- Hi everyone My name is Lauren, and in this video
I'm gonna be talking a little bit more about medications.
And so what kind of medications
are available for schizophrenia,
as well as medication adherence.
So taking medications
is something that I struggle with quite a bit,
which I talked about in a previous video.
But one of the delusions that I experience
quite frequently around medications,
is that doctors are conspiring to use them to poison me,
or use them for mind control over me.
So it's definitely something that I struggle
quite a bit with.
I currently take two antipsychotics,
one through an injection and one orally.
Hopefully it'll get to a point
where the injection stabilizes,
so that I can just be on that,
but for now I need to be on the oral antipsychotic as well.
Medication is fairly key in managing schizophrenia,
though I know there are individuals out there
who are able to manage it without medications.
I would absolutely love to know more about that
and about how you are able to do that,
but for now medication is important for me to take.
The medications doctors most often prescribe
for schizophrenia are antipsychotic medications,
which help to ease hallucinations and delusions,
as well as some of the other symptoms.
These drugs work on chemicals in the brain,
such as dopamine and serotonin.
There are two groups of antipsychotics.
The first being first-generation or typical,
and the second being second-generation or atypical,
which are the newer drugs.
So the first-generation antipsychotics
typically have worse side effects,
which can include lethargy, sometimes drooling,
an increase prolactin levels,
which can affect a person's sex drive, mood,
menstrual cycle, as well as it can increase
or promote the growth of breasts in men.
One of the most common side effects
with the second-generation antipsychotics is weight gain.
This can be really problematic,
and can lead to other health problems as well.
So for me I started a new medication about two years ago,
and I quickly, in a very short span of time,
gained around 50 pounds.
It was really, really difficult.
And so figuring this out,
and making the decision to switch to a new medication,
it was what I did.
I then also had to focus a lot more on exercise
and nutrition, to kind of counteract this side effect.
A more serious side effect
that comes with prolonged use of anti-psychotics,
is what's called tardive dyskinesia.
So this is a movement disorder,
which affects facial, neck and tongue muscles,
and it causes them to move uncontrollably,
and it can be permanent.
So it's really, really important
to have an open dialogue with your doctor
around your concerns and desires for your medications.
It's really important to know that you absolutely have a say
in determining your treatment plan,
as well as what works best for you.
And it's really best
when you can work together with your doctor
to come up with what is the best approach for you.
So it's important to remember
that it is a little bit of a guessing game
when it comes to psychiatric medications
and finding what is the best fit for you.
So it may take trying a multitude of different medications,
before you find the one that works best for you.
It took several years for me of trying different medications
before I found the one that was the right fit for me,
and I'm still making adjustments and changes
in order to deal with different side effects
and symptoms that come about.
So schizophrenia can make it really hard
to stick to a medication regimen.
I struggle with this quite a bit,
which I mentioned earlier,
but having a strong support system
is something that can really help with this.
So for example,
my boyfriend checks in with me regularly around medication,
and offers me encouragement when I need it,
in order to continue taking it.
He made this really wonderful little poster
that I keep beside my bedside, where my medications are,
that just kind of outlines,
why I need to take my medication
and why it's going to be helpful
for me to continue taking my medication,
and that's really, really helpful for me.
Adherence is another really important thing to talk about.
So it's quite common for people to be,
or to start taking medications,
and then when they start to feel better to just assume
that they don't need to take medications anymore.
This is not the case though,
and it's really important to remember
that the medications are what is helping you
to make you feel better.
So not to go off of them,
and to not to change anything up
without first consulting with your doctor.
So unfortunately, taking medication can kind of suck.
So it leads to different side effects like,
I just received my injection a few days ago,
and I'm still feeling the effects of that.
So I'm feeling a little bit more lethargic,
my arm hurts, I'm feeling a little bit out of it still.
And it can also lead to different things like dry mouth,
which I'm experiencing right now actually,
weight gain like I talked about,
as well as the other symptoms
or side effects that I discussed earlier.
Also the unfortunate reality is that medications
don't cover all the symptoms that you're gonna experience.
So you're gonna end up having breakthrough symptoms
while on medications as well.
But the key part here is to
find a way to balance the side effects
with the benefits in terms of symptom relief
that you can receive from the medications,
and finding that balance is crucial.
So I hope this video helped you to better understand
a little bit more about what taking medications
can look like for schizophrenia,
or schizoaffective disorder,
as well as some of the benefits,
as well as drawbacks to taking medication.
Thank you so much for watching,
and if you wanna see more videos make sure to subscribe.
Hope you have a great day, bye.