schitzophrenia?

New CCU RN · Feb 26, 2004

Actually the meds ie) Thorazine are designed to control the positive signs of shizophrenia and these include "voices", delusions, etc. They are called antipsychotics. A med that would relax the person would be an antianxiety med. Hope this helps a little.

stephera · Feb 26, 2004

I have heard that none of the meds. will take the voices away. How come schitzophrenics never want to take their meds?

Steph

Actually the meds ie) Thorazine are designed to control the positive signs of shizophrenia and these include "voices", delusions, etc. They are called antipsychotics. A med that would relax the person would be an antianxiety med. Hope this helps a little.

New CCU RN · Feb 26, 2004

I am no expert in psych..however, it is my understanding that the purpose of antipsychotics is to control the positive symptoms of shizophrenia.......which are the voices, delusions, hallucinations. disordered speech, etc

Keep in mind that every patient's response is different. Some meds work for people and some don't... .it is really individual and there is typically a 2-3 week lag time for these meds, meaning it takes two to three weeks for these meds to really have an effect. But even longer (a few months) is needed to truly see a response.

The reason that patients are non-complaint w/ these meds is due to the terrible side effects. Keep in mind there are two types of antipsychotics --- typical and atypical. The typical are known to have awful s/e such as dystonia, akathisia, parkinsonism, tardive dyskinesia. The atypical hve a lot less motor side effects but are quite expensive and still fairly new.

stephera · Feb 26, 2004

Is Thorazine atypical?

Steph

I am no expert in psych..however, it is my understanding that the purpose of antipsychotics is to control the positive symptoms of shizophrenia.......which are the voices, delusions, hallucinations. disordered speech, etc
Keep in mind that every patient's response is different. Some meds work for people and some don't... .it is really individual and there is typically a 2-3 week lag time for these meds, meaning it takes two to three weeks for these meds to really have an effect. But even longer (a few months) is needed to truly see a response.
The reason that patients are non-complaint w/ these meds is due to the terrible side effects. Keep in mind there are two types of antipsychotics --- typical and atypical. The typical are known to have awful s/e such as dystonia, akathisia, parkinsonism, tardive dyskinesia. The atypical hve a lot less motor side effects but are quite expensive and still fairly new.

New CCU RN · Feb 26, 2004

no, it is "typical"....... It is actually the prototype of antipsychotic meds.....

eak16 · Feb 26, 2004

Risperidone, Geodon.....

LoriRN911 · Mar 6, 2004

I have heard that none of the meds. will take the voices away. How come schitzophrenics never want to take their meds?
Steph

Hi Steph,

Sometimes the pateint is just too paranoid to take their meds, the "voices" are telling them different (Like the nurse is trying to posion you) or they get d/c from the hospital and have no money or nowhere to go and are off of them (after getting stabalized in the hospital) for short periods of time and it comes back full circle again. This is the problem, some of these people should be in long term care but the state facilites have all closed down due to buget cuts.

We use Risperdal and Zypreza mostly for our psych pts.

Lori RN

Commander Vimes · Mar 8, 2004

Soory to say it but Schizophrenia is un curable, theres more to it than medication. Some of the anti-psychotics alleviate symptoms for some of the people but the evidence suggests that only 40% of sufferers gain any benefit from the medication. There are some amazing results though so all is not lost, I find Clozapine beneficial (I run a clozaril clinic amongst other things)

Stress plays a major part in Schizophrenia and if you reduce that then Bingo! but not always.

Short term treatments include Chlorpromazine, Olanzipine, Risperidone, even ECT.

More effective however are the "Talking therapies" Voices groups are shown to be beneficial as are alternative coping strategies.

CliveUK · Mar 9, 2004

Of course, there is some controversy over whether schizophrenia - as a discrete disease entity - actually exists. Some psychiatrists - most notably Jan van Os in the Netherlands - have jetissoned the diagnosis altogether, preferring to talk about 'dimensions of psychosis'.