Community Treatment Order

[Abiogenesis]

Is anyone else here on a Community Treatment Order (CTO) or know much about them? I have some questions about mine and google isn't giving me a straight answer.
Basically I want to know if I refuse the treatment they want to give me, on the basis that it doesn't help me/causes me other problems, can they automatically recall me to hospital if I do?
I was told they can when I got put on the CTO, but some research I've read would suggest otherwise. I'm not unwell and pose no risk to anyone, so I don't believe they can recall me.
I'm also not happy at being lied to about it to start with.

Hello! The answer is it depends on the specific terms of the CTO. It means that the involuntary admission still exists but is held back so long as you are complying with the terms. If one of the terms is compliance with a specific medication then yes you can be recalled if you don't comply with it.

Can you speak to the doctors about an alternative medication if its a side effects issue?

(Not got a CTO but used to work in this area of law)

Thanks for your reply
The CTO doesn't state the specific medication. It's the Abilify depot. It gives me side effects without actually providing any benefit.
I've spoken to the doctor about it several times, but he doesn't listen and just uses the threat that I'd go back to hospital if I didn't have it. I now know this isn't true.

Can you ask for a second opinion on the medication you’re taking? I did when a doctor wouldn’t listen to me.

I would agree with pp, I would ask for a second opinion rather than stopping your medication.
What makes you feel it doesn’t give you any value? Are you still getting symptoms of schizophrenia or mania even though on it?

It doesn't give any value because I'm already on another antipsychotic medication, flupentixol, which works fine. I don't need the depot as well. It just causes me sleep issues and headaches.
I will refuse it and ask for a second opinion.

I’m not a medical expert but having looked online, it seems to imply that the combination you mention is used for cases where there has been poor responsiveness to one drug alone. That combining two drugs increases responsiveness and impact. I think you need to speak to a psychiatrist and get that second opinion before you make any decisions and before you stop taking one of your medications.

I’m sorry this is a tough time for you. My Mum has treatment resistant schizophrenia - it’s 20 years now but around that time they ran out of drugs to try but there was a new one - beginning with c I think - that came onto the market a couple of months later which has been amazing. She’s was in hospital for weeks waiting for the nhs license to be issued.

I had a paradoxical reaction to diazepam when I was sectioned for the first time a couple of years ago - diagnosed with bipolar disorder. It was very tricky as I was hospitalised with an episode of hypomania and it took a couple of days and the persistence of my lovely DH (who is in a medical field) to persuade them I was right that that drug was making things worse. I received lovely care from all by one individual but you do feel so vulnerable when your right to self determination is taken away. I was sectioned for 3 weeks… it felt a lifetime at the time.

All the best.

I respond well to the medications I'm on, (I take several others) if anything I think they are over-medicating me. The clonazepam was making me depressed so they had me on an anti-depressant too. Well once I cut out the clonazepam, I stopped feeling depressed, so there's no need for that one either really, but most of all I want to stop the depot that's giving me all the side-effects.