good morning everyone

[apotheion]

I'm a 35 year old male dx with schizophrenia (paranoid) and aspergers disorder. I been on many many medications and combos and even took clozaril for about a year until I no longer had the medical support to continue. There are periods when i think i can do without the meds, but whatever has happened over the years, I know I need something to manage my days and get through this life.

presently am taking geodon, trazadone, and klonopin prn. my pdoc is more focused on intensive therapy and I see him twice a week,

I wonder if we take these psychotropic drugs long term and then our brains require them to function. I would have periods of about a year med free but always end back needing them again.

anyways - hello everyone and glad to find this forum.

[Phoenix_Rising]

Hello and welcome to CB. I hope you find the support and info you're looking for.

[olga]

Hi and welcome to Crazyboards.

I take meds because I have several chronic conditions/diseases. I have Glaucoma, high blood pressure, and depression. I take drugs to treat all three of them and I expect to take them until I die. If you have a condition of some sort, why wouldn't you treat it with the appropriate medication? Just sayin'

olga

[hallowedink]

Welcome to CB.

As to your point... Yeah, my brain does depend on the drugs. Because if I wasn't taking them then I would be experiencing breakthrough psychosis, I would have dropped out of therapy again, and I'd probably have attempted to commit suicide at least once in the last two months. I don't think it's a question of your brain becoming dependent on the drugs - you can be weaned off them, after all. It's more a question of your brain needing the drugs before you start taking them, ergo you start taking them in order to help your illness.

That's my view. I mean, I take meds to manage my migraines. Why shouldn't I take meds to manage my BPD as well? They're equally severe diseases.

[breezy]

Welcome!

[enlightened_plutonian]

Welcome to CB.

I get the meds thing. There have been many times when I have thought 'oh I don't really need these pills' and the only thing that stops me from going off them is my need for sleep. I do even wonder if I have come to rely on my Seroquel for sleep.

But before going on my Seroquel, I was off meds (still undiagnosed) for a long time when I really needed them. That was horrible, and something I would never wish on anyone. Over time I have come to realise that if I were to come off my meds then the symptoms that were the whole reason why I went on meds would come back. You could say that I am dependent on my meds to stop me from going psychotic again, but then I would rather be on the meds and cope with the side effects that I get (sleep, actually a good thing) than live the rest of my life in a psychotic episode like the one I had before I went on meds.

I have diabetes as well, and would never consider stopping my insulin. So why should I behave any differently with my Seroquel? Both illnesses need treating, as do yours.

What everyone has already said is right, and I hope that this time you are prepared to stay on the meds.

[Guest Vapourware]

Hai and welcome aboard. I can relate to your situation - I have schizoaffective and Asperger's.

There are times when my schizoaffective is asymptomatic, and during those periods, I would wonder about requiring medication. However, eventually I'll become symptomatic again and I've found that I do, in fact, need medication to control my symptoms. I tend to ascribe to the biological model when it comes to mental issues like the schizophrenia spectrum, and so I view medication as a way of assisting a biological quirk in my brain.