) will tear itself apart. When you take meds it slows the thoughts and your brain overall. But if youre over prescribed meds it will cause your brain to atrophy and shrink. The key is taking the minimum effective dose of your choice of medicine.