- Hi everyone, my name is Lauren
and I make videos on what it's like
living with schizophrenia
and in today's video,
I wanna talk to you a little bit more about
what it's like
to be taking antipsychotics
and what it feels like
and what it involves,
because, I think there are a lot of people
seeking out information who may be,
thinking about trying an antipsychotic
and wanna know more about what it's actually like.
And I'm sure there are also people out there
who are just curious about what it's like
to be on an antipsychotic medication.
So that's what I'm going to talk to you about today.
Now I'm not gonna mention
any specific medications, in this video
because, I don't think that it's really helpful at all
to be talking about specific medications
because they work so differently from person to person.
And so I don't think that,
what works for me,
will necessarily work for someone else,
or, for something that maybe didn't work as well for me
might work really, really well for someone else.
So that's why I'm not,
mentioning any of the medications by name.
I'm just kind of giving a general overview
about what it's been like to be on
a really, really wide different range
of antipsychotic medication.
I think something really important to mention as well
is that, being or finding the right antipsychotic medication
is really about finding the right balance
between, reduction of symptoms and management of symptoms
with, negative side effects.
So, you're really kind of trying to find a place
where these are kind of balanced out
or preferably where this is lower and this is higher
than being in the management of symptoms and side effects.
But you're kind of trying to find out
what you're able to live with,
in terms of benefits of this and drawbacks of this.
So probably an important thing to mention
is that, it's not really,
antipsychotics are not really
like a mind altering substance.
So, if you take it recreationally,
you're just gonna get the bad side effects.
You're not gonna get any kind of like,
elevated state of mind or anything like that.
It really just helps to manage symptoms
and give you some side effects.
And that's really all the antipsychotics do.
Some antipsychotics help you to think a bit clearer
if you're dealing with symptoms,
but some antipsychotics make you think
a lot more fuzzily and it's just kind of,
it's harder to focus on some of them.
So, yeah, don't take it recreationally.
All right, so first and foremost,
antipsychotic medication,
is used to reduce symptoms
of psychosis or a bipolar disorder, or what have you,
whatever your psychiatrist is treating you with
antipsychotics for.
So, for the most part,
most of the antipsychotics that I've been on
have done a good job of
lessening my symptoms to varying degrees,
but overall,
they typically lessen the positive symptoms anyway.
So that's like hallucinations, delusions, paranoia,
some of the disorganized thinking, and those symptoms,
they kind of address,
a lot better, than say the negative symptoms,
which are look more like depression and are,
things like lack of motivation,
lack of, pleasure in things,
lack of focus,
those kinds of things, those symptoms,
they don't do such a great job of addressing.
But generally speaking, the positive symptoms,
they do a good job of.
Now that said,
I have tried some newer antipsychotics,
which are like a combination of mood stabilizers,
or other medications like that,
which I've had done a better job
of addressing the negative symptoms
because of that mood stabilization component to them.
So talk with your doctor to figure out what will be the most
helpful in terms of addressing the symptoms that you
experienced most severely.
Okay, side effects.
So this is something that a lot of people
really wanna know about
because that's a major reason why a lot of people
are really, adverse to taking their medication,
why they don't really want to take a medication
because the side effects can be really, really awful
to deal with.
So I'm gonna talk to you about some of the side effects
that I've experienced while being on
antipsychotic medication.
Now, the side effects that I'm going to mention
are by no means an exhaustive list
of antipsychotic side effects,
but they're kind of the ones that I've experienced
most frequently and most severely,
but again, people experience different kinds of side effects
with different kinds of medication.
And so this is not exhaustive,
but this is just what I've experienced on antipsychotics.
So I think probably the biggest side effect that I would
wanna talk about is just the,
it's kind of like a and numbing that you experienced with
the antipsychotic medication,
where you feel
like there's kind of like
a barrier between
what, you know,
you're capable of feeling and experiencing of the world and
what you do on the medication.
Now, this is not the case with all medications,
and it's obviously the varying degrees and I've had it to
varying degrees with different medications,
but, it's kind of a common thing that to some extent,
you're going to feel some degree of numbing,
or, of kind of like this wall
that's being put up between you and the world
that you're trying to experience.
And so that can be really, really frustrating
and really hard to, deal with and figure out how to manage.
But I think it's important to just,
try to remember how you connect with the world
and to really seek that out as much as possible,
and to seek out rich experiences
that you can feel something with.
Because, the numbness can really get to you.
And so that is definitely a side effect that
I think a lot of people really struggle with.
Another big one for me,
that I experienced on the current antipsychotic that I'm on
and also on different ones that I've tried
is the sense of restlessness or agitation.
And so this can be really problematic
because it kind of makes you feel really anxious
and really just like,
you're just revving on this like frequency
that you can't really manage.
And it's just,
this inner feeling of restlessness and agitation
that's really kind of hard to deal with.
I'm not really sure if there is an adequate comparison,
but it's kind of like,
when you've had one too many cups of coffee
and you're just feeling really restless and agitated
and just kind of on edge,
a friend calls it a
doom,
which is kind of,
a good explanation or a good adjective for how it feels.
It just kind of feels like this inner sense of doom
and it's, it's hard to manage.
And so I'm actually on a medication to
counteract this side effect and to kind of
lessen the sense of restlessness and agitation,
but I still do feel it.
And it is something that you need to be aware of
when you're taking antipsychotic medication.
Dry mouth is one that they don't
really tell you about too often.
And it's one that I really struggle with.
I've had to take several sips of water,
during this filming of this video
because my mouth is always dry.
And so it makes it kind of hard to
talk for prolonged periods of time
and sometimes gives me bad breath because
dry mouth does that.
And so, dry mouth is one that,
a lot of psychiatric medication in general,
not just antipsychotics give you.
Another really big symptom or problematic
side effect of antipsychotic medication is weight gain.
So this is one that a lot of people ask me about.
They ask me how I maintain a healthy weight
while being on antipsychotics.
And it's something that I've really had to work toward
and kind of figure out a strategy for.
And this is actually something that we're planning to make
a separate video on
about strategies for maintaining a healthy weight
while on antipsychotics.
But, I have experienced huge amounts of weight gain
on antipsychotic medication.
One of the ones that I was on,
I gained like 50 pounds in
like less than half a year.
And it was really, really problematic to my health
and to my mental health,
and to,
my self esteem.
And it was just, it wasn't good.
And so I really understand
that a lot of people really
struggle with this as a really nasty side effect.
And it's like a huge reason why people
maybe don't wanna take their medications
that they're prescribed for their psychosis.
And I get that.
Another common side effect
that's not really talked about very much
is a decreased libido.
So I have had problems with this in terms of having
decreased desire for intimacy,
with my partner on different medications.
And it creates a problem,
in your relationship and in your sense of
self esteem and in your confidence and all of that.
And so that is another potential side effect
that you need to be aware of.
And another one that I wanna mention,
although I haven't actually experienced yet
is tardive dyskinesia
because I do worry sometimes that I'm getting it.
When I'm looking at videos,
I see like a sagging and part of my face, or like
my mouth not moving symmetrically.
And I get really worried that I'm going to have
tardive dyskinesia
because of taking my antipsychotic medication.
So, tardive dyskinesia is basically involuntary movements
of the tongue, lips, face,
that kind of region
caused by prolonged use of antipsychotic medication.
So that is something that, I do worry about.
And It is a potential side effect of
taking antipsychotic medication.
So these are just some of the major side effects
that I've experienced while taking
antipsychotic medications, but in the future,
we'd really to talk more to other people and to
psychiatrist, pharmacologists, pharmacists,
about different side effects
that other people experience while on medications
or antipsychotic medications
and what the experience is like for other people.
I think it's really important to kind of address
the fact that if you are experiencing
a lot of these side effects,
it's really important to work with your doctor
about addressing them.
If you just stopped taking your medication cold turkey,
because you don't like some of the side effects
that you're experiencing,
you're gonna have a really bad time
because probably,
those side effects are going to get much worse.
If you just quit cold turkey
and you're going to have symptoms come up again,
and it's just going to be a really bad recipe for disaster.
So please,
I really urge you to work with your psychiatrist
to kind of find that balance between
managing your symptoms and side effects
that you don't really want to be experiencing.
I also talked about what it's like
physiologically to be on antipsychotic medication,
but there's also the psychological component
about what it's like being on medication.
So, I think that a lot of people really struggle
with what it means to be on antipsychotic medication,
myself included.
I, sometimes tell myself that,
I'm lesser of a person
or something along those lines
because I have to take antipsychotic medications.
So I think it's,
really important to just continually remind yourself that
you're taking this medication,
this like health care medication, for a health symptom
for a health disorder, or a health problem
that you need to address with medication.
And that's okay.
You are just treating an illness that you have,
and, if it helps you to live,
more fully and a better life
then why not take it.
This is kind of an interesting dilemma too, though,
where, people are feeling really great on their
antipsychotic medication.
And they're not having very many side effects
and they're not having any symptoms
because their medication is working really well.
And so it's kind of ironic that,
when the medication is working,
people don't really wanna take it,
because they think they don't really need it or anything.
So, when they have medication is working, a lot of people,
myself included think that they don't
want to take the medication anymore.
And also, when the medication is not working,
because you're having a lot of side effects
or a lot of symptoms,
you don't wanna take the medication then too.
So it's kind of like this,
no win situation, sometimes, where,
if the medication is working,
you don't wanna take it.
And if the medication isn't working,
you still don't wanna take it.
So it's kind of, a psychological roller coaster in terms of
understanding that,
you need to take it regardless.
And you need to find that
proper balance with your psychiatrist,
about what you're willing to put up with
in terms of managing your symptoms.
So I've talked a bit about my experience
with taking antipsychotic medications, but again,
I just wanna reiterate that it is different for,
everybody and different people react
differently to different medications.
And so, it's really important to find,
the one that fits you the best with your psychiatrist
and to work together, to find the one that fits you best.
So I hope you found this video helpful
or informative in some way, if you liked it,
please give us a thumbs up.
And if you have any other experiences to share
about what antipsychotic medication has been like for you,
make sure to leave them in the comments below.
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So thank you so much for watching and as always wishing you
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Good health.
Bye
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