worthlessness

Hi geyser, the simple fact that you wake up every morning after the bad day you had is proof that that you fought through the day and won!  My brain lies to me constantly telling me i`m not worth anything and only sees the negatives but it is an illness. 

It doesnt make sense in reality that only bad things happen, i have a lot to thank myself for if i just sit down and take a look at my life.

Try making a list of things you have achieved then ask someone close to you to write a list of what they think you have achieved, you may be surprised.

phil

I have a job and as long as I'm busy at work I feel worthwhile which staves off the worthlessness for a while x

I completely agree with Phil, worthlessness come under the symptoms of "depression" ;which is an illness.

I actually suggested to my partner when he was feeling particularly low and worthless/ failure etc that he writes a list of how he sees himself and I would also do a list of how I /others perceive him. It really was a great exercise and an eye opener for him.

Do small things that will make you feel like you have accomplished something; all confidence boosters in the long run.

It really is about not being too self critical of yourself; be gentle on yourself.

Always here if you want to chat/support.

XX

I always feel bad in the morning times and I'm OK as time progresses to the end of the day. If you feel shit all day, my psychiatrist says it's a sign of a chemical imbalance while if you feel shit only parts of the day then it denotes psychological issues. 

You try out some antidepressants. They normally put you on Lexapro first. I've been on loads of antidepressants and haven't felt they work because they conclude I have psychological issues. 

I reckon you should try the medications route if you are that desperate. Then see if they work. If they work great. If they don't you probably need a therapist. 

Either way a therapist is a good idea. 

I like to keep myself motivated by doing some easy qualification that's difficult but achievable. That helps you feel good that you are getting somewhere. 

Also, if you have a good computer, I suggest playing world of warcraft. It's an achievement progression based game and it helps me a lot. 

I understand the feeling of worthlessness. I lost my job and put up my CV for a few weeks but nothing much came of it. I also lost my friends probably because I wasn't like them and working. 

I think it's difficult. You have to progress. Get a therapist and stick with the hard work. I've to continue doing the hard work and stay ok with myself. 

Maybe volunteering might help. I applied for a couple of places but I don't think volunteering is for me. I'd rather a real job. 

The mornings are the worst time of day for me,I take 800mg quetiapine at night and feel sedated and tired on waking. Have asked my psychiatrist to reduce that medication but the answer is NO, dare not reduce it myself because don't want to be hospitalized. This has happened in the past when I've decided to adjust the medication. I've got low self esteem which is IMO similar to worthlessness and don't think I'd cope with paid work,currently a gardening volunteer and doing that is good for my fragile self confidence.

With schizoaffective disorder and being on the maximum dose of Quetiapine I can why reducing your anti-psychotic dose might not be regarded as a good idea. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be possible for you to make a change to a less sedative anti-psychotic.

Quetiapine is easily the most sedative anti-psychotic on the market by a long way. Others like Risperidone and Aripiprazole are not really sedative at all. You could keep the total amount of anti-psychotic the same using cross tapering.

This is where you gradually drop the dose of one drug while introducing and then gradually increasing a second. So you would drop Quetiapine by 200 mg and add in 2mg of Risperidone. Then drop by another 200 mg with Risperidone increased to 4 mg and so on until you were only on Risperidone.

Your psychiatrist might not like this idea either but it might be worth asking him to think about it.

OK thanks for the information Steve, I was taking 20mg aripiprazole before the quetiapine but had two relapses while taking that. A few years ago was on rispiredone and had side effects, strangely it affected my handwriting and my walking,two of my hobbies.The cross tapering does sound interesting and might be worth a mention at my next appointment however the quetiapine suits me quite well although the max dose does tire me! Difficult to get the meds just right.

Hi Emma. Cross tapering is only really of use when are changing from one drug to another. It has to be better than coming off one drug completely and then starting another. That way you stand a chance of symptoms returning. But if Quetiapine controls your symptoms and it isn't too sedative I'd probably tend to stick to it. I have asked a number of psychiatrists to do cross tapering. Only one wanted to discuss it, the others just said fine.

I am a bit prejudiced against Quetiapine. Before she died my partner spent quite a few months in Canada. When she came home her sleep was all over the place so she asked our GP if she could have something to help her sleep while her system readjusted. She was given 50 mg Quetiapine. The first time she took it she fell asleep at 11 pm and didn't wake up until 2 pm the following afternoon, which is 15 hours.

If you do think about a change the non sedative drugs left are Amisulpride and Zipraisidone. But it might be worth exploring the whole set of drugs thoroughly though. You'll be aware that it is claimed by some that this group of drugs can trigger Type 2 Diabetes, which you have. I have seen a table that ordered the drugs in terms of their propensity to cause Diabetes. If I had Diabetes I would want to be on something at the bottom of this table. They also can vary in their propensity to raise cholesterol. This isn't so critical, if your cholesterol is high a statin should take care of it. But I would still prefer to be on something that didn't affect cholesterol at all.

Hope you continue to do reasonably well.

Thankyou Steve very helpful info,

Regards,

Em

I'm on amisupride. Been on other antipsychotics but didn't seem to work well. Amisulpride works here and have a schizoaffective disorder. My pain now comes from the depression. My anti depressants don't work so well. 

They keep putting back into the therapy and saying the therapy is working. I've had relapses on Amisulpride before and they maxed my dosage. 

I had medications. I want a real life. I want a job. I want friends. I want companionship. 

Instead I got a breakdown and psychotic symptoms and relapse after relapse and OCD. 

Sometimes I want to end it all. It's just too much sometimes. I hang around the house all day, playing computer games to me sane. I eat, shit and sleep and take medications. The mornings are horrible and I feel mega down. 

My therapist says people with schizo learn to manage their lives and lead fruitfully lives again. My therapist doesn't get it because he's not schizo. 

I'm a schizo. 

Hi my name is Andrew and I'm schizophrenic. Want to be my friend? 

Answer: no

I take it one day at a time. Sometimes these forums are depressing. You see people go on the same horrible medications as I am and you know the psychiatrists are guessing and putting you on dose after dose, medication after medication. 

There is a system. Try psychotic a. A works good. If not increase dosage? Dosage A maxed out? Titrate and try psychotic B. Rinse repeat. 

Sometimes they put you on two antipsychotics. They shove some 50mg seroquel at you, trying to pawn an antipsychotic off as a benzo. Nuh uh. Bullshit. 

Nothing works. Medication doesn't really work. It's guess work. It might work a little bit but it's like hitting a nail on the head when drunk. Sometimes there's a near miss but most times its a miss. 

Psychiatrists must have the worst less jobs in the world. All they do is prescribe bullshit that doesn't work. 

I'm sick of psychiatrsts. I'm sick of hospital. I'm sick of being sick. These labels don't define me. I bet I'd be fine off the meds or do just as good. 

Do you think meds actually work?