Haldol?

[Siggmin]

I've been on Haldol before, but I didn't experience side effects like this before. I feel tired all the time, but I also feel the need to move all the time. It's killed my voices like it did the first time I was on it for the first year, so I don't really wanna complain to my psychiatrist. Any way I can deal with it myself? I'm worried she'll just take me off antipsychotics all together again if I complain of any side effects. I'm already on Cogentin.

[mellifluous]

what you describe sounds like akathisia and as far as a self resolution, i've not found one

 

you could inquire about artane or propranolol, i switch between the those two and cogentin as needed

 

i tend to think you're fearing an incredibly unlikely scenario with your psychiatrist.

you're experiencing a well known side effect that's manageable and it's resolved a major symptom

 

I've never had the psychiatrist be the one to discount the benefits and see major symptom resolution as secondary to not having to address documented, a non life threatening side effect.

[Siggmin]

Thanks for the reply, Mell My psychiatrist just took me off Saphris, which was working perfectly, because I had gained some weight. She didn't put me on anything in its place. She said it was too dangerous for someone my age to continue to be on antipsychotics, which she should have figured out 10 antipsychotics ago. She said she'd start me on low dose Haldol if the voices got really bad again.

I couldn't get ahold of her, so my grandma took me to the emergency room where they prescribed 10mg of Haldol (the dose I was on the last time I was on it) and 1mg Cogentin.

I worry she will say because I am having side effects again that I need to be taken off antipsychotics completely again, without a chance of starting another if things worsen again.

[mellifluous]

hmmm

 

that is a curious one

 

so..."someone your age"?

 

are you elderly?  that's the only "age related" thing i know of. i  mean, you're not twelve

 

so..does she work out well for you otherwise/been seeing her awhile? have you been happy with her care?

 

i'm just wondering if what's needed here isn't a change of scenery on the psychiatrist front. and, of course, i don't know your situation presents itself...and mine may be very different insofar as psychosis is *hands down* my biggest problem.  if NOTHING else, in other words, i have to be on antipsychotics and i've never been in any way given thought that i might go off them at a certain age...not at all. which fact could be a function of experience on that point limited to self/ignorance. but, if you voices that are disturbing and she's telling you to just deal or that despite the medications working you can't be on them...i would just encourage a second opinion.

 

i have heard, but not taken myself and i don't know that it's a good idea....but i've heard that people have been advised to use benedryl. maybe do a search for benedryl and akathisia here?

 

i hope you get some relief soon--from voices and side effects and concerns about your treatment options x

[Siggmin]

I am 20 years old, definitely not elderly... Lol. 

 

I've had her as a psychiatrist since I was 17, so about almost 5 years now. I've had voices tell me, well, one voice, Bob, that I should OD. And I did. I was in the paediatric ICU for 2 days and the children's psych ward for 7 or 8. I have had some really big issues with voices, seeing things, feeling things that aren't there. And some mood issues. I'm diagnosed with SZA. 

 

Unfortunately I can't switch psychiatrists, my GP won't refer me to anyone but Dr. G, my current psychiatrist. I also worry about changing psychiatrists because I've been accused of lying, having BPD instead and "pseudo psychosis" from some of the older psychiatrists I've had in the hospital. My psychiatrist is a little older herself- I fear what will happen, and if I will be believed that it's not just "pseudo psychosis" by my next psychiatrist. 

 

I might try Benedryl. But I've been told not to mix it with Haldol, as far as I know, since they're both sedating.

[bpladybug]

you poor girl

you are 20 years old and you have been on 24 different medications

what a roller coaster ride of meds and side effects you have endured

 

i am no doctor, but I wouldn't worry about taking a normal dose of Benadryl with my AAP

i have done that many times

I take xanax when I have restless twitching legs from my Seroquel

 

you need to talk w your doctor 

she says it is dangerous for someone your age to be on AP and AAPs

but it also dangerous for someone with SZA BP to not be treated.......

 

better fat and functional is my opinion

normal weight and crazy did not work very well for me in my life

 

have you tried Latuda yet?  some people like it and find it weight neutral, it is expensive

you might ask her about it

Edited May 11, 2014 by bpladybug

[Siggmin]

BP, she says I cannot afford to gain any more weight. Which is probably true. I have troubles with my back; when I walk, I have shooting pain starting in my base of my spine, up to the top and through my hips. It feels like my hip bones are grinding together. So it is not easy for me to lose weight. She said to try swimming, which I do like, but no one will go with me. 

 

I've tried to tell her before the hallucinations are probably more worrisome than the weight gain, but she doesn't believe me. She likes to be right. She's not once changed my diagnosis since I was 18, as she thinks she is always right. I guess that's lucky for me in that case, as some of the other doctors try to convince her my psychosis is "fake". 

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I might cut out the Reactine for my allergies and try some Benedryl for them and my akathisia.