For those who defaulted on medication/appointments, how did you keep your symptoms in check?

I was diagnosed as schizoaffective bipolar and was taking medications for the majority of the last 15 years, ending last year. I went off my antipsychotic around May of 2018, and discontinued Lithium about 2 months ago.

For me it wasn't as hard as I thought, I was a bit more sensitive (to dopamine) when I came off the antipsychotic, but that has faded for the most part. I heard voices constantly while on the medication anyways, so that didn't really matter either way.

I had to quit smoking weed, and more recently also quit drinking. I've also been working hard on good sleep hygiene. And now the voices are becoming less frequent, less prominent, and less severe.

I use a few supplements/drugs of my own choosing; L-theanine for a calming agent (also studied for schizophrenia a bit, you can see it on it's examine.com page). Omega-3 pills also (studied to help with some forms of brain damage, ie. what is incurred from long term antipsychotic use and discontinuance).

I also use kratom now as a recreational drug. That's more of a lesser of multiple evils thing, it makes it easier to stay away from alcohol. It's not as risky, or damaging to my mind, so I'm using it for now.

/r/Antipsychiatry Thread