Brief Answer: Poor insight at time of episode Detailed Answer: Hi Thanks for choosing healthcare magic First of all, few things about schizophrenia that would help you to understand the kind of illness you have. Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a breakdown of thought processes and by impaired emotional responses. Common symptoms include delusions like paranoid beliefs, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, and negative symptoms such as lack of emotion and lack of motivation. Schizophrenia causes significant social and work problems. It also lead to cognitive dysfunction that effect memory, logistic thinking, concentration. During episode, patients have poor insight, mean they do not know about the activity they do and not able to recall the activity. Same problems are with you. During psychotic episode, whatever you did like eating, meeting with your friends, your interaction with doctor or hospital staff etc, is difficult for you to recall due to poor insight at that time. This is all normally seen in schizophrenic patients. This condition is not amnesia. That why no one had mentioned amnesia in your record and you did not find amnesia as side effect of drug. It happened due to poor insight, not because of drug. If at age of 66, you are facing difficulty in recalling things, that may be due to age factor, underline dementia, due to sedative effect of drug or may be due to cognitive deterioration due to illness. I think with that answer you would be satisfied. In case you need further help, you can connect me. Regards Dr. Abhishek Kapoor Psychiatrist

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Brief Answer: Diagnosis depends upon mental examination Detailed Answer: HI I have mentioned the few symptoms of schizophrenia. Diagnosis also depends upon the mental status examination done by psychiatrist. If your psychiatrist prescribed you some antipsychotic, then there must have been some symptoms related to schizophrenia. Duration of treatment depends upon the illness. If a patient has illness for lesser time, she could be off medication after some time. In long duration of illness or where number of episodes are too much, treatment stay for long. In most of cases, patients feel better off medication, but this could increase the chances of relapse. To prevent relapse, sometime psychiatrist keep patient on low dose of antipsychotic. May be to prevent relapse your psychiatrist keep you on antipsychotic. I think that would help you to solve the problem Regards Dr. Abhishek Kapoor Psychiatrist

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Brief Answer: Drugs never cause schizophrenia Detailed Answer: Hi Antipsychotics never induce schizophrenia. They help in improving the symptoms. Same thing was in your case, you got relief fluphenazine, but some time these drugs cause extra pyramidal side effects like parkinson, dytonia, akathisia etc. In your case, side effect is due to drugs which improved after leaving drugs. Remember these drugs don't cause schizophrenia. Regards Dr. Abhishek Kapoor Psychiatrist

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Brief Answer: We can taper medicine if you have no symptoms now... Detailed Answer: I don't know much about that psychiatrist who treated you and how he worked. I just want to say that antipsychotic never induce psychosis. Diagnosis and treatment depends upon psychiatrist's observation about the patient. May be he misdiagnosed you or gave you overdose of drugs. That depends upon his knowledge, but in most of case due to psychotic episode patients do not remember the episode. Same may have happened with you. May be due to psychotic episode, you could not recall anything. I am pretty sure this was not amnesia. I think, there is no need to challenge diagnosis now. Due to improper documentation, it is difficult to rule out possibility of schizophrenia. If you are well since 2005, then you can gradually stop your drugs. In that case, there is no need of taking medication and you can spend your life without drugs. Regards Dr. Abhishek Kapoor

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Brief Answer: Dont think about past diagnosis Detailed Answer: Hi I can understand your doubt, but in psychiatry, diagnosis never remain same. Sometime, a patient of affective disorder may later convert into schizophrenia or sometime schizophrenic get affective symptoms, in that we make diagnosis as schizo-affective disorder. That depend upon the observation at time of admission. May be in your case treating psychiatrist found something that may be towards schizophrenia. Even in affective disorder, psychiatrist use antipsychotic as mood stabilizer. Sometime, patient get some psychotic symptoms with depression or manic episode, then psychiatrist use antipsychotic to treatment the symptoms. May be, that psychiatrist did misdiagnosis, but after 23 years it is difficult for any psychiatrist to change the diagnosis. On basis of one affective episode and another psychotic episode, your diagnosis may have been towards either schizoaffective disorder or schizophrenia or manic episode with psychotic symptoms, but still you would be on antipsychotic. I think, in your case, there is no need to think about past diagnosis. If you are symptom free for last many years, after consultation with your psychiatrist, you can be drug free. Regards Dr. Abhishek Kapoor Psychiatrist

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