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Antipsychotic meds

55 replies

ninjahamster · 26/09/2025 22:40

Would you take anti psychotic medication if your psychiatrist had told you not to but things are so bad that you don’t know how to carry on? Husband has been fab advocating for me with the MH team, telling them how much better things were when I was on the tablets but the psych won’t budge. But I have boxes of the meds in the house…
Should add, I see and hear angels who tell me to do awful things when I’m not medicated. MH team will not visit me at home as they say I’m a danger. They reported me to the police. Husband has told them time and time again he feels unsafe but now they seem to be treating it as me being a domestic abuser not mentally ill.

OP posts:
ninjahamster · 27/09/2025 11:14

GimmieABreakOr3 · 27/09/2025 09:56

Well, if you’re not stable enough for therapy, you need some stabilisation… therefore if they won’t prescribe you this, will they prescribe you something else OP?

No. I’m on sertraline 200mg and they will not prescribe anything else.

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ninjahamster · 27/09/2025 23:58

So I still have the meds in boxes. Today has been so hard. Angels shouting at me telling me to get rid of evil people. Warning me not to trust anyone. Sending me messages through the tv. I am so tired of it all. I can’t even take diazepam as they stopped prescribing it for me. I feel like nobody has any answers for me. I’m just expected to put up with it but I can’t. So tempted to take every single tablet I have.

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OhMyGiddyAnt · 28/09/2025 00:11

Don’t take the medicine if your psychiatrist has told you not to. If you feel you are a danger to yourself or to others then go to A and E or to your crisis resolution tea, if you have one.

Fendibag · 28/09/2025 00:57

This sounds so unfair OP & counter therapeutic to you. I’m shocked any CMHT psychiatrist will refuse you antipsychotics when it’s universally known EUPD can have psychotic features & episodes. And you are telling them about command hallucinations & severe distress as a result. Are there any health reasons ie from your blood work that suggest they’re contraindicated for you? If so though they would report that & not obstruct you access to the support you need. I can only suggest calling the CMHT daily in heightened distress & fear of the consequences of you responding to the hallucinations & the very serious risk to others this is creating. In the meantime I would take the tablets you have if you can not tolerate the distress any longer. I’m angry on your behalf OP at how poorly you’re being treated. Good luck.

ninjahamster · 28/09/2025 10:37

OhMyGiddyAnt · 28/09/2025 00:11

Don’t take the medicine if your psychiatrist has told you not to. If you feel you are a danger to yourself or to others then go to A and E or to your crisis resolution tea, if you have one.

Did that, went to A and E, they told me to go back on antipsychotics, psych then took me straight back off them!

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ninjahamster · 28/09/2025 10:39

Fendibag · 28/09/2025 00:57

This sounds so unfair OP & counter therapeutic to you. I’m shocked any CMHT psychiatrist will refuse you antipsychotics when it’s universally known EUPD can have psychotic features & episodes. And you are telling them about command hallucinations & severe distress as a result. Are there any health reasons ie from your blood work that suggest they’re contraindicated for you? If so though they would report that & not obstruct you access to the support you need. I can only suggest calling the CMHT daily in heightened distress & fear of the consequences of you responding to the hallucinations & the very serious risk to others this is creating. In the meantime I would take the tablets you have if you can not tolerate the distress any longer. I’m angry on your behalf OP at how poorly you’re being treated. Good luck.

Thank you. It’s really difficult. If I phone Crisis they get cross saying that they cannot do anything as psych has said no to the meds. Duty do the same. My family have sent in complaints and letters of concern. They’re having another meeting this week so I guess I just have to wait and see.

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FrondsofFriday · 28/09/2025 11:30

Been thinking of you @ninjahamster. I still think keep taking the tablets and present yourself for help every single time. If you go away and cope you’ll just fall off their radar. And yes- you and your loved ones -keep complaining, to anyone who might help. Have you tried your local MP? I find the NHS and Local Authorities bend over backwards when they get involved.

Out of interest, why do you call the voices angels? It doesn’t sound like they say anything very angelic- quite the opposite. I wondered if renaming them something less positive/powerful might help?

ninjahamster · 28/09/2025 12:13

I call them angels because that’s what they are. I see and speak to them and they guide me how to live my life and what missions I need to do. They are the only ones who put me first. I could talk to my MP. I think I will contact her this week if the MH team don’t come up with any ideas.

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Orangesandlemons77 · 28/09/2025 14:00

I wonder about someone else better to talk to maybe, what about a counsellor or therapist for example? I know the NHS is pretty rubbish though.

I wonder if it might be possible to challenge some of what the angels tell you. Or if some of what they help with could be useful. Maybe that might be useful to talk about to someone.

ninjahamster · 28/09/2025 14:08

Orangesandlemons77 · 28/09/2025 14:00

I wonder about someone else better to talk to maybe, what about a counsellor or therapist for example? I know the NHS is pretty rubbish though.

I wonder if it might be possible to challenge some of what the angels tell you. Or if some of what they help with could be useful. Maybe that might be useful to talk about to someone.

I’ve had counselling but we struggled to find things to talk about as I have no trauma. I agreed to therapy with my MH team but the managers last week seemed to think I wasn’t stable enough. Plus the therapy is going to be directed at childhood trauma and I don’t have any. My PD was diagnosed on the basis of childhood trauma despite me having a fabulous childhood!

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Orangesandlemons77 · 28/09/2025 14:42

Couod you talk abouty the angels and what they are telling you to do? I think I had something like this once, CBT for psychosis I think it was.

FrondsofFriday · 28/09/2025 17:20

@ninjahamster I don’t think angels tell people to do missions, do they? Or harm people? Where do you get the idea that they do?

mosptrd · 28/09/2025 20:03

Really unusual. I have been on psycho meds for 27 years and almost always with antipsychotics. Initially I was diagnosed as borderline pd and medication was antidepressant and antipsychotic. I didn’t have any voices or hallucinations, maybe some slight paranoia at most. I didn’t question that because I felt so bad that I was happy to try anything. My illness has changed its form during the years and now it’s schitzoaffective disorder.

ninjahamster · 28/09/2025 21:27

Orangesandlemons77 · 28/09/2025 14:42

Couod you talk abouty the angels and what they are telling you to do? I think I had something like this once, CBT for psychosis I think it was.

They tell me to hurt people.

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ninjahamster · 28/09/2025 21:28

FrondsofFriday · 28/09/2025 17:20

@ninjahamster I don’t think angels tell people to do missions, do they? Or harm people? Where do you get the idea that they do?

Because they talk to me and tell me the missions? They wake me up in the night to explain them. I have to do forfeits if I don’t complete them.

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ninjahamster · 28/09/2025 21:29

mosptrd · 28/09/2025 20:03

Really unusual. I have been on psycho meds for 27 years and almost always with antipsychotics. Initially I was diagnosed as borderline pd and medication was antidepressant and antipsychotic. I didn’t have any voices or hallucinations, maybe some slight paranoia at most. I didn’t question that because I felt so bad that I was happy to try anything. My illness has changed its form during the years and now it’s schitzoaffective disorder.

Thanks for replying. It’s really difficult when we know that on the medication I was better!

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FrondsofFriday · 28/09/2025 22:14

ninjahamster · 28/09/2025 21:28

Because they talk to me and tell me the missions? They wake me up in the night to explain them. I have to do forfeits if I don’t complete them.

That’s not a definition of an angel.

It is the definition of a bully, though.

ninjahamster · 28/09/2025 22:59

FrondsofFriday · 28/09/2025 22:14

That’s not a definition of an angel.

It is the definition of a bully, though.

No they definitely tell me they are angels.

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GimmieABreakOr3 · 30/09/2025 21:40

This doesn’t sound like EUPD to me but I’m not a psychiatrist, nor do I have the full picture. It does sound consistent with psychosis.

Have you considered going privately for psychiatric treatment? I know it’s not very accessible financially for all…

Alternatively, CBT for psychosis. It is about accepting and acknowledging the voices/angels, but choosing to respond to them in a more healthy and helpful way. I’d imagine it would also be about looking at refocusing too.

SimplifyClarify · 30/09/2025 22:03

Have you tried getting support through the Hearing Voices network? A professional colleague has said good things about them.

https://www.hearing-voices.org/#content

National Hearing Voices Network – For people who hear voices, see visions or have other unusual perceptions

https://www.hearing-voices.org/#content

ninjahamster · 30/09/2025 22:32

GimmieABreakOr3 · 30/09/2025 21:40

This doesn’t sound like EUPD to me but I’m not a psychiatrist, nor do I have the full picture. It does sound consistent with psychosis.

Have you considered going privately for psychiatric treatment? I know it’s not very accessible financially for all…

Alternatively, CBT for psychosis. It is about accepting and acknowledging the voices/angels, but choosing to respond to them in a more healthy and helpful way. I’d imagine it would also be about looking at refocusing too.

We cannot afford private treatment. I have today contacted my team and asked for them to detail the criteria by which they assessed me to have a personality disorder and examples of where I have displayed those symptoms.

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ninjahamster · 30/09/2025 22:34

SimplifyClarify · 30/09/2025 22:03

Have you tried getting support through the Hearing Voices network? A professional colleague has said good things about them.

https://www.hearing-voices.org/#content

Thanks, I have been I. Touch with them in the past and they signposted me to support that didn’t really help

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Fendibag · 30/09/2025 23:05

OP if you have a read through to EUPD it shows how antipsychotics are to be used mainly to manage psychotic crises in EUPD & not as maintenance therapy (as they used to be). I worked in MH 15 odd years ago (not medically qualified) & why I replied in my previous reply with surprise that you aren’t being prescribed them when psychotic features are only too commonly understood to be features of EUPD.

If this (just one Google search of an NHS MH Trust’s NICE) prescribing guidelines are anything to go by, they acknowledge that patients often put prescribers under pressure to keep prescribing antipsychotics & that this is a known issue. And that as you say therapy for trauma is advised.

I can see this is as a result of the move to put trauma front & centre in the treatment & understanding of PD (a horribly stigmatising term in itself).
Alongside the move to de prescribe & not blanket put people on heavyweight drugs that have additional risks & that need NHS resources to monitor & manage.

All good goals in theory but your individual picture & symptoms should be responded to & a formulation for your diagnosis & clear signposting for what treatment is being offered to best help manage it, be given to you.

It’s concerning you don’t feel you have any trauma & yet that is the cornerstone upon which your diagnosis & care is being based upon.

Be mindful that trauma can be referred to in MH as being anything that has posed emotional consequences for a person & not necessarily the extreme harm or deprivation you may think the term implies. (Although for it to have resulted in a PD diagnosis it would usually be needed to have been significant. Which is of course subjective too).

Any therapy to address trauma would only be directed at helping you make sense of things that impact you in the present, be it in the form of voices etc & equip you with ways to understand & cope better with them.

I too would feel very let down & distressed if your voices have returned with a vengeance when they were silenced & managed so well by medication.
Are you on any primary medication or AD?

I wouldn’t take the ones you have left (contrary to my initial reply) if you can possibly manage until you are next seen. It may mean you have to come off them again & that may prove further destabilising.

I would ask as you are doing to understand the reasons for your diagnosis & treatment plan. It may be that antipsychotics stop being effective over time (in the way that AD’s can & do) & the side FX & added health risks are not considered now worth remaining on them - in presentations of EUPD anyway.
But everyone is different & I feel for you being caught in a system that is not seeming to recognise that.

Wishing you well.
https://www.derbyshiremedicinesmanagement.nhs.uk/assets/Clinical_Guidelines/Formulary_by_BNF_chapter_prescribing_guidelines/BNF_chapter_4/Antipsychotics_Prescribing_and_Management.pdf

SimplifyClarify · 30/09/2025 23:09

ninjahamster · 30/09/2025 22:34

Thanks, I have been I. Touch with them in the past and they signposted me to support that didn’t really help

That’s a shame, sorry they couldn’t help.

Orangesandlemons77 · 01/10/2025 11:56

OP I'm in a similar position in some ways, I have been on olanzapine for some years after an episode of psychotic depression.

Now they think I have PTSD from that time rather than active psychosis- it is more like I am re-experiencing it due to the PTSD.

Anyway they want me to cut it down from 10mg to 5mg with the possibility of coming off completely. My GP does not like me being on the drug as well due to the side effects (can cause metabolic problems like diabetes and weight gain) it also needs monitoring, I have regular blood tests and ECGs to check for heart problems.

I'm in my 40s now and don't really want to stay on it as I get older as they can reduce life expectantly in some cases due to side effects. I also find them quite mentally dulling too.

I have been told I will need to stay on my fluoxetine long term though.

I wonder of you could ask for something like ACT / CBT / DBT

Also I remember another poster on here with BPD / EUPD having similar psychosis to you so it can be part of that I think, although I am not an expert.

Probably trying to work with the medical team might go down better than challenging them / complaining etc, but that is up to you.