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Re: Should my sister try the new medicine that doctors recommended for her schizophrenia or should we wait 1-2 weeks to see if the old medicine works?

Also, @Rivulet ,

 

Is your sister in a private or public hospital at the moment?

 

BPDSurvivor

Re: Should my sister try the new medicine that doctors recommended for her schizophrenia or should we wait 1-2 weeks to see if the old medicine works?

Hi @greenpea , thank you so much!! It is a bit hard since my sister's false beliefs about her family have caused her to not put us as a designated carer, so due to confidentiality reasons, we only hear about changes when the doctors make the decision to make the change ^^" A bit of a tricky situation for us.

 

I can understand your reason behind declining the option when it was offered to your son, it is definitely a last resort option. And that is a good plan and promise @greenpea! I believe the optimal goal is to achieve the minimum dosage of medication to help control the symptoms and being able to do what you love, be with those you love and love you. You are an amazing and strong person ❤️

 

@Basil Thank you! I do understand the importance of the advice from a specialist but I wanted to see what other people thought especially since my family and I was quite concerned with how the pressure on hospitals due to COVID will probably impact on the doctors and the decisions they make. They obviously want to help and provide the best solution, but they are also pressured from the hospital to have a quick turnaround in results for release too. Thank you for sharing your thoughts though! I find all this super useful and it allows my family and I to make the best decision for my sister 🙂

 

Hi @BPDSurvivor, thank you for your post >_< Well I did some research and it says it should take 4-6 weeks to have the current medication take full effect. So I was personally wondering why the doctors have already suggested and planned to use a new medication even though only 3 weeks have passed haha. And yes, your guess is correct! My family and I are fearful of the side effects (it does have more drastic side effects compared to the other medicine available) but it is proven as the 'best solution'. The doctor did mention that if the new medication works, then anything 'less' won't suffice which is definitely another concern that we had. Plus the requirement for the blood tests is not ideal as my sister hates blood tests (even a yearly blood test takes a lot of convincing and persuasion so if I imagine her having to take frequent blood tests... I can't imagine the stress and anxiety she'll get from it). Also, my sister is at a public hospital!

 

Like the doctors have said they are concerned if they let my sister continue with the current medication for a few more weeks, they are afraid that her paranoia around her family will get worse, and harder to 'fix'. So that's one of the reason's they've suggested the new medicine, which does make sense if I look at it from their perspective.

Re: Should my sister try the new medicine that doctors recommended for her schizophrenia or should we wait 1-2 weeks to see if the old medicine works?

My understanding is that if someone stops taking medication, just resuming it again doesn't guarantee it will work as it did before.

In my experience, they will increase fairly quickly in the hospital and then slowly decrease the dosage when the psychosis is gone. So what they use to get rid of the immediate problems she may not stay on forever.

In any case, I would follow the doctors recommendations. It's super scary, and so stressful, but the quicker you let them treat her the sooner you can see her and work out some longer term strategies to keeping her well.

I really hope everything works out well.

Re: Should my sister try the new medicine that doctors recommended for her schizophrenia or should we wait 1-2 weeks to see if the old medicine works?

Hi @Karly , thank you so much for responding to my post and for sharing your experience with me. We have decided to follow the doctor's recommendation (I believe they've started the cross-titration process already)! 

Thank you again for your help everyone 🙂 I'll keep you all posted with how it goes for my sister!

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