Neuroleptic induced anhedonia

[Narshe81]

Hi,

 

I would like to start a new thread since my last one was a bit too anti-psych for many people here and I really don't want to be stepping on anyone's toes. I would like to be as logical and objective as possible in dealing with my problem.

 

I was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia last year and was forced under the Mental Health Act in Canada to take Invega Sustenna at 100mg a month via injection for 10 months. A week or so after my first injection I began to develop severe anhedonia that only gotten worse over time. My doctor finally took me off it and it has been three months and a half since my last injection. I have yet to feel any improvements. My current condition is as followed:

 

- Inability to experience pleasure, joy, happiness, sadness, or any type of emotions.

- No appetite and never feel hungry anymore. Can go for days without food and when I do eat it tastes bland.

- No motivation, willpower, or desire to do anything. I spend all day in bed or pace around my apartment.

- Substances that used to give pleasure all have stopped working, i.e., cigarettes, alcohol, coffee, etc.

- Constantly feeling restless, despair, uneasy, and extreme boredom. Nothing I do can change this.

- Cannot formulate complex thoughts. Difficulty reading and writing.

- Memory problems. Both short term and long term

- Zero sex drive.

- Music sounds flat.

- Difficulty finding things to say in a conversation. I feel mentally incapable of holding a conversation.

- Difficulty planning things for the future.

 

Please, don't try to convince me that neuroleptic drugs do not cause anhedonia.

 

"Emotional-blunting is de-motivating because drive comes from the ability subjectively to experience in the here-and-now the anticipated pleasure deriving from cognitively-modeled future accomplishments [2]. An emotionally-blunted individual therefore lacks current emotional rewards for planned future activity, including future social interactions, hence ‘cannot be bothered’.

Demotivation is therefore simply the undesired other side of the coin from the desired therapeutic effect of neuroleptics. Neuroleptic ‘tranquillization’ is precisely this state of indifference [8]. The ‘therapeutic’ effect of neuroleptics derives from indifference towards negative stimuli, such as fear-inducing mental contents (such as delusions or hallucinations); while anhedonia and lack of drive are predictable consequences of exactly this same state of indifference in relation to the positive things of life."

http://www.hedweb.com/bgcharlton/neuroleptics.html

 

 

 

I am looking for people who have taken neuroleptic drugs before and how you have dealt with anhedonia and how long after stopping the medication for the anhedonia to go away. I have found people who recovered from neuroleptic induced anhedonia ranging anywhere from 3 months to a year after their last dose depending on the medication and dosage. I have yet to find anyone who has taken Invega Sustenna for as long as I have and recovered from it. I have also found cases of people who still suffer from anhedonia 5 years after having stopped their neuroleptic drugs.

 

I really am looking for some hope that this will not be permanent.

 

 

Thank you.

Edited December 18, 2013 by Narshe81

[mellifluous]

i can't truly say whether the anhedonia i've experienced is the result of medications or "negative symptoms" of schizophrenia, though i have defo have held the position that i've been misdiagnosed and that pretty much all of my "symptoms" are actually side effects of medication and i'd be fine if just let be. for me...i don't know that there is real potential for coming off all antipsychotics. i'm on a new community treatmetn order thing even, now. which is bullshit, but not my main point here so i'll not bang on about it.

 

anyway, i'm writing more to wish you well and say that i think there is hope despite not konwing how to accomplish it

 

and to suggest/ask if you've considered things like sarcosine or b injections? both have some amount of backing for dealing with post psychosis/negative symptoms: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3267352/

[Narshe81]

i can't truly say whether the anhedonia i've experienced is the result of medications or "negative symptoms" of schizophrenia, though i have defo have held the position that i've been misdiagnosed and that pretty much all of my "symptoms" are actually side effects of medication and i'd be fine if just let be. for me...i don't know that there is real potential for coming off all antipsychotics. i'm on a new community treatmetn order thing even, now. which is bullshit, but not my main point here so i'll not bang on about it.

 

anyway, i'm writing more to wish you well and say that i think there is hope despite not konwing how to accomplish it

 

and to suggest/ask if you've considered things like sarcosine or b injections? both have some amount of backing for dealing with post psychosis/negative symptoms: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3267352/

 

Thank you 

 

That is interesting. I haven't seen that article before. I will try to take VItamin B12 supplements and see if it would help speed up the recover process.

[Parapluie]

Just locking this cause it's repetitive of the other post in which this topic was being discussed.