[rached]

If anyone has had experience with cocaine psychosis (and not their own, I hope!) I'd like to hear what those experiences were. The son of a dear friend has been a cocaine abuser for a number of years. For most of that time, he managed to confine it to so-called "recreational" use, but in the last year has spiraled out of control. He began having classic paranoid delusions that his house was being monitored, there were cameras in the ceiling fans, etc. He also had auditory hallucinations.....an entire chorus of distinct, individual voices describing his every move and mocking him.

To make a long (and depressing) story short, he is currently not using & has been 'clean' for approximately 2 months. His psychiatrist rx'd Abilify for the hallucinations. He also takes Trileptal and Effexor (diagnosis of BiPolar 2)

Question: Just wondering how often permanent psychosis results from heavy cocaine abuse ( the research I've done is equivocal...maybe yes, maybe no); and would there be a risk in d/cing the Abilify at some point? Hate to think he would remain on a powerful antipsychotic indefinitely if it were not necessary. Anyone with any experience with this, please weigh in. Thanks

jackie

[finness]

My experience in this department stems from my father’s abuse of methamphetamine. He was diagnosed with Schizophrenia at the age 39 after having very similar delusions. Nearly three years later, he is still taking veritable cocktail of medications—including Ablify to suppress the hallucinations. He is in prison now, so he’s both clean and medicated, but still the hallucinations persist, and the psychosis is as intense as ever. I can’t tell you whether it is permanent, but I CAN tell you, that I hope for our sake and for the ones we love that it is not. If anyone knows what damage these drugs cause that results in this sort of disorder, and if the results are permanent, please let me know, too!!

P.S. My father also insisted that there were cameras in the ceiling fans. You're story is TOO uncanny. How the heck does this happen??

[finness]

According to the Narcanon website on methamphetamine (couldn't find on cocaine, although I would guess the effect would be fairly similar):

"...Users tend to become increasingly dellusional. These effects have been reported to last for months, and in many cases years, even after usage ceaces."