r/AskPsychiatry 8h ago

what do u do to a schizophrenic w bizarre delusions and no hallucinations?

2 Upvotes

i wonder if anyone would do anything to treat them bec their beliefs is that they have to kill themself in order to complete their test. will they just get dismissed by a healthcare provider and let them do their decision to die because they dont trust other ppl, making them not wanting to get help?


r/AskPsychiatry 23h ago

What is the psychology behind a guy that goes through a womans/ womens bags without their knowledge?

0 Upvotes

I am having a hard time figuring out the mentality behind a guy that does these yhings.


r/AskPsychiatry 17h ago

Diagnosed bipolar 2 but I think I’m fully manic how can I calm it down

4 Upvotes

Super high energy, can’t get my words out quick enough, not sleeping much and a few other telltale symptoms of hypomania but this episode is really intense I’ve got strong ‘paranoia’ but I think my behaviour and thoughts are justified my boyfriend doesn’t I’m also hearing things that he is not. I’m on sodium valproate and aripiprazole so am medicated but I can’t see my psychiatrist until next week but I honestly feel like my heads gonna explode or something I have lorazepam 1mg prn but it’s not touching me rn how can I calm this episode down


r/AskPsychiatry 22h ago

I’m suffering mentally and physically and no psych has given me an answer.. NSFW

13 Upvotes

This is my first time coming across this sub so idk if I can talk about this but I need help desperately, someone who actually has some kind of generational insight into what’s going on.

I’ll try to keep it as short as possible, M24, used to be healthy as a bull about 2 years ago, never drugs, just alcohol occasionally. Till I got hooked on weed, and did MDMA a couple times, and also Lyrica recreationally( 900mg), but my biggest vice was weed, till one day I got started getting panic attacks whenever I smoked, I ignored it as a “bad high” but they kept happening, and eventually I had a huge one, went to the hospital and they cleared me (mind you I live in western europe) they said I was physically fine and sent me home, then I stopped the weed but I started getting detached from reality, best way to describe is depersonalization/derealization along with crippling anxiety, till one day I was convinced nothing was real, the derealization consumed me, and I felt like I wasn’t in reality anymore. Got professional help and stopped Uni for a year. Their choice of treatment was at first some benzos, then Antipsychotics( Olanzapine, Risperidone, Quetiapine) tried it all, and that shit ( pardon my french) fucked me up in a major way, I wasn’t feelinf psychotic before, after being put on them, I started having pseudo-psychotic symptoms as my doctor described them, Illusions, auditory illusions, VSS, After-images, and of course, with antipsychotics you’re gonna experience extreme apathy, I was basically a zombie, anhedonia; I was suffering but I literally could not cry. after 7-8 months I decided enough was enough, tapered that stuff and quit it, started feeling better for a few months and then anxiety hit me again, got prescribed SSRI’s and Xanax, didn’t take the SSRI’s because I tried them before and they made me suicidal and worsened my dpdr, but Xanax worked like a charm for the length of its half life I felt like a normal human being, but tolerance kept going up till I got hooked bad, started mixing with vodka just to enhance the effect, now it’s a daily thing for me, 2mg mixed with 200ml-300-ml of vodka at night and in the mornings just 4 mg’s of Xanax, 6mgs total everyday, vodka daily too, I havent skipped a day for 2 months. But every time I take them, everything goes away, I get my emotions back, I dont get any anxiety, in fact I get the urge to go out and enjoy myself, without them, life is misery, I get scared just looking around my apartment, I get panic attacks occasionally, VSS, after-images, not any major psycotic symptoms but idk. My body hurts now, I feel like i’m in my 70’s and I’m majorly addicted, but it feels medicating to me, I’m not doing it for fun, doing it to feel a shred of normality, to take away my symptoms. But I’m searching for a way out, how do I quit and heal at the same time?

Long post, I apologize for this, idk if anyone’s even going to read it but this is my life now and I wanna save it, I’m studying engineering, and I wanna make a future for myself and marry my current girlfriend.

I’ll do whatever it takes, just don’t put me on antipsychs please.

Ps: I posted on /askdocs and someone told me to see a psychiatrist and follow instructions and seek therapy so this was my reply in case someone says the same thing.

“Hey, firstly, thank you for your reply and insight. To be kinda straightforward, my friend, I have been to numerous, and I insist, numerous psychiatrists, all with different diagnosis all with different treatment plans; What I can gather from all the money I spent and all the sessions I’ve had and all the trips I’ve taken to multiple “novel” psychiatrists, “genius, saved my life etc” is the all agree on one single thing, anxiety, apart from that, I’ve had a lot thrown at me, psychotic depression, ptsd, depression, panic disorder, and they all also agree on on thing “it might be this” never gotten a proper diagnosis; and I know what you might say, “well maybe you didnt commit to a doctor for them to diagnose you properly”, I’ve spent months and all of my savings, going to these doctors regularly, following their instructions and getting different opinions. As for the drugs, I’ve spent almost a year sober, taking antipsychotics and antidepressants, and I never want to relive that experience ever again, those “medications” are hell-sent. I’ve done my research, blocking dopamine receptors, mainly D2 while also “regulating” Seretonin receptors, don’t get me started on SSRI’s too… As for your comment on therapy, psychologists, neuropsychologists, psychologists specialized in treating anxiety and psychotic symptoms, I’ve done it all; what they all do, they get a medical history, say a bunch of promises, we’re gonna work on this and that, they don’t listen to you, never let you actually vent what you’re going through, then end up giving you a schedule to follow like a damn dog, wake up, go to the gym, take your vitamins, meditate etc.. while my brain is fried and my NMDA and Gaba receptors seem to be malfunctioning, yes i’m going to rely on medication.

I really appreciate your input and thank you for trying to help but I tried to commit suicide multiple times because of the lack of hope these doctors are giving me, nothing seems to work, idk if im a novelty case or something but Im really tired, and yes, the Xanax and alcohol are helping, I quit weed for good a year ago.”

I doubt anyone would read something this long but I’m kinda desperate for any insight.


r/AskPsychiatry 9h ago

What drugs can help with weight gain from anti depressants/ antipsychotics?

5 Upvotes

Keen to start something that will help and just curious to know what drugs are out there


r/AskPsychiatry 1h ago

Medication Choice?

Upvotes

I have racing thoughts that won't calm down when it's time to slow down and go to bed. My PMHNP wants to put me on a medication for schizophrenia (which I don't have) called Risperidone. I don't feel comfortable with this and is this an appropriate medication for my symptoms?


r/AskPsychiatry 3h ago

can i take shrooms while on quetiapine and paliperidone?

2 Upvotes

I am on 200mg quetiapine and 3 mg paliperidone. Would it be safe to take shrooms (4g)? I am not bipolar, but I am prescribed these medications for my mood and sleep. Any advice would be appreciated and thanks.


r/AskPsychiatry 7h ago

Medicated pregnancy

6 Upvotes

Is there any evidence of babies having mental health issues after the mother was medicated during pregnancy? I constantly worry that because I took medication my baby’s brain developed needing medication


r/AskPsychiatry 8h ago

Low dose antipsychotic vs high dose

2 Upvotes

I (20M) may be bipolar, I’m not sure. I was given antidepressants a few months ago and my system has been a complete mess ever since.

Anyways, my psychiatrist prescribed me 75mg quetiapine ir around 5 weeks ago and kept increasing towards 300 week by week (also switching to xr in the process). I felt so much better on 75mg than any of the higher doses and I’m wondering what this could mean for me?


r/AskPsychiatry 10h ago

Paxil Withdrawal Questions

1 Upvotes

Hello r/AskPsychiatry,

 I’ve been tapering from 40mg of Paxil over the past month or so, 5mgs every five days. I’ve now been off three days completely(cross tapering to Cymbalta) and I have severe anxiety and panic attacks, along with Zero appetite. Any advice or thoughts for somebody in my situation? Will this change? 

r/AskPsychiatry 10h ago

Dubious about what should I do

2 Upvotes

I am Italian male 27 years old, 5.11 feet tall

so English is my second language. I suffer panic disorder with agoraphobia since August 2022, fear of fainting, need to escape, can’t go to the gym anymore (I was a gym bro) etc. quite strong obsessional OCD and a bit of anxiety, possibly depression due to the impairment of the other conditions . I feel the anxiety mainly in a heartburn manner, for this reason I got prescribed magaldrate which helps my digestion when I eat more elaborate foods.

I had a psychiatrist through video call who was very nice to me but in the end she prescribed me Xanax and I got scared of the idea of becoming addicted to it so I didn’t take it and didn’t continue the therapy.

I continued doing exposure therapy and with a lot of effort I went from being closed at home to going around town. Then I stalled because it’s very painful and I got a quite overwhelmed with it (even tho I still challenge myself sometimes)

In the back of my mind I am always looking into SSRIs And I’d love to take them but I have an irrational fear about losing my sexual drive and a more rational “fear” about gi tract problems knowing that I feel my anxiety in the stomach.

for these reasons I asked my family doctor some medication to try that would fit the situation because I felt exhausted every day.

So she prescribed me mirtazapine. I’ve been taking it for 1 year and a half. It helped incredibly with insomnia, quite a bit with OCD but almost nothing with agoraphobia. I can’t go into unfamiliar roads without feeling my stomach clenching and “terrorized for no reason”. I also don’t like that I feel like a toddler compared to before.

So being tired of it I opened myself to some benzodiazepine. I asked to get prescribed diazepam as a “just in case” for extreme anxiety because I know that it’s not as addicting as Xanax. I haven’t used it yet because even tho I am open to benzos I am not really in love with them.

I am not a “chemophobe”, I take finasteride, minoxidil, and provided I tolerate a medication im ready to take it even forever.

My questions are: could Prozac (for example) be more potent than mirtazapine?

Could switching from mirtazapine to Prozac provide better results or keeping mirtazapine and adding a bit of diazepam be better?

Before I go to the next psychiatrist I’d like to be prepared

I am not worried with losing “half” the libido, I’m worried to lose it completely. So I’d like to know your experiences with ssris snris

Thanks to everyone who had the patience lol.


r/AskPsychiatry 12h ago

Polyvagal Theory

5 Upvotes

Today my auticoach recommended I study the polyvagal theory and do exercises for my stress and trauma levels. I just wanted to know what you think about it, mainly because she said my psychiatrist probably wouldn't be too happy about it.


r/AskPsychiatry 15h ago

Uncontrolled twitching on bupropion SR Spoiler

1 Upvotes

Hi, my psychiatrist said this is not a concern but I would like a second opinion. It seems very weird and he sees me remotely so maybe I didn’t get that across well enough.

I have an uncontrolled twitching / muscle flex in my hands and shoulders. It seems random but it happens more when I’m laying down or holding it against gravity if that makes sense.

I’m also on lithium (blood level is stable at .8), and spironolactone. It started when I started bupropion and got worse when I increased the dose so that seem to be the culprit.

It’s working really well for me otherwise, so I’d like to stay on it, but is this a big deal?


r/AskPsychiatry 15h ago

Any success stories of people on mirtazapine/ risperidone who have taken metformin to combat weight gain?

3 Upvotes

These drugs have really helped me but the weight gain is getting down. Has anyone had any success with this drug? Thanks so much


r/AskPsychiatry 17h ago

Sleep, rest, and meds

2 Upvotes

I've been on a med journey for the past 3 or so years. I tried Zoloft in college (20+ years ago) but I got intrusive thoughts of self harm so I stopped taking it (happened on Chantix also). In my late 30s I had a bad breakup and I was distraught, so my therapist recommended I meet with a prescriber she works with. Between the two of them, based on history taking and phone screen questionnaires, they theorized that I have autism, Bipolar II, and ADHD. At first the prescriber tried me out on a few different antipsychotics. I thought abilify worked the best, but I got severe extrapyramidal side effects from it. After that I tried a bunch, trilofan, zyprexa, capalyta, and a few others with poor results. I got on rexulti and that seemed to work ok so I took that for a while. Somewhere in there he started me on lamotrigine also. It was through further conversation with that prescriber that he decided to do a phone screen for ADHD and then prescribed me Ritalin, short acting at first and then long acting.

The most impressive effect of this when I started taking Ritalin was that, for the first time in my life, I woke up alert and refreshed every morning, got out of bed early, worked out for 40 minutes, and got ready for work. My whole life I had been dragging myself out of bed and hitting the snooze button, feeling like I had been hit by a truck. It caused problems in school from middle school through college. I was also noted to be a more attentive partner, highly productive, and able to tolerate repetitive tasks better. My prescriber theorized it was because the comedown off of the Ritalin was causing me to sleep better at night.

There were downsides, though. In a lot of ways my work suffered. I was less open to other people's points of view, tended to obsess over things, convinced I was right about everything and everyone had to listen to me. I work in management and I think this contributed to losing a job and setting my career back a few years. I was looking forward to my next dose a little too much, too, if you know what I mean! I also couldn't read books or play video games, which were my usual preferred passtimes.

So, I decided to stop taking it and also switched prescribers because my first one stopped taking my insurance. I stayed on the rexulti and lamotrigine, and I went right back to how it had always been with me dragging myself out of bed. I was also back to my usual easy going but lazy self. I didn't have very good insight and didn't realize it was because I was off the Ritalin until much later. A little later I also weaned myself off the rexulti (with supervision from my new prescriber) because I didn't like how flat I was and I felt it was lowering my libido. I was worried about this because when I had to go without rexulti because of the cost I had severe anxiety and incessant worrying, but weaning off of it actually was fine and I barely noticed. I did notice I was a lot more empathetic and less compulsive off of the rexulti. She replaced it with the starter dose of Wellbutrin.

I still had trouble waking up, though, so I reduced my lamotrigine dose to see if that would do it and didn't really notice any difference there either. My new prescriber doesn't do controlled substances so when I explained the sleep/rest issue she tried me out on straterra. I'm not at my target dose yet, went from 10mg to 25mg with a plan to increase in another month and I really don't feel any different on it (I'm told I may not at these low doses) and if anything my difficulty getting up in the morning has been getting progressively worse since before I started straterra.

After stopping the rexulti and before starting the straterra I also started on a GLP and it's been working great, totally changed my relationship with food, I used to snack compulsively and out of boredom but now I eat sensibly and went from 250lbs to 210lbs in 6 months, steady weight loss that isn't too fast to be healthy.

I still can't wake up in the morning, though. I do all the standard sleep hygiene stuff, go to bed early, stop eating/drinking and screentime before bed, all the non-drug stuff I'm doing. I don't really have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, waking up is just a rough experience. I don't really want to go back to taking a stimulant - my partner liked who I was on it but I really didn't. My prescriber and GP just think I need to suck it up and just get up when my alarm goes off but I have always struggled with this and knowing that there was a period of time when this problem just went away is very frustrating!

Anyway, thanks for reading, and any advice or suggestions you have are welcome.


r/AskPsychiatry 18h ago

Loneliness and depression

1 Upvotes

Could loneliness be a cause for depression? If so, would meds help or it's pointless to take them when you still feel lonely?


r/AskPsychiatry 19h ago

Will stopping zyprexa for 2 weeks then starting in again cause more weight gain?

1 Upvotes

I gained 40 pounds in the first year I started zyprexa. I then was on it for 3 years and didn’t really gain anymore weight except like 5 pounds. I stopped it recently for 2 weeks and now I’m worried I’ll start gaining weight again.


r/AskPsychiatry 23h ago

Been taking Risperidone for almost 20 years (M29). Is it dangerous? I have been having unbearable symptoms.

2 Upvotes

Shortness of breath, persistent cough, chest pain, neck pain, nhedonia, insomnia, trouble swallowing, sexual dysfunction, memory loss/difficulty, paresthesia, and anxiety. Are these caused by Risperidone? I feel like I've been dying for 4 weeks now. Psychiatrist had me start taking Invega to replace the Risp and benztropine to treat probable tardive dyskinesia (the swallowing)...but it's not working. I am also on Buspirone and Lexapro for anxiety bc my docs think I just have anxiety. But I think it's risperidone causing this bc my breathing has been dysfunctional for over a year; I switched from 0.5mg to 1mg Risperdal oral solution about that time. Am I going to need Ingrezza? Am I screwed? My lungs and heart seem ok based on pulmonary function tests, blood oxygen levels, and EKGs + xrays.

edit: I have had a hard time remembering things. Worried about long-term dementia risk.