If you stop antipsychotics suddenly it can cause 'rebound psychosis'. This means that the symptoms of your illness return suddenly, and you may become unwell again. This is also known as 'relapse'. If you or your family or friends think you are becoming unwell again, you should speak to your doctor.
Avoid stopping suddenly, if possible. If you come off too quickly you are much more likely to have a relapse of your psychotic symptoms. It may also increase your risk of developing tardive psychosis.
Many of the side effects of antipsychotic medications are unpleasant and can make it hard for people to stick with medication. Antipsychotics can cause neurological side effects that interfere with normal movements and make it hard to feel calm or experience pleasure.
However, some patients are able to sustain a psychosis-free existence after the cessation of antipsychotics. Several studies show that only 25%–55% of patients with schizophrenia who stopped taking antipsychotic medication experienced the relapse of symptoms in the first 6 to 10 months after they stopped taking them.
Studies have suggested that psychiatric drugs may do more harm than good, especially in the long-term. Antipsychotics have numerous serious and debilitating side effects including: Movement effects: Tremors, muscle stiffness and tics can occur. The higher the dose, the more severe these effects.
So while treatment with some antipsychotics seems to increase intelligence, others reduce symptoms without that effect. Other medications that are known to cause improved cognitive functioning had no effect when combined with those antipsychotics.
Evidence of the rapidity at which antipsychotics can affect brain volume in humans was recently provided by Tost and associates. These investigators found a significant, reversible decrease in striatal volume in healthy subjects within 2 hours after they were treated intravenously with haloperidol.
Some people need to keep taking it long term. If you have only had one psychotic episode and you have recovered well, you would normally need to continue treatment for 1–2 years after recovery. If you have another psychotic episode, you may need to take antipsychotic medication for longer, up to 5 years.
For neurological, neuropsychological, neurophysiological, and metabolic abnormalities of cerebral function, in fact, there is evidence suggesting that antipsychotic medications decrease the abnormalities and return the brain to more normal function.
After a first episode of psychosis in schizophrenia and related disorders, stopping antipsychotics is considered when the patient has made a full recovery and been well for at least 12 months.
All antipsychotic medications are associated with an increased likelihood of sedation, sexual dysfunction, postural hypotension, cardiac arrhythmia, and sudden cardiac death. Primary care physicians should understand the individual adverse effect profiles of these medications.
Taking antipsychotics can increase your risk of developing metabolic syndrome. If you experiencing metabolic syndrome, this means you are at higher risk of developing: diabetes. stroke.
For people with schizophrenia, long-term antipsychotic use is usually accompanied by adverse effects such as weight gain, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and ischemic heart disease, demonstrating their important role in increased mortality.
Conclusions. Viewed together with data from animal studies, our study suggests that antipsychotics have a subtle but measurable influence on brain tissue loss over time, suggesting the importance of careful risk-benefit review of dosage and duration of treatment as well as their off-label use.
Consensus guidelines typically recommend continued antipsychotic medication for 1–2 years, although it has been suggested that treatment discontinuation in the form of targeted intermittent treatment (dose reduction, antipsychotic discontinuation if feasible, and immediate reintroduction if symptoms reemerge) should ...
You may find it's possible to manage your symptoms, or to make a full recovery, without medication. If you are taking antipsychotics, you may also want to use other options to support your mental health, as well as your medication.
Results: Antipsychotics, as a group, increase weight and may lead to dry mouth and bad breath, cataracts, hirsutism, acne, and voice changes; they may disturb symmetry of gait and heighten the risk for tics and spasms and incontinence, potentially undermining a person's attractiveness.
Tardive Dyskinesia
It is characterized by uncontrolled facial movements such as protruding tongue, chewing or sucking motions and making faces. Tardive dyskinesia is a very serious side effect of antipsychotic medications in particular, and patients taking such drugs should know what to watch for.
Previous studies found that the death rate among people with schizophrenia on antipsychotic medications was 30%-50% lower than among those who took a placebo. But most of the studies were shorter than six months, which does not reflect the fact that antipsychotic treatment is often lifelong, the study authors noted.
They can cause movement disorders such as twitching and restlessness, sedation and weight gain, and lead to diabetes. Because of these side effects, antipsychotic drugs are usually only used to treat severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Some studies suggest that glycine, sarcosine, NAC, several Chinese and ayurvedic herbs, ginkgo biloba, estradiol, and vitamin B6 may be effective for psychotic symptoms when added to antipsychotics (glycine not when added to clozapine).
Sustained antipsychotic treatment has been also consistently associated with lower mortality in people with schizophrenia compared to no antipsychotic treatment. Nevertheless, chronic antipsychotic use is associated with metabolic disturbance and tardive dyskinesia.
Of the atypical antipsychotics, risperidone is the weakest in terms of atypicality criteria.
Clozapine and olanzapine have the safest therapeutic effect, while the side effect of neutropenia must be controlled by 3 weekly blood controls.
Amongst the many adverse effects of the first generation, or 'typical' antipsychotics, the most disturbing was Tardive Dyskinesia, which involves uncontrollable movements of face, hands and feet [2].