u/Odd-Aerie4572

I went to the dentist for the first time in YEARS yesterday. I have been doing so well with brushing my teeth since switching to the Autobrush that I finally felt like I had earned the privilege of going to the dentist.

Boy am I glad I went, but I’m now having to pay a small mint to fix the damage caused by years of not brushing properly - 7 cavities (2 major and 5 normal) and gingivitis that is going to require a deep root cleaning and descaling under the gum line. Ouch!

Fortunately I have good dental insurance, but I’m still having to come out of pocket almost $800 over the course of what will be 4 appointments.

I know it’s hard - believe me, I know and completely understand and relate to the struggle - but if you can learn anything from me, take care of your teeth. You only get one adult set. Even if you can only brush once a day for 30 seconds, it’s better than not brushing at all.

I posted a week ago that I bought an Autobrush to see if that would help me be better about brushing my teeth, so figured it was about time I checked in. I am happy to report that it is absolutely working!

I’ve brushed my teeth every day for a week straight and learned that not only did I have sensory issues with a regular toothbrush, but standard toothpaste was a trigger too. The bubblegum flavored foam toothpaste that I use for my Autobrush is sensory trigger free and tastes like the bubblegum flavored fluoride treatment I used to get from the dentist when I was a kid.

I’m so happy with it and highly recommend if you struggle with brushing your teeth like I do. It only takes 30 seconds which is a game changer!

I hope everyone has a fantastic week!

I just got the most devastating news. My therapist, who I have been seeing for YEARS who saw me through my initial anxiety diagnosis and through my bipolar years to my schizoaffective diagnosis, is taking on a new role and no longer seeing patients. I don’t know what to do. I’m panicking and just want to cry, but I think I’m still in shock. Anyone have any success stories of finding a new therapist? I need some positive vibes.

Just curious what vitamins and supplements everyone is taking and if you find they help. I’m adding a bunch to my medication regimen to see if they help with energy and negative symptoms. See my list below:

CoQ10 (200mg)
Vitamin B6 (100mg)
Vitamin B9 (L-Methylfolate - 15mg)
Vitamin B12 (1000mcg)
Vitamin D3 (5000 IU)
Vitamin K2 (100mcg)
Omega 3 Fatty Acids (690mg EPA + 260mg DHA)
Probiotics (65 billion CFU)

I used to care about things. Makeup. Hair. Designer clothes and shoes and purses. I used to have hobbies. I loved astronomy and video games. I had friends that I cared about. I cared about how others saw me and what they thought of me.

Why don’t I care about these things anymore? I want to care. I want to have proper hygiene and be healthy and live a fulfilled life doing things I love. I just can’t find it in me to care. And that is sad.

My heart goes out to everyone who suffers from this awful condition. I hope you find health and happiness.

I haven’t been diagnosed for very long - I just passed my 2 year anniversary this spring. I’ve tried a ton of different antipsychotics and some common themes amongst all of them have been severe fatigue, sleeping a lot, lack of motivation / poor executive functioning, and weight instability.

I guess my question is: at what point do you just accept this is the way things are and stop medication hopping in hopes of finding one that makes you normal again? I think I may still be hoping for a magic pill that makes all my symptoms go away and I’m becoming increasingly concerned that may be a pipe dream.

I haven’t been diagnosed for very long - I just passed my 2 year anniversary this spring. I’ve tried a ton of different antipsychotics and some common themes amongst all of them have been severe fatigue, sleeping a lot, lack of motivation / poor executive functioning, and weight instability.

I guess my question is: at what point do you just accept this is the way things are and stop medication hopping in hopes of finding one that makes you normal again? I think I may still be hoping for a magic pill that makes all my symptoms go away and I’m becoming increasingly concerned that may be a pipe dream.

I tried Vraylar before and remember having akathisia with it, so we switched to a different AP pretty quickly. I’ve been reading up on the partial agonist 3rd Gen antipsychotics and it seems Vraylar is most notable for its treatment of negative symptoms without causing sedation and weight gain. I’m considering giving it another go, but figured I’d ask here to see if anyone has experience with the akathisia and if it goes away after an adjustment period. Also, what effect has it had on your negative symptoms? TIA!

Has anyone switched from Zyprexa to Abilify with success? I’ve been doing really well on Zyprexa, but the weight gain and daytime sleepiness is killing me. I think at my next appt I want to ask to try Abilify. Looking forward to reading some success stories!

DAE really struggle to follow along when people are talking to you?

Part of it I think is that it’s just so noisy in my head that I literally cant hear what people are saying. Probably why I prefer emails and texts to actual conversations. It makes work ten times more difficult because people try to give me tasks or teach me new things and I just have to nod along and try to piece together what they’re saying based on the tiny bits of what I do hear. Fortunately I’ve always been really good at using context clues to figure stuff out, otherwise I’d have been screwed long ago.

Idk if this is a schizo thing or maybe a symptom of my ADHD. Hopefully I’m not alone in this. Any suggestions or tips would be most appreciated.

I’m not currently on a mood stabilizer, but I take a low dose SSRI for anxiety and depression. So far it hasn’t made me manic, but I’ve been debating the benefit of taking a mood stabilizer instead of the SSRI. I specifically want to take lithium because I’ve read it’s the most effective, but my psych mentioned lamotrigine. For those who take one, what’s your thoughts on it? Effectiveness / side effects / the good, bad, and ugly. Thank you in advance!

Long story short, I was working with my psych NP to reduce my Zyprexa to the lowest possible effective dose to try and mitigate some of the side effects I was having. We got down to 10 mg before symptoms started returning, so I went back up to the 12.5 mg which I had been stable at for a couple months before lowering to 10 mg.

Problem is, since going back up to the 12.5 a week ago I don’t seem to be stabilizing. I can feel the voices slithering around in my brain whispering to me and yesterday I had the deep sense that something was wrong with my body internally and it felt like flies were buzzing around under my skin.

I keep having vivid images of me cutting my arm play on repeat over and over again and it feels like a compulsion that I have to obey, but I know if I do listen to it I’ll get in trouble.

How do I make it stop? I have to go to work tomorrow and I can’t function like this. I’m spending all day staring at the wall drowning in symptoms.

Long story short, I was working with my psych NP to reduce my Zyprexa to the lowest possible effective dose to try and mitigate some of the side effects I was having. We got down to 10 mg before symptoms started returning, so I went back up to the 12.5 mg which I had been stable at for a couple months before lowering to 10 mg.

Problem is, since going back up to the 12.5 a week ago I don’t seem to be stabilizing. I can feel the voices slithering around in my brain whispering to me and yesterday I had the deep sense that something was wrong with my body internally and it felt like flies were buzzing around under my skin.

I keep having vivid images of me cutting my arm play on repeat over and over again and it feels like a compulsion that I have to obey, but I know if I do listen to it I’ll get in trouble.

How do I make it stop? I have to go to work tomorrow and I can’t function like this. I’m spending all day staring at the wall drowning in symptoms.

I keep getting obsessive thoughts about needing to cut my left wrist in a very specific spot. I need to watch the blood run down my arm and pool on the floor. Vivid images keep flooding my mind and I can’t make them stop.

About 2 weeks ago my doc reduced my dosage from 12.5 mg olanzapine to 10 mg. I went through the typical withdrawal symptoms that have happened every time I decrease med dosage and eventually they went away. I was back to my normal, non-psychotic self.

Within a week or so I started having very mild hallucinations - mostly just seeing small bug-like shadows darting around or seeing movement in my peripheral vision when nothing is there. I thought it was fine, maybe just a side effect of reducing the dose and that it would go away. Even if it didn’t go away, it wasn’t bothersome enough for me to up my dose again.

Then we get to today and it was almost like my brain was trying to tell me I was going psychotic again, even though I don’t think I really am. I had really bad racing thoughts as well as intrusive thoughts about cutting my arms with a pair of scissors, but I also felt this overwhelming sense of being so physically tired I couldn’t function. I just started staring off into space while my brain constantly yelled at me that something was really wrong, I just didn’t know what.

Has anyone else experienced this? I don’t have a name for it so I don’t even know what to google to see if this is normal or if I should be concerned. I took 2mg Xanax to calm me down, thinking it may be anxiety-related.

Any insight you guys have would be much appreciated. I honestly don’t even know how to explain the intense almost manic-like function of my brain while my body was nearly comatose. It was for sure strange.

For those of you who have gone off your meds, how long did you take them before you attempted to go without them? I honestly think I don’t need them anymore and I keep gaining weight because of them despite being on a GLP-1. I’ve been working with my psych to gradually lower the dose, but she said at my last appt she wants me to stay on 10mg for a good while to see how I do. I just want to be off of them and not have to worry about it.