Recently, my friend's cousin who lives in China messaged me and told me about her mental health situation. It's very unique. She used to be a happy and positive person, with no mental health issues whatsoever. When she was 19, she was a rebellious teenager. It wasn't typical at the time and it was extremely unacceptable in China. She was always angry and disrespectful towards her parents. Thinking that she was schizophrenic, her mom found a doctor and put her on antispychotic medications. Fast forward, 11 years later, she is still stuck on these medications and she is experiencing severe health issues, such as high blood pressure, tremors, poor quality of sleep, inability to control her tempers and emotions, high risk of breast cancer, inability to have children, etc. She is on an antipsychotic drug called Olanzapine and an antidepressant called Luvox. The amount of information on these drugs are very limited in Chinese and her psychiatrist claims that these drugs are "import", therefore they are "awesome", even though he confirms that she doesn't have schizophrenia, he thinks it's not a good idea to come off these medications. Indeed, when she tried to quit cold turkey once, she wasn't able to sleep for 5 days.
After Googling these two drugs, I found a lot of valuable information in English, including other people's terrible experience trying to come off it. In a woman's story, she even had a minor stroke as a result of her withdrawal from Olanzapine. Here is her story: https://rxisk.org/olanzapine-withdrawal-sallys-story/
I then remember that I was on Olanzapine for a while as well, it didn't do any good to my mental health, and I was then switched to what I am taking now, which is Seroquel. I am aware of the fact that I am fully dependent on this medication, if I accidentally skip a dose, I won't be able to sleep for that night. But my dosage is only 150mg, it's the minimal dosage and I cannot go any lower than that. With the help of another medication called Epival (500mg), my bipolar disorder has been well treated. I have been doing great for over 11 years, I have not had a mental health breakdown for 11 years! I don't plan to come off my medications, I don't experience any side-effects. Aside from the fact that I might not be able to carry my own child, I don't see my life being affected in anyway by my medications.
Anyway, after doing more research, I came up with a few tips that could help my friend alleviate her side-effects by lowering her dosage. In this post, I want to share my findings, as well as some personal experience in lowering my psychotropic medications to achieve optimal mental health.
First of all, I don't think a person who actually has a mental illness, who actually has psychosis should come off antipsychotic medications completely. It will most likely cause a relapse, therefore a major set back in their life. The goal is to lower the dosage to a point where side effects are most minimal, or replace it with another type of antipsychotic that works better.
1. Slowly and gradually. It's like quit smoking with Nicorette patches. Take off 5% the dose every 4 weeks. I am speaking from my personal experience. After landing the right medication, it took about 2 years to finally figure out the right dosage. And my mom actually "adjusted" my dosage without my awareness, and she dared not telling my doctor about it. I was doing better and better mental health wise. I had normal emotions, and my creativity, memory, and other aspects of my mental abilities were all enhanced. When my doctor was about to move to another city, I finally told him the truth on our last meeting. He was like, "oh, I can understand that."
2. Keep a diary. My mom had a small journal, every day, she would write the amount of meds I was on, the quality of my sleep and my mood. If you are writing the diary yourself, you can rate your sleep, your mood, and your physical symptoms out of 10 or out of 100. Monitor the changes you experience after a dosage has just been reduced. If you experience insomnia for days, and withdrawal symptoms that you cannot tolerate, you should slow down your pace, and add a bit back to your dose.
3. Have a healthy and structured life style. Quit smoking and drinking. Do more exercise, and eat food that are considered clean and healthy. Mental healthy is part of our overall physical health. In my experience, I was overweight at the time, therefore, I went swimming every day, I ate oatmeal for dinner instead of white rice. I lost about 40 lbs in the process. I felt like my mental health was restored right about the point when I was in a much better shape physically.
4. Work with a Psychatrist on a long term basis. Again, the goal is to lower your medication to a point where your side effects are minimal and your mental functions can be enhanced. The goal is not completely coming off the medications because you have a mental illness to treat! Sometimes, we need to come off a medication when we are switching to a different type of medication. That's why it's important to have a psychiatrist on a long term basis. When someone is acute, the type of medication prescribed is usually very strong and "toxic", but during maintenance stage, if the meds have bad side effects, a milder type of meds should be used. In my experience, I have tried many different types of meds and combinations before landing on the right meds, and my doctor played a key role in it.
5. Lastly, and most importantly, do not lose faith in medications just because you have a terrible experience with one type of medication. If one doesn't work, keep on trying until you find the right one and figure out the right dosage. I have heard people say, I don't take meds, I just try to deal with it, I have good days and bad days, I have to shower myself with inspirational quotes during the bad days. But speaking from personal experience, if your mental illness is well treated by the right meds, being happy and positive is effortless. You will find that being human is a complete different experience than you have ever known.
Hope this helps, God Bless!
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