Re: How Many Have Given Up Meds For Other Tx?

The only medication that I'm currently taking is Abilify, and I only take 5 mg because I can't tolerate the fatigue that I experience at higher doses. I've tried taking several of the D2-blocking antipsychotics, and I found myself unable to tolerate a single one of them, sometimes due to fatigue, but sometimes also due to a worsening of my psychotic symptoms. So, as far as the treatment of my psychosis is concerned, 5 mg of Abilify seems to be the best medication for me. Without the Abilify, I'm just constantly inundated by ideas of reference, and with too much Abilify I'm far too fatigued to be anything close to functional. I can't say that I like the side effects that I experience on 5 mg of Abilify, but they're more or less tolerable and aren't as bad as being constantly bombarded by ideas of reference like I was before I was taking Abilify.

But my psychosis is only part of what I need to treat. The health condition that for me has been more debilitating than anything else has been what I now think is idiopathic hypersomnia, otherwise known as primary hypersomnia. For many years, what I suspect is idiopathic hypersomnia was diagnosed as some form of clinical depression, and it's involved low energy, extremely slow thinking, difficulty concentrating, and of course, sleeping too much and extreme difficulty waking. I've also characterized these symptoms as some form of chronic fatigue in the past, but the more I read about different diagnoses, the more I think that the diagnosis of idiopathic hypersomnia is probably the right fit for my mix of symptoms. Of course, I still want to talk to my psychiatrist before I can officially state that I have idiopathic hypersomnia, but that's the diagnosis that I suspect is most fitting for me.

As far as treatments for the condition that I suspect to be idiopathic hypersomnia are concerned, nothing has worked in the long run. No medication, no therapy, and no dietary supplement that I've tried so far has brought me lasting relief from the fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and excessive sleep that I experience as part of my condition. At present, in addition to the Abilify that I'm taking, I'm taking some Korean ginseng (which I suspect is doing very little), and I've also been regularly drinking moderate amounts of coffee for the past few days. Somehow, I'm doing better than expected with the coffee that I've been drinking for the past few days, but given my lackluster results with the beverage in the past, I'm not expecting to continue seeing the improvements in my energy, concentration, and sleep that I've been seeing recently. I will continue to drink the coffee that I've been drinking along with taking the Abilify and Korean ginseng that I'm taking in hopes that this little combination of mine might prove to be somewhat helpful, but I know that for me, treatment strategies that are somewhat helpful in the short run don't usually work out in the long run.

I recently thought that I had tried every medication that to me was worth trying for both my psychosis and what is probably idiopathic hypersomnia, but even more recently, I decided to try ordering some amisulpride from overseas to see if that might help either of the conditions that I suffer from (or both, if I'm lucky). I will probably begin to try the amisulpride once I receive my medication in a few weeks, and although I haven't had any long-term success with any medication in treating what's probably my idiopathic hypersomnia, I am cautiously optimistic about this medication. Unlike any other medication I've tried, amisulpride appears to activate the GHB receptors, and it's an effective antidepressant medication at low doses. Others on this board have reported noticing a reduction in the severity of their hypersomnia while taking amisulpride, which is something that I find to be promising. I still think that there's a good chance that amisulpride may not work out for me in the long run (as the case has been with every treatment that I've tried), but I also think that there's some reason to be somewhat hopeful about it.

So, anyway, I think that this about sums things up as far as where I'm at with my medications and other treatments is concerned. I would say that my experiences with using medications to treat what's probably my idiopathic hypersomnia have not been positive in the long run, but I would also say that nothing else has proved to be effective in the long run either and that trying something is better than trying nothing. I'm hoping that between the coffee that I'm drinking now and the amisulpride that I may try that something will give me at least some long-term relief, because surviving with the fatigue, difficulty concentrating, and hypersomnia that I normally have to contend with is no way to live. The world needs me to be at least halfway functional, and I'm going to keep trying to get myself to be that way (and more importantly, STAY that way) by using the chemical tools that stand the best chance of helping to make that happen.

Dx: schizoaffective disorder

Treatments: Abilify & Korean ginseng

tomatheus.blogspot.com

Re: How Many Have Given Up Meds For Other Tx?

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