Posted by med_empowered on February 15, 2006, at 0:46:24
In reply to Re: Schizophrenia - just been diagnosed. Support?, posted by Phillipa on February 14, 2006, at 21:28:25
hi! hi! I know you're scared...it'll be OK :-)
First off..you might want to get a second opinion. Sometimes people are diagnosed with schizophrenia when they're really more bipolar..the difference is that schizophrenia involves neuroleptics, and focuses on the control of psychosis..with bipolar, there's more emphasis on lithium/anti-convulsant style mood-stabilizers (which are usually much more tolerable). There's a lot of overlap, so I'd check out that option.
Also, clozapine is **rough**--I mean, it may be great for cognition and that kind of thing, but it carries lots of side effects. If you go the antipsychotic route, maybe zyprexa or abilify could be used? Personally, my vote would go for low-to-midrange abilify, plus maybe a mood stabilizer...minimal sedation, no weight gain. Geodon is another option but..it causes weird cardiovascular side effects, so its probably best 2nd-to-3rd line (try it before you try any old stuff, like Thorazine).
Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:609429
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060212/msgs/609671.html