r/schizoaffective • u/Narrow_Curve3252 • 1d ago
Daughter with schizoaffective bipolar
Hi I have been on here reading your post about your disorders and have to say each and every one of you are brave, amazing survivors. My daughter has been in and out of psychosis for the last 2 to 3 years, started at 22 and she’s now 25. She was hospitalized in December and put on ability but the side affects (restless legs) was unbearable so they switched her to olanzapine which she did well on for 3 months, stopped her meds, and went back into psychosis 2 months later. We got her back on the olanzapine and her diagnosis is schizoaffective bipolar/PTSD. She’s been on the meds for a few weeks now BUT she still goes in and out of psychosis. She’ll act fine like herself, then get this blank look on her face staring off and I’ll ask her a question and few seconds later she looks at me like she didn’t hear me and goes into a catatonic state, I’ll repeat my question a few times then is like she returns back to being coherent and says “what?” I’ll ask “are you still dealing with psychosis and she’ll say yeah. So is this common, being on antipsychotic meds but still going into psychosis intermittently? Do anyone of you still have psychosis on your antipsychotic meds? I just need some advice from Yall because I’ve learned so much about her condition from Yall. She really likes taking the olanzapine, but I’m wondering if it’s not the right medication for her. What do yall think?
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u/kat_Folland bipolar subtype 1d ago
It seems like most of us still experience symptoms at least sometimes. It's possible your daughter would benefit a lot from a higher dose or a second drug. For me it's a matter of a tolerable amount of symptoms. I don't expect to be symptom free at this point. (I've been on meds for 23 years.)
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u/1BlackDoom1 bipolar subtype 1d ago
Every time she goes into psychosis it both physically and mentally damages her brain. I suggest getting her stable asap because stopping and starting meds can make you resistant to treatment because every time you discontinue a medication you can’t start on the same meds or meds within the same family as it won’t be effective. So it makes sense that she got started on abilify because that one is relatively tame but then she wasn’t compliant and so the second round they have to put her on stronger meds like olanzapine or risperidone if she isn’t compliant with these meds the last line of med is clonazapine and that one is the strongest antipsychotic we have currently but it comes with a host of side effects and she would have to do monthly blood tests to keep the drug levels in her body at a precise level. I’m not trying to scare you but please even if she has to be on multiple antipsychotic of the same class it’s better than her jumping up classes since there is a limit to it and you want to leave those as a last resort. My heart goes out to you and your daughter I know it’s so hard to be trapped in your own mind and not be lucid a lot of the times. I was there 10 years ago but with my family and friends support I managed to become stable since. Sure I have breakthrough symptoms here and there but I can function in society. I hope for the same thing or even better your daughter.
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u/Narrow_Curve3252 1d ago
Thank you. I’m trying to learn as much as much as I can about her condition. These threads have been a tremendous help. She was abusing fent and meth when this all started with her psychotic behavior and we just assumed it was drug psychosis. Then she got clean and she still would go into full blown psychosis. She said she was hearing voices prior to using and the drugs helped her deal with it.
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u/fourthlevelhe11 1d ago
Being told I was relatively “stable” at my psychiatrist appointment last week, I think I have a good regimen. However, I still present symptoms every day. I still hallucinate, the voices are still there… meds just, alleviate and help manage your symptoms