Emma has been seeing the same psychiatrist for 3 years. He is a very accommodating doctor, letting Emma decide what anti psychotic drug she wants to try since nothing has been working lately. After about 5 different changes and a particularly bad reaction to the 150mg of Seroquel, Emma has been on 80 mg of Geodon for the last 6 weeks.
After 2 psychologists, 1 neurologist, and 1 brain fitness therapist expressed their beliefs that Emma was NOT schizophrenic, their concerns about her being on any antipsychotic drug was brought up, but Emma insists on staying on Geodon, because she is afraid of what would happen if she stopped.
She cannot see how she has deteriorated from an active young woman who would dress up, arrange and drive to see her friends and do errands and jobs for me back in January/February, to a girl (seems to have regressed in maturity) who doesn’t comb her hair, wears the same tshirt and shorts that look like sleep clothes, and feels that she cannot drive, read, count, or do any task that is the least bit hard.
A recent seminar that I attended was about people who get stuck in a cycle that is harmful to their health – mental and physical. I asked the leader about Emma, and his opinion was that she should cease taking Geodon and detox, and then her mental issues can be addressed.
Many of the side effects of Geodon are what Emma is experiencing – restless leg, pacing, depression, anxiety.
I also believe she needs to stop taking it. We shall see.
Because we are overloading our health insurance policy and needing to get pre-authorizations for future mental health services, I have cancelled the appointment with Emma’s psychiatrist as well as her neurologist. Both of these doctors are prescribing drugs for Emma. Geodon for schizophrenia, and Topiramate for migraine headaches. Emma is getting a bit worried about her dwindling supply, but the neurologist called in a refill, and this morning, Emma did NOT take her morning dose of Geodon, perhaps in order to conserve, or maybe our bugging her to stop has halfway gotten her thinking.
She seemed as usual, not worse, not better all day. She will take her evening dose of Geodon – she isn’t ready to give it up yet. I am glad and will be watching for changes.
Update:
Because Emma is getting worried about not getting refills, she began to cut down on the dosage of Geodon, just taking 40 mg in the evening. Two days ago, I counted how many Geodon capsules she had left in the bottle, and it was 23. Today, there are still 23 capsules, which means she has stopped taking Geodon, hurray!!
She hasn’t said anything about stopping to us, and I do believe that I am seeing some change for the better.
Although she still has the fear of certain sounds and bright lights, she is more aware of things as we drive, and when I point out something, she actually is now turning her head to see what I am pointing to. Today, as we were in the car, she asked if a woman at a crosswalk was someone she knew. As we got to the parking lot of the clinic where Emma has chelation, she got out of the car on her own and said “goodbye, and I’ll see you when you pick me up.” Wow! That was a HUGE difference from just last week when I had to sit across from her for 3 hours during her chelation session because she didn’t want to be left alone.
I don’t want to make too big a deal of this, but right now, I am elated. This has been the biggest breakthrough in Emma’s downward decline over the last few weeks. I take this as a victory.
Update:
Emma actually decided to cook dinner recently, and made a very simple and delicious stir fry dish! She is being more argumentative, and has opinions about things now. She is playing a wordgame on her iPad rather than lying in bed staring up at the ceiling listening for ambulance sirens.
Things are still scary to her (or so she says when asked), but she does not have the panicked look in her eyes as much, and laughs more. She has stopped shading her eyes in the house from the brightness of lights.
The only two therapies she is still undergoing are EDTA chelation for the purpose of detoxing mercury (and possible symptoms of psychosis) and neuro biofeedback training for fear and anxiety. At this point, I don’t care which is working better – but SOMEthing is working. My guess is that it is the combination of the 2, and the greatest change has been that Emma is now completely off of Geodon or any other anti-psychotic meds and the residue of them is leaving her body, Hallelujah!