LNY4ever: Journey from Olanzapine and Risperidone

[LNY4ever]

Hello Folks, my name is LNY4ever and i am from Germany

 

In the month of July in 2016 I decided to finally take LSD at a Party in the woods close to the town where I study. A few weeks later i think i had a flashback from this LSD trip and i started to wander around town. I would think that exposure to the outside world would keep me from getting insane, since i think I had some auditory hallucinations as well

 

After 3 Days of roaming I couldnt take it anymore because i was so anxious about everything that I committed myself to the psych ward of our town.

Because I freaked out in the ward, people tackled me to the ground and fixated me and sedated me with Haloperidol. I was diagnosed with a drug-induced psychosis and was court-ordered to stay there for 6 weeks, which was alleviated because of the fact I behaved quite nice and commited myself voluntarily.

 

 

I cannot really recall the first week of my stay there, but i have been drugged with some benzos, Olanzapine and Risperidone.

 

After 3 weeks (in August) I was released from the psych ward and went to my families place ( which is in another town, a few houndred kilometers from where I study).

Because I was taking two antipsychotic medications, my mum and me decided to drop the Olanzapine (10mg/day) and just go for the Risperidone (1.5 mg/day at that time).

After i quit Olanzapine cold turkey( because i was feeling very strange, very numb), i had some weird feelings when lying in bed, basically like dissolving or continious falling. Waaaay later i learned that quitting cold turkey is quite dangerous.

 

In late August I really got bored out of my pants where my family lives (mostly because of the anhedonic adverse effects of the antipsychotic medication, which at the time i did not know about) and decided to go back to the town where I study, because I thought life should go on now.

 

After a week i became intensly anxious and supposively psychotic again (probably because i quit Olanzapine) and decided to quit the medication because it made me feel even more weird, so i went to another psychiatry (where my family lives) this time for a weekend. This time i really had lost all grasp on reality because I think i was withdrawing from Risperidone.

I was given RIsperidone ( this time 4mg/day) and was basically in a dream like zombie like state and I didnt know what the heck was going on.

 

My father visited me and saw the wicked state I was in so my parents, who live apart, decided to take me home again.

 

I stayed at my fathers place for a month and went after that to the place where I study again.

 

I then got an appointment with a psychiatrist whom i told that the medication makes me very resless (akathisia), makes my legs move unvoluntairily ( dyskinesia) and i was feeling dull and not perceiving any form of enjoyment whatsoever(anhedonia).

 

He agreed to taper the Risperidone

 

So I went form 4mg --> 2mg --> 1.5mg-->1mg-->0.75mg-->0.5mg-->0.25mg-->0.125mg(broke Tablets in half)-->0mg from Oktober 2016 to January 2017.

I held the dosage for around 2/3 Weeks and then went on a lower dose.

 

Since then i am feeling waaaay better, because in January 2017 i was feeling very socially inapt, emotionally blunt, couldnt come up with a conversation topic because every spark of creativity was removed from my brain,still had to move my legs all he time due to restlessness.

 

I still think there is a good amount of recovery to do since i think i was more inspired and more outgoing and more active before my little tango with drugs and medication.

Yet I  can feel good feelings again and have more energy to do things.

 

Thats my journey until now, i hope the post hasnt become too long.

 

Are there any other people around here with similar experiences?

 

 

 

With best Regards, LNY

 

[Altostrata]

Welcome, LNY.

 

Well, I'm glad you found your way out of that! Those drugs are very powerful, many people have a lot of difficulty going off them.

 

How are you feeling now?

[LNY4ever]

Hello Altostrata,

 I've been doing pretty much ok the last few weeks I kinda feel like my range in feelings has recovered, being able to feel both good and bad feelings again. Also I am finding pleasure in meeting peolpe again, as for a long time I couldn't feel the connection to fellow human beings. I can feel my old me starting to surface ( in a good way).

 

What I would like to say is thank you people on this board, the advice you give on tapering really helped me a lot because no one really tells you what to do. Even  my psychiatrist, though compliant to my demands in tapering off Risperidone, wouldn't tell me about the withdrawal and which problems come alongside it.

 

Also, you aren't really told what these kinds of drugs do to you on an emotional, intellectual,spiritual or a social level ( it's devastating). I am thankful for the reports of the antipsychotic survivors here on this board and wanted to commmit a sort of recovery story for the people who deal with the side effects of the drugs even though tapered off.

 

PS: Is antidepressant withdrawal comparable to antipsychotic withdrawal?

PPS: Is anyone left with tinnitus after going off of APs?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nicolantana]

Hey there!!

 

My story is very different to yours but there are similarities!! I was misdiagnosed and given an.outrageous mix of medication. Anhedonia is my main complaint and you're right the.impact on every level is devastating!!!

 

I have experienced some great windows since coming off. But this week has been torture but I got some hope.from your story!

 

Nick