Posted by Else on September 4, 2001, at 19:13:59
In reply to Re: do I have schizophrenia?, posted by Andre Allard on September 1, 2001, at 1:48:41
> > That is not what I said. I said I *personally* thought antipsychotics were innapropriate for non-psychotic conditions, if I recall correctly. I do have my own reasons for believing this.
>
> What reasons are these, I am curious.
My brother who became utterly weird and expressionless on a relatively low dose of Risperdal (1mg/die). He looked like a completely different person and I do want to stress that he was never diagnosed as having a psychotic disorder and that he has returned to normal since discontinuing meaning that his weirdness was drug induced. By weirdness I mean that he was unlike himself in a most unpleasant way, lifeless, malleable, boring. Others may react differently but other psychiatric drugs like ADs and tranquilizers don't usually affect personnality to such a severe extent.
>
> > Of course, anti-psychotics work for everything. They shut you down (just like when windows crashes and you have to do alt-ctrl-del, well that's what they do).
>
> I am not sure what you mean. If you are saying that the atypicals blunt emotions I would have to agree. BUT, you have to remember that emotions experienced with mental disorders are to the extreme and that any blunting of emotions can only help - to an extent. I am talking about minimal dosages, the dosages that are prescribed to the disorders out side of schizophrenia and pychosis.
>
> There are, however, subtler methods that do not cause irreversable neurological disorders (like tardive dyskinesia, for instance) that should be tried FIRST if psychosis is not clearly present.
>
> Irreversable neurological disorders are not commonly seen with the atypicals. If you have been referring to the older, dirty antipsychotics then I would have to agree with everything you have mentioned.
>
> And as far as the psychiatric community goes, please, tell me how many pdocs you know take Risperdal or Zyprexa?
>
> I did not refer to pdocs taking any form of medication. What are you talking about?I didn't mean to implie that you had said that.Just that I don't think doctors would choose atypical APs over tranquilizers for anxiety. Just on the basis that tranquilizers like Valium cause fewer side effects.
> I would think Valium is more popular among them but I could be wrong.
>
> You are wrong. Valium is a dirty benzodiazepine (they all are) that is used short term for insomnia and anxiety.I am not. I take Klonopin, and I have taken Valium in the past. I would pick any benzo over say, an SSRI, anyday. They are probably not advisable for depression but for anxiety I find they get the work done much more cleanly than any other drug I've tried (Prozac, Zoloft, Effexor, Depakote and Klonopin). Why do you say benzos are dirty ? I have read, on the contrary, (in a toxicology textbook) that benzos were some of the least toxic psychotropic drugs availlable. Now if you mean tolerance and dependance, that you should say tolerance and dependance but that's not the same as toxicity. I personnally don't mind. Dependance is of little concern if you are going to take these drugs for a prolonged period of time as far as I am concerned. Quality of life is more important to me. And beside, ADs cause withdrawal symptoms too. I don't have any information on APs but I would tend to think they are no different because they do partially block serotonin re-uptake as far as I know.
> Please read what I write before you dismiss it. I just re-read my post and I used the word "psychosis" not "schizophrenia" and please let me speak to one of these specialists who would disagree with me. I'm curious to know why.
>
> The next time you are speaking with your pdoc you can ask them yourself. They will tell you the same thing. You are curious why. Well, the atypicals (not the first generation antipsychotics) are very broad spectrum and are used routinely in all mental disorders.
My doc suggested I take Seroquel a few months ago, to replace Effexor for anxiety just after I had complained I hated the sense of numbness ADs made me feel. I refuse. Now I am on Klonopin and it is the most effective drug I have taken so far. I am not worried about withdrawal upon discontinuation. I did go through lorazepam withdrawal after being hopitalized, when my doctor decided I should discontinue abruptly from a 6mg/day dose. As nasty as that was, I survived and and I would rather go through a couple of nasty weeks or even months of withdrawal than feel shitty all the time on Zoloft. I am not planning on discontinuing anyway.
> If I seem a little to forward I apologise. I am very honest, that's all, but, if you got some more noise - BRING IT! I am starting to have fun!I am not bothered that you are too forward, just that you misquoted me. I didn't say AP were good only for schizophrenia. This trend of prescribing APs for everything is something I oppose because I see what these drugs have done to friends of mine and a member of my familly. Also, although TD may not be as likely with newer APs as it was with older ones, it is still a possibility. I was taking Wellbutrin (not an AP, I know) and I gave it up when I read it could cause EPS and began to give me neck twitches. I don't trust drugs that have major neurological side-effects. You could argue that benzos do since discontinuing them may produce convulsions but these drugs have been in use for what, almost forty years now? If the worst that can happen is addiction that I'm not too worried, I can certainly deal with that. I'm way to much aof a hypochondriac to take my chances with APs, even atypical ones. But risks not withstanding, I would still avoid them because they ressemble SSRIs a little too much for my own taste (with the sexual dysfunction and all).
P.S. I am a strong supporter of the rationnal use of benzos and believe they have been devilized and you better come up with something GOOD if you want to convince me otherwise.No hard feelings.
poster:Else
thread:76717
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010902/msgs/77726.html