Psychotropic medication discussion thread

brightsailor76 said:Has anyone here dealt with the fallout of suddenly stopping antipsychotics? I’m currently taking them alongside an antidepressant, and I’ve been thinking about experimenting with my dosage—mostly because things have felt pretty dark lately, and the suicidal ideation is becoming hard to ignore.

George Sullivan7 said:Hey everyone, quick question for you 🙂

So, like most people here, I deal with ups and downs, and right now, I'm back in a phase where I seriously need my meds. When it comes to antidepressants, Zoloft is the one that actually works for me—it’s basically somewhere between an antipsychotic and an antidepressant. In low doses, it hits the depression and anxiety, but ramp up the dose and it acts more like an antipsychotic. My massive headache right now is that along with this depressive slump, I’m dealing with some brutal, chronic insomnia. My doctor tried giving me Valium and Halcion, but honestly? Zero effect. It works for a tiny bit and then nothing. We end up back at square one. Even bumping up the Lexapro didn't help much either. For instance, the Xanax I take regularly doesn't even touch my sleep issues, whereas Lexapro used to help a little because it relaxes my muscles, but even that stopped working. And I refuse to just keep cranking up the doses. I've tried Valium and Ambien too, and still nothing. I'm wide awake, staring at the ceiling.

I saw someone mention on this thread that Qypine helps some people with stubborn, long-term insomnia, so I wanted to ask: has anyone ever combined Zoloft with Qypine? Logic tells me you probably shouldn't mix two antipsychotics, even if Zoloft isn't a "classic" one depending on how much you take. Usually, people mix antipsychotics and antidepressants, but I really don't want to give up my Zoloft because it's genuinely great for me, yet I'm dying to actually get some sleep. My doctor is a total hard-ass about antipsychotics; she thinks they're a huge "no-no" unless it's an absolute emergency with severe depression. It took months of arguing just to get her to let me try Zoloft after Effexor, Faverin, and Lexapro all failed me—and those are supposed to help with sleep, right?

If I already asked this somewhere else in the thread, my bad. I seriously don't have the time to read through every single page. So, any advice, suggestions, or personal experiences? 🙂

George Sullivan7 said:Hey everyone, quick question for you 🙂

So, like most people here, I deal with ups and downs, and right now, I'm back in a phase where I seriously need my meds. When it comes to antidepressants, Zoloft is the one that actually works for me—it’s basically somewhere between an antipsychotic and an antidepressant. In low doses, it hits the depression and anxiety, but ramp up the dose and it acts more like an antipsychotic. My massive headache right now is that along with this depressive slump, I’m dealing with some brutal, chronic insomnia. My doctor tried giving me Valium and Halcion, but honestly? Zero effect. It works for a tiny bit and then nothing. We end up back at square one. Even bumping up the Lexapro didn't help much either. For instance, the Xanax I take regularly doesn't even touch my sleep issues, whereas Lexapro used to help a little because it relaxes my muscles, but even that stopped working. And I refuse to just keep cranking up the doses. I've tried Valium and Ambien too, and still nothing. I'm wide awake, staring at the ceiling.

I saw someone mention on this thread that Qypine helps some people with stubborn, long-term insomnia, so I wanted to ask: has anyone ever combined Zoloft with Qypine? Logic tells me you probably shouldn't mix two antipsychotics, even if Zoloft isn't a "classic" one depending on how much you take. Usually, people mix antipsychotics and antidepressants, but I really don't want to give up my Zoloft because it's genuinely great for me, yet I'm dying to actually get some sleep. My doctor is a total hard-ass about antipsychotics; she thinks they're a huge "no-no" unless it's an absolute emergency with severe depression. It took months of arguing just to get her to let me try Zoloft after Effexor, Faverin, and Lexapro all failed me—and those are supposed to help with sleep, right?

If I already asked this somewhere else in the thread, my bad. I seriously don't have the time to read through every single page. So, any advice, suggestions, or personal experiences? 🙂

Jeffrey Green732 said:Hi everyone, I’ve been reading through your posts for a while now, though I don’t think I’ve actually posted anything myself until today. I guess I'm looking for some advice... someone very close to me is experiencing hallucinations and some pretty intense delusions. They have an official diagnosis, though they aren't entirely sure of the specifics—it's schizophrenia with depression, plus PTSD. Mostly, I'm wondering how I should handle things, specifically regarding the ideas they share with me. Just recently, they were describing what they see and what they believe to be true, and it honestly left me feeling quite overwhelmed. Usually, I just try to ignore it and we act like everything is fine... but during our talk just now, I said something like: "Do you realize this isn't real? Your brain is playing tricks on you... try to think logically, this can't be true." I stopped there, though, because I started thinking about how I would feel if someone told me that what I was seeing with my own eyes wasn't actually real. So, if anyone could tell me, should I keep ignoring these episodes, or should I encourage these kinds of conversations? Also, has anyone dealt with Zyprexa not working for them? It stopped being effective for them, so now they are on Risperdal and Cogentin, along with an antidepressant. I've been reading up on Zyprexa and it sounds so helpful that I almost feel bad it didn't work. Regardless, the hallucinations are still happening regularly, even with the Risperdal. Is there anything else worth trying? I'm starting to lose hope... please forgive me if I've phrased anything poorly, feel free to delete this

Michael Hill2 said:So many kind and sweet souls in one place.😍

Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly at the hospital. I read somewhere that you're worried about whether they'll actually manage to put you under—of course they will. If they can knock out an elephant before surgery, surely they can handle Zvonxa.😉

restlesstrucker15 said:In my experience, 🙂 nothing really worked for me from the Dormicum. They gave me three different injections in the operating room to try and get me to sleep. After the second one, everyone was staring at me because I was still wide awake, until the anesthesiologist finally admitted they needed to give me more. It was a surreal sensation. One moment you're conscious, and then suddenly, there is just a total blackout—sleep and beautiful dreams. 🙂

Skicka FR

zvonx78;52974397 said:The 🙂 from Dormicum was a total zero for me. They had to hit me with three different injections just to get me under in the OR. After the second one, everyone was staring at me because I was still wide awake, then the anesthesiologist basically goes, "Yeah, she needs more." Honestly? Best feeling ever. One second you're there, the next—blackout, sweet dreams, done. 🙂

Jeiiiiij, I knew it was gonna work! 🎉🤣👏

Now you gotta tell us how waking up felt 🙂

Kimberly Morris said:Hey guys, quick question for the group.

My stepcousin’s had a rough run lately—lost her mom, her dad, and her sister all within just a few months. It was brutal. Naturally, she spiraled into this constant state of anxiety and nerves. She’s been seeing psychiatrists left and right, basically cycling through every med on the pharmacy shelf, and honestly? She says the only thing that actually touches the nerve is Misar.

So, she’s 58 years old and has basically decided this is her life now—she’ll take it whenever she needs to and just accept that she can't function without it anymore. Okay. Whatever.

So, she finally hit the 1.5 mg daily mark. She was taking two 0.25 mg pills—splitting them up between morning, afternoon, and night—and honestly, that dose kept her running smooth for the last two or three years.

So, about a month ago, her primary doctor switched her over to Misar 1 mg SR. They told her she only needs to take it once in the morning and once at night. Apparently, they didn't see the point in letting her poison herself with six pills a day when she can get the job done with just two. 🙂 Makes total sense to me too...

But seriously, she’s telling me she feels like she’s in a total coma right now. Like, Misar isn't even doing anything for her at all. The anxiety keeps slamming back, the panic attacks are hitting, and she’s terrified to even step outside and face people—she just wants to rot in bed all day. She told her doctor about it, and honestly? He totally lost his mind. He basically told her she was making it all up, claiming that regular Misar and Misar SR are the exact same thing. He actually had the nerve to say the only difference is that the standard one hits you instantly while the other one just releases slowly throughout the day. Unbelievable.

She only told me because she knows I've actually been through this before. 🙂 Honestly, I think her whole meltdown is actually spot on... What do you guys reckon?

restlesstrucker15 said:In my experience, 🙂 nothing really worked for me from the Dormicum. They gave me three different injections in the operating room to try and get me to sleep. After the second one, everyone was staring at me because I was still wide awake, until the anesthesiologist finally admitted they needed to give me more. It was a surreal sensation. One moment you're conscious, and then suddenly, there is just a total blackout—sleep and beautiful dreams. 🙂

Skicka FR

Michael Hill2 said:You could always try adding Remeron (Claritin) into the mix to help with the sleep situation. 😉

It’s an antidepressant, sure, but at those low doses? It barely touches the neurotransmitters. Honestly, it’s basically just hitting the histamine receptors, which is why it knocks you out like a light.

My therapist added something to my routine to help with sleep alongside the Faverin I take for anxiety, and honestly? It’s been a game changer. I’m finally getting a solid 8 or 9 hours. Even if I happen to wake up in the middle of the night, I can actually drift right back to sleep without the usual mental gymnastics.

I’m just taking a tiny fraction of it—like, one-sixth of a 15 mg pill.

If you're looking for more info or want to hear how others have handled this, just Google "low dose Remeron or Mirtazapine for insomnia." Honestly, it was a total game-changer for my sleep issues. It doesn't cost you anything to give it a shot, especially if you're nervous about mixing two different antidepressants or if your doctor isn't exactly eager to prescribe them. 😉

Jason Vaughn482 said:You might consider trying Claritin, though I suspect it won’t do much for you. A mere fraction of a 15 mg dose is unlikely to touch a case of insomnia as severe as yours, especially considering that even Valium and Halcion haven't provided any relief. To give you some perspective, I personally have to take half of a 15 mg dose combined with either 10 mg of Valium or Cercon; even then, I endure an agonizing struggle just to drift off. It can take me an hour, two hours, sometimes even longer just to find sleep. Once I finally succumb, however, I tend to sleep for a solid nine hours straight. The true battle isn't staying asleep—it's the sheer difficulty of falling asleep in the first place. When I first started taking 15 mg of Claritin, I was out like a light within fifteen minutes without any extra help, but unfortunately, that initial window of efficacy has long since vanished.

George Sullivan7 said:Hmm, sounds pretty bleak then. But hey, I guess if it at least works for a little while at the start, that's something. Plus, there's always QAnon pins to keep me busy. Maybe. 🤔

fadedbear92 said:You really don't need to worry about the Q-pin; I've been using it for quite a while now and it completely cleared up my insomnia.
I used to take Tegretol, which worked wonders for getting me to sleep—though you have to be incredibly careful with it. You have to keep a close eye on your liver enzyme levels via regular blood work every three months; if those numbers spike, you have to stop taking it immediately.

Justin Rogers5 said:Just my thoughts on Mirzaten. It helped me quite a bit, but it took forever—nearly a year—to actually kick in. Honestly, that was the same story with Deprozel, so all those claims about feeling better in 2 to 5 weeks don't mean much to me. I actually thought about quitting, but after so many bad experiences and failed experiments, I figured I’d give it at least a year before moving on to something else. For me, it helps slightly with sleep, but it's not the miracle cure people claim. Its real value was finally giving me the drive to get out of bed early and actually use my day instead of just rotting in bed until noon. Once you start getting up early, working out, and staying active, you naturally crash around 11 PM or midnight and wake up by 8 AM. To be fair, I still wake up a few times during the night, but I don't reach for Xanax anymore; I just read a book until I drift off. That’s a win. I’m slowly tapering off the Xanax; I'm down to 0.25 mg in the morning and half a pill at night, but I'll be cutting that evening dose soon too. I've started caring more about my body—what I eat and drink (which helps with my ulcers). My one remaining vice that's bad for my stomach is coffee, but I limit myself to just one cup; any more and it hits me hard. Not that I should even have that one cup, but whatever, some things are hard to quit. I stopped drinking entirely (there was a period where I drank way too much every single day because of the depression—honestly, I'm embarrassed to even think about it), and I stopped popping painkillers for headaches. I guess my willpower has gotten stronger. Maybe it's the meds, or maybe it was just a sudden realization that I couldn't live like that anymore. I've been slowly fixing my health, teeth, sinuses... leaning more into natural stuff lately.
It's not all perfect, though. I've become hyper-aware of my body and the signals it sends when something is wrong. Now I'm actually nervous about every pill I swallow because my last two blood tests showed my liver enzymes were slightly elevated—nothing to panic over, but my doctor told me to watch it. So, I cut out everything I could, like birth control and painkillers. If those levels spike again, I’m strictly sticking to the essentials (Mirzaten 15 mg and Xanax 0.25).
Sorry for the wall of text. Just wanted to be thorough. Hope this helps someone decide if they want to try this stuff or not.🕺

Kimberly Morris said:Hey guys, quick question for the group.

My stepcousin’s had a rough run lately—lost her mom, her dad, and her sister all within just a few months. It was brutal. Naturally, she spiraled into this constant state of anxiety and nerves. She’s been seeing psychiatrists left and right, basically cycling through every med on the pharmacy shelf, and honestly? She says the only thing that actually touches the nerve is Misar.

So, she’s 58 years old and has basically decided this is her life now—she’ll take it whenever she needs to and just accept that she can't function without it anymore. Okay. Whatever.

So, she finally hit the 1.5 mg daily mark. She was taking two 0.25 mg pills—splitting them up between morning, afternoon, and night—and honestly, that dose kept her running smooth for the last two or three years.

So, about a month ago, her primary doctor switched her over to Misar 1 mg SR. They told her she only needs to take it once in the morning and once at night. Apparently, they didn't see the point in letting her poison herself with six pills a day when she can get the job done with just two. 🙂 Makes total sense to me too...

But seriously, she’s telling me she feels like she’s in a total coma right now. Like, Misar isn't even doing anything for her at all. The anxiety keeps slamming back, the panic attacks are hitting, and she’s terrified to even step outside and face people—she just wants to rot in bed all day. She told her doctor about it, and honestly? He totally lost his mind. He basically told her she was making it all up, claiming that regular Misar and Misar SR are the exact same thing. He actually had the nerve to say the only difference is that the standard one hits you instantly while the other one just releases slowly throughout the day. Unbelievable.

She only told me because she knows I've actually been through this before. 🙂 Honestly, I think her whole meltdown is actually spot on... What do you guys reckon?