[cheesewanton]

I was admitted to the hospital last year because I started hearing voices again. I was on Zyprexa which worked somewhat for a while but stopped working. In the hospital they took me off it and put me on Haldol and Metropolol for blood pressure. I became really paranoid more than I already was. Then they transerred me to another hospital after about a month. In that hospital they added Zyprexa to my meds and discharged me.

So I went home. And soon I started having really bad intrusive thoughts which made me unconmfortable. Then on a regular basis I was having episodes where I kept thinking things I didn't want to think and couldn't focus on anything. I could not distract myself with the radio or television. I also started shaking at times when this began to happen. I felt like I could not think because every time I would try to think my thought would be interrupted by an intrusive thought. On top of that I was hearing a voice emerging from the background noise in the room.

My APN then put me on Propranolol for akethesia. I had akethesia on top of all this. And she added Latuda to my meds. Neither the akethesia nor my symptoms improved.

So I went to another hospital after going back to the one I was discharged from and getting discharged again. The APN took me off all my psych meds and put me on Respridal. I thought I was feeling better and after I was discharged I did not have the symptoms for a week. But then it happened again and I went back to the same hospital. The APN increased my Respridal and discharged me again. For a week I had no symptoms and then it happened again.

Also I could no longer pace easily nor rock my back back and forth easily. Every time I would try to pace I felt like sitting down again. Also my back felt weak and I would hunch over and walk slow. I'm not old by the way.

So then I was taken off Metropolol and my Propranolol was decreased to 20 mg from 60 mg because I fainted due to low blood pressure. It seemed like the symptoms were almost gone. But then my Propranolol was increased to 60 mg again and the symptoms came back. So I looked up Propranolol Psychosis and found that beta blockers can cause psychosis. So the APN decreased my Propranolol back to 20 mg, but this time the symptoms only went away temporarily.

So I quit taking the Propranolol but after four days the episode happened again. It is now five days since I quit taking it and I haven't been feeling well.

Please help. I don't want to go through this anymore.

[Skeezyks]

Thanks for sharing these difficult experiences. I'm sorry there isn't much I can offer with regard to them. (Perhaps other PC members will have some suggestions they can offer.) It does sound as though you've been seen by a number of different providers including a couple of different hospitals & someone you referred to as your "APN". (I'm sorry I don't know what that is... perhaps a psychiatric nurse practitioner?) I don't know if you have a psychiatrist you see regularly. But what occurs to me, with regard to what you wrote, is that perhaps what might be helpful would be if you could arrange to be seen consistently by one psychiatrist.

I know, in my own case, every time I have had occasion to be seen by a different psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse practitioner, etc. each one always has wanted to do something different with me. And I think all of the changes that occur when that happens can really confuse a person's treatment. Plus just the changes in medications themselves can produce new & sometimes disturbing side effects. (After a while one doesn't know what's causing what.) From my perspective, when it comes to mental health services, & psych med's in particular, there is something to be said for consistency. But then that's just my personal, non-professional opinion based on my own experiences. I hope you are able to find a solution to all of these disturbing experiences.

I'm sorry to hear you've been struggling so much. Have you tried Cogentin? I think it's better for akathisia than Propranolol, although I looked it up and it can occasionally worsen psychosis (that hasn't happened to me, and I've never heard of it happening). I'm on it, and it's helped a lot with the akathisia and I don't get any side effects from it. As for your actual symptoms, you just gotta keep with the program of trial-and-error when it comes to finding the right meds. In the mean time it might be good to do some therapy to work on coping skills and grounding techniques to deal with your symptoms in the mean time. It can take a while so you just need to be patient with the doctors.