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Bipolar Forums › General & Support › Medicated and still having psychotic episodes

01/12/2010 02:03 PM

Medicated and still having psychotic episodes

Volante

Posts: 918
Member

I've been med complaint for about a year now and since I made myself a promise to never go off meds again I have improved quite a lot. In fact, I am really amazed at how well the meds work in keeping me close to stable.

I have two problems still and I'm not sure why. First, I have had intense and chronic headaches for over a year and I take a lot of vicodin to relieve the pain.

My second problem is that I still have psychotic breaks/episodes where I hear voices, hallucinate and detach from reality. These usually occur when I am stressed or concentrating for more than a couple hours. Whats so frustrating is that I am on two antipsychotics (Geodon and Risperdal) that should be elimating this problem.

Does anyone have any advice on this? Also, have anyone else had med resistant BP symptoms like me? After being off work for 3 years I want to go back and I need to solve this problem. Your insight and wisdom is greatly appreciated.

Bipolar I with psychotic features.

Lamictal 300mg
Latuda 160mg
Ativan 2mg as needed
Prazosin 4mg (Nightmares)
Percocet 5mg x 5 a day (Severe Headaches)
Oxycontin 20mg Twice a day (Severe Headaches)

01/12/2010 02:19 PM Top
bagofcandy Posts: 1259 Senior Member	Hey Volante, Does your pdoc think that the vicodin could be causing the psychosis? It's worth considering....maybe switching to something else to control your headaches would be worthwhile. Have you tried other antipsychotics? Maybe switching to a different one would help rein in the symptoms. BP I What one man can do, another can do - The Edge. Lithium 900 mg Seroquel (tapering off) Ativan 1-2 mg Propranolol 80 mg for performance anxiety Ritalin 10-20 mg as needed Previous discussions I participated in: Goodbye to my goodfriend,.. Lamictal :( Tylenol PM, Nyquil, etc. Good mood make you nervous?

01/12/2010 06:49 PM Top

Volante

Posts: 918
Member

Hello Bagofcandy,

I talked to my doctor today, I told her what I have been experiencing and she didn't say anything about the Vicodin causing psychosis. Instead, she decided to raise my resperdal from 2mg to 4mg at night. I am hoping that this works. Thank you for your suggestion. I will bring it up if I still have problems.

Bipolar I with psychotic features.

Lamictal 300mg
Latuda 160mg
Ativan 2mg as needed
Prazosin 4mg (Nightmares)
Percocet 5mg x 5 a day (Severe Headaches)
Oxycontin 20mg Twice a day (Severe Headaches)

Previous discussions I participated in:
Goodbye to my goodfriend,.. Lamictal :(
Good mood make you nervous?
No Motivation?

01/13/2010 12:20 AM Top
bagofcandy Posts: 1259 Senior Member	Hey volante, hope that extra risperdal does the trick! hallucinations are so SCARY, and I'm glad I've only experienced them during my WORST episodes...I can't imagine having them on an ongoing basis. Don't know if you watch House, but the thing that made me think about the Vicodin as a potential cause for the psychosis was a series of episodes of House. If you want, I can PM you a website link where those episodes are still available online. I also did a quick google search and found some hits....so it's something that might be worth looking into if things don't get better. BP I What one man can do, another can do - The Edge. Lithium 900 mg Seroquel (tapering off) Ativan 1-2 mg Propranolol 80 mg for performance anxiety Ritalin 10-20 mg as needed Previous discussions I participated in: Goodbye to my goodfriend,.. Lamictal :( Tylenol PM, Nyquil, etc. Good mood make you nervous?

01/13/2010 02:19 AM Top

Sammymudgirl

Posts: 40
Member

I can't help you, but I wanted to let you know that I have psychotic features too and I had a real hard time finding meds but Geodon does the trick for me. Don't take Cipro, an antibiotic, it has a side effect of causing psych meds to fail - just a tip.

Sammy

Previous discussions I participated in:
No Motivation?
Feeling desperate
Anyone Tried the Guaifenesin protocol?

01/13/2010 04:07 AM Top

Lrose35

Posts: 1733
Senior Member

Sammy I had the same problem with Bactrim. My meds stopped working for me and thru me into hypomania with uncontrollable shaking.

Abilify 2 mg at bedtime
Klonopin 8 mg 2mg 4x daily
Cymbalta 60 mg 1 during the day
Lamictal 300 mg 2 during the day, one at bedtime
Luvox CR 100 mg in the morning.
Simvastatin - High Cholesterol bedtime
Metoprolol - High Blood Pressure 2 x during the day
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away."

Previous discussions I participated in:
I need you guys
It wouldnt be home without my dog...
Tylenol PM, Nyquil, etc.

01/13/2010 05:51 AM Top

Volante

Posts: 918
Member

Bagofcandy,

House is my favorite show! And yes, I've seen the episode where he was in a psych ward due to vicodin addiction. The thing is, I have psychotic episodes whether I'm on vicodin or not.

Sammy,

Do you hear voices when your psychotic? I've been hearing voices since 2003. Geodon and Risperdal are helping but I still hear voices however, I do not hear them as often as when I am unmedicated.

Bipolar I with psychotic features.

Lamictal 300mg
Latuda 160mg
Ativan 2mg as needed
Prazosin 4mg (Nightmares)
Percocet 5mg x 5 a day (Severe Headaches)
Oxycontin 20mg Twice a day (Severe Headaches)

Previous discussions I participated in:
Goodbye to my goodfriend,.. Lamictal :(
Good mood make you nervous?
No Motivation?

01/13/2010 10:52 AM Top

santos63

Posts: 2524
Senior Member

I have a few brief times when I had started having hallucinations, my doctor adjusted my Seroquel doses. I now take 300mg in am of Seroquel xr, and at bedtime I take 300 mg Seroques (no XR), and I also take 1mg clonazepam three times daily. This took care of the problem with hallucinations.

Live in Perfect Love!
~Ana~
I worked as a RN, since 1993, I do not practice at present and my opinions are exactly that - opinions. Do not take any advice that I may offer as medical treatment. I will always defer treatments, etc to your MD, Pdoc, and/or pharmacist. What I share with you are my personal experiences, and basic knowledge that I learned as a nurse.
I have Diabetes, Bipolar Disorder with psychotic features and mixed, Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, and Chronic Low Back Pain with bulging discs in back and neck, Asthma, Hypothyroidism, Arthritis in lumbar and sacral areas, lumbar disc displacement, Degeneration of lumbar intervertebral discs, Lumbosacral radiculitis, DJD

Previous discussions I participated in:
ECT
Seroquel XR
too skinny, just too skinny!

01/13/2010 12:14 PM Top

FriedBrainNuggets

Posts: 758
Member

im bp1 mixed with psychosis w/e the hell that means! lol seriously tho i am med compliant also but have been having problems since i had the flu and was unable to take any of my meds for 3 days...now none of them are working like they did prior to the flu...hear shit, see shit, think the most bizarre shit. my pdocs say that it could be my anxiety levels which never go down bc im terrified of seeing/hearing/thinking things that just arent there or arent right.

Good luck in your battle, maybe yours is a anxiety issue too, altho i think most shrinks need meds too lol at least mine do

bipolar 1
geodon 160 mg at bed
effexor 75 mg in am
klonopin as needed up to 5mg
use marijuana in place of klonopin

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Meaning behind the suffering?
Something Positive
fluroquinolone antibiotics and FM?

01/14/2010 03:44 AM Top

Sammymudgirl

Posts: 40
Member

I only see or hear things when I am off meds. I wasn't psychotic when I was diagnosed I was Bipolar 2 in fact. I have now changed to Psychotic features and BP1. I have a little aside thing in that I hear music that isn't in my head. It stops when I hold mu hands to my ears. It is called a Psychological Illusion because it originates in the hum of a fan and the washing machine in the other room and stuff. I hear mostly muffled voices until i am off meds then they come so fast I don't know what they are saying because it is one on top of the other. But my meds take care of all but the muffled voices and music. I hope you find something. What are your voices like?

Sammy

Previous discussions I participated in:
No Motivation?
Feeling desperate
Anyone Tried the Guaifenesin protocol?

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Bipolar › Bipolar Forums › General & Support › Medicated and still having psychotic episodes

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