Question:
I do not know whether this connects in any way to anyone else’s experience
but I am becoming increasingly convinced that my original dx of sz is
faulty.
I would welcome some feedback on this matter.Currently i am on 1600 mg
lithium with 2mg stelazine.
My lithium has been increased over last six months or so from 900 mgs to
1200 and then to 1600 mgs.
Has anyone else here had a dx of sz and been prescribed lithium?
Or is lithium given to people suffering with a bipolar illness or a bipolar
illness combined with something like sz?
Answer:
Is it normal for people with sz to be prescribed lithium?At first i was
given anti psychotics like largactil,melleril,
veractil and stelazine but then i was put on lithium 17 years ago.
I had always presumed that lithium was for thoses suffering with some kind
of bi polar illness and not prescribed to those suffering with schizophrenia
alone.
Several people have mentioned schizo affective disorder but this diagnosis
has never been voiced by any of the psychiatrists i have had.How closely
related to md or sz is it?Or is the schizo part more prevalent in some and
the affective part more prevalent in others.
I tend to have the following symptoms, forgetfullness(? lithium or
illness),belief that i have female body parts and if i try hard enough i can
have female orgasm,feeling my body is not quite as it should be,difficulty
joining my thoughts together in order to plan things or make a decision
based on information available although i am quite good at absorbing
individual pieces of information,introverted,do not like being around a lot of
people,weird thoughts that tend to hang a round for a little while and then
be replaced by another set of weird thoughts. A lot of the time i have this
sense of being different from other people and somehow other people knowing that i am
different.
It is often not easy to relate to other people.They look similar to me but
something does not connect as it should.Also i am often tempted to do things just because i fancy doing
them.It is as if this urge comes into my head without any warning .Recently
i have taken to writing in library books because i felt the authors had written stuff that
needed to be commented on.
Sometimes i feel that other people are stupid,i have lots of things i want
to do,and i am eager to absorb as much knowledge as possible.Other times i
get this panicky feeling when i try to do anything and i can not concentrate
and feel that i have never done anything useful with my life and the
simplest things seem difficult.
Often i am prone to making gross generalisations about people and have pet
phrases that i use ad nauseam until they are replaced by another pet
phrase.I often make exaggerated commments eg if someone does something i do
not like i will say something like 'they should have petrol poured on them
and be set alight'.
Sometimes my head is full of thoughts and it is as if there is not enough
time to let them out and others i can feel irritable if people are talking
too much and their words all blend together in my head.
Sometimes i get this feeling that my thinking is very clear and other times
i find it very difficult to gather my thoughts together and concentrate.I
sometimes find myself losing track of what i am saying in mid sentence.
It as if my mind suddenly goes blank.
Recently i have found that i have started to wake up at odd points in the
night whereas i have been sleeping through the night and when i go to bed i
seem to liven up after a while, mind starts to work overtime and it takes
quite a while for me to get off to sleep.
I do not know whether this connects in any way to anyone elses experience
but i am becoming increasingly convinced that my original dx of sz is
faulty.
I would welcome some feedback on this matter.Currently i am on 1600 mg
lithium with 2mg stelazine.
My lithium has been increased over last six months or so from 900 mgs to
1200 and then to 1600 mgs.
Has anyone else here had a dx of sz and been prescribed lithium?
Or is lithium given to people suffering with a bipolar illness or a bipolar
illness combined with something like sz? Schizoaffective disorder can indeed accompany bipolar disorder when the
latter is not under good control. Thus the reason for being given lithium
was a logical choice in my opinion at that time. There is some significant
overlapping of symptoms between schizoaffective disorder and true
schizophrenia. It used to be many years ago that little differentiation was made between
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Now we know better. But the same
modern antipsychotics (Zyprexa, Seroquel, and Risperdal) can be very
effective for both illnesses for many people. In bipolar disorder schizoaffective symptoms are predominantly manifested
when a person is at either extreme of the bipolar spectrum (either manic
or depressive). Thus schizoaffective symptoms (loss of touch with reality,
various forms of hallucinations, paranoia, delusions of grandeur, etc.)
can be avoided by using a mood stabilizer (or combination of mood
stabilizers) that are effective for the individual's bipolar condition. A
combination of Neurontin and Lamictal should likely have the best chance
of damping mood swings IF you should have a bipolar condition. However I
don't read anything about any mention of such mood shifts. Denial of a diagnosis is very common. No one wants to have a life long
mental illness. But like BP -- schizophrenia can be successfully retreated
-- particularly with the modern meds mentioned above. I certainly am not going to venture a diagnosis via the Net. But from the
description of your symptoms, you seem to me to favor schizophrenia rather
than schizoaffective disorder. In either case there is genuine Hope for
effective treatment!
You might wish to discuss your symptoms with the following internet and
see what they have to say: alt.support.schizophrenia
I personally found lithium to very mind dulling and it kept me in a
depressed state for many months. (BTW I have BP II with URC and Mixed
States -- now under excellent control). Why not ask your pdoc precisely why you are being given lithium? How
about switching to one of those 3 new antipsychotics? Lithium is currently the most commonly prescribed medicine for people with
a bipolar condition. Although lithium carbonate is the cheapest by far, I
am firmly convinced that it will be one day replaced by the newer, more
effective mood stabilizers that have more benign adverse side effect
profiles (such as Lamictal and Neurontin). So far i have had a mixed response to my query re lithium and sz.
Ranging from people like yourself who favour my being schizophrenic to some
who say my symptoms indicate schizo affective.I have even had one person who
has suggested psychotic depression.
Admittedly all those offering suggestions are not doctors but i think you
will agree that diagnosis can be an arbitary thing and can change over the
course of time.
Personally i still find it strange that as a supposedly schizophrenic
patient my main stay of treatment for 16 years
until recently was solely a drug for Bipolar illness. Whilst not displaying
the overt mood swings that seem to afflict many on
the asdm and ssdmwebsites's my mood can and does swing from feeling that others
are stupid and wanting to do as much as quickly as possible to one of being
uncertain and panicky about the simplest of things.During these times i find
it difficult
to concentrate,it is as if my brain is wading through treacle.Sometimes i
get periods when i just want people to shut up because
when they talk to me their words all seem to run into each other and i can
feel myself becoming very on edge.
Previous to being on lithium i was a creative sort of person but now being
creative is an effort whereas prior to taking lithium
being creative was a fairly natural process.
I think the acuteness of experience that was there prior to taking lithium
has to a large extent been taken away.
Sometimes it is as if my feelings are being diluted.
Looking back at the things i did in the past from my current perspective i
find it difficult to acknowledge that i ever did
those things.
There is still this part of me that wants to reach for the stars but my feet
are stuck firmly on the ground and life is secure but boring.
I personally think that i am a psychiatric nomad wandering between sz and
bipolar not quite one and yet not quite the other.
I envy those who know where they belong and are able to reach out to kindred
spirits.
I long for the sense of identity that comes from being able to identify with
people who share a common bond.
