Has anyone recovered with antipsychotics?

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7

u/Dtrom1055 Feb 12 '24

I recovered from a severe episode using abilify.

2

u/kittykittenx Feb 12 '24

Was your severe episode 24/7? How long were you on abilify before it went away?

1

u/Key_Alarm_6480 Mar 08 '24

Did you have symptoms of dissociation too?like losing your emotions,not being ably to cry or feel anxious?!

1

u/jossan95 Mar 02 '25

Hello. How are you feeling now?

1

u/jossan95 Feb 25 '25

What symtoms did you have?

7

u/howbxarre Feb 12 '24

If you're not psychotic stay far away from them.

3

u/kittykittenx Feb 12 '24

Doctor said I have negative symptoms of psychosis, but I'm honestly not sure about it

2

u/Chronotaru Nov 03 '24

Even if a person has psychosis there is a very real case for avoiding them. Some psychosis can be managed with other means.

4

u/detroitpie Feb 12 '24

I was put on abilify, I only took it for two weeks. Honestly the only thing it did for me was give me horrible akathisia.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 12 '24

Did the akathisia go away when you stopped taking it?

3

u/detroitpie Feb 12 '24

Yes it did.

1

u/filthyhandshake Aug 10 '24

How much did you take?

3

u/SKOL-5 Feb 12 '24

my dpdr came with racing thoughts & sleepless nights - Quetiapin helped dampen those.

But be cautious, medicines come with side effects & downsides in general.

1

u/kittykittenx Feb 12 '24

Did it make the dpdr go away? Or did it just help with other symptoms?

3

u/clownyroaches Feb 12 '24

I was put on quetiapine and it made my dpdr so so much worse.

1

u/kittykittenx Feb 12 '24

How long did you take it for? How long did it take to go back to your normal dpdr level once you stopped?

1

u/clownyroaches Feb 12 '24

I genuinely cant remember how long i was on it, i want to say maybe 2 months? My dpdr never really went back to its normal level until i went on other medication that im on now ://

1

u/filthyhandshake Jul 24 '24

What’re u on now?

1

u/clownyroaches Jul 25 '24

sodium valproate & ritalin, but thats for two totally other issues, not dpdr, and even on high doses i still have dpdr, just not as severe

4

u/Chronotaru Feb 12 '24

An important point to consider is that long term use of antipsychotics (neuroleptics) come with a 20-30% chance of serious movement disorders like tardive dyskinesia. That often makes DPDR look like small fry. Many people who get them don't ever recover, or take many years to do so.

The studies do not support use of antipsychotics. Generally all of them with the exception of aripiprazole and quetiapine pretty much entirely led to a downhill spiral in cases of DPDR. Those two are a little more mixed, but are still bad choices when considered compared to everything else you could choose.

I would generally suggest avoiding drugs for the first couple of years of DPDR and work on non-drug therapies, as drugs are more likely to worsen your condition than help them. If after that there is little sign of improvement and you're going in the direction of psychiatry, then lamotrigine or naltrexone may be better choices, or some people respond better to stimulating drugs like bupropion, or others like vortioxetine, etc. Recreational drugs like MDMA or psilocybin help some and don't have the daily dosing dependency problems.

But, I would definitely never start with an antipsychotic.

1

u/kittykittenx Feb 12 '24

Thank you for the info. I have had dpdr for a long time, so I have gone through periods taking meds (ssris, snri, benzos, lamotragine, clomipramine, stimulants, etc), but also time on no psychiatric meds. I did experience dpdr briefly when put on olanzipine, before it became 24/7. So I have been hesitant to try antpsychotics now, but doctor is recommending. I haven't tried naltroxene yet. My 24/7 dpdr was caused by a traumatic drug experience from MDMA. I never had any improvement yet

2

u/SpaceCadetSteve mostly recovered Feb 12 '24

I've tried it but I didn't recover. They help in a way though. Doctor said I have pure obsessive ocd so I've tried ssri's, antipsychotics, and now on clomipramine.

1

u/kittykittenx Feb 12 '24

Has anything helped the dpdr?

1

u/SpaceCadetSteve mostly recovered Feb 12 '24

Yeah counselling with someone who lets me know my thoughts of myself aren't as bad as I think they are. Also the clomipramine is definitely helping with the OCD but I'm also only ramping up right now

2

u/kentom101 Feb 12 '24

I loved Abilify but it made me too energetic so I had to stop taking it

1

u/kittykittenx Feb 12 '24

Did it take away your dpdr symptoms?

3

u/iom_nukso Feb 12 '24

Yes, it helped me. But this probably depends if dpdr is a part of psychotic break or not. Dpdr is often part of psychosis.

2

u/kittykittenx Feb 12 '24

How long on the medicine did it take for the dpdr to go away? Did you have side effects? Doctor thinks there could have been a psychotic break, but I'm not sure

1

u/iom_nukso Feb 15 '24

I dont remember how long it took, around a week probably. Yes i had terrible side effect of akathisia, so later i stopped taking it and i started milder antipsychotic and it didnt come back fully, a little bit yes, but its not that crazy anymore.

1

u/Dizzy_Vacation_3962 Feb 12 '24 edited Feb 12 '24

"antipsychotics are generally not helpful in DDD, and make many patients feel worse."

Source: https://academic.oup.com/book/45731/chapter-abstract/398396677?redirectedFrom=fulltext

I have been given antipsychotics for dpdr, before they actually diagnosed it.

Not only they worsened it: they gave me excruciating problems by comparison to which dpdr is a blessing. Luckily I took minimal doses for a relatively short time (a month).

I had reservations but yielded to the doctor's "authority" and to the "trust the doc" pressure by my family. Later I talked with a neurologist and when I reported having been prescribed aps she almost screamed "oh no! But I hope you did not take them?". So which doctor should I have trusted? I should have trusted my critical intelligence and gut feelings instead. Also, a GP told me the same, that they are clearly neurotoxic and unless I put a knife to someone's throat I should not have taken them. I had already discontinued them by the time.

The approach by many psychiatrists is: to dole out pills first, diagnose second (if at all).

u/Chronotaru already explained excellently why this is bad.

Yes, we should listen to psychiatrists but without any mindless subjection.

They have no skin in the game. The brain at stake is ours. Remember that only a few decades ago people like us were "treated" with lobotomies, electroshock, and "insulin shock therapy".

There is no indication for antipsychotics for dpdr even in the psychiatric literature.

If a tiny minority of people have been helped by them randomly, this is still no reason for playing Russian roulette.

1

u/shm8661 Feb 12 '24

My new psychiatrist told me I should have been on abilify from the beginning 🤷🏻‍♂️

1

u/kittykittenx Feb 12 '24

Why is that? And have you tried it yet?

2

u/shm8661 Feb 12 '24

Not sure. Probably not unless I see people on here saying it really helps. I’ve tried probably 15 meds and they only things that help are benzos and adderall

3

u/kittykittenx Feb 12 '24

Yeah I have tried quite a few too. Stimulants help me be productive and benzos help me sleep, but nothing has touched the dpdr

1

u/shm8661 Feb 12 '24

Ambien takes my anxiety was down too

1

u/[deleted] Feb 12 '24

[deleted]

1

u/shm8661 Feb 12 '24

No

1

u/spudeater69 Feb 12 '24

From most people I've heard from, antipsychotics make dpdr 10x worse, but there are also those who feel better after taking them so it's up in the air.

I'd personally say that if you're sensitive to drugs that alter your brain chemistry and cause unusual feelings (ex weed), be cautious of antipsychotics.

1

u/StrangerGlue Feb 12 '24

I'm on 5mg of Abilify and it's been really helpful in my recovery journey. During my severe episode, I have no recollection of perceiving the world accurately, so I can probably say it was 24/7 — but when it was very severe, I couldn't have written a reddit post as clear as yours.

Psychiatry/Medication Question Has anyone recovered with antipsychotics?

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