Someone with medical knowledge: medications given for hallucinations?

Question

Another question for one of my stories... If someone were thought to be schizophrenic and hallucinating, what types of medication are most likely to be given?

Most importantly, what impact would these drugs have on a person who is NOT hallucinating or mentally ill at all?

It's a little strange, I know, but if you help me, I'll gladly send you a copy of the story when it's finished (or the excerpt you helped with) and get some info to properly give credit where it's due.

Answer 1

In general, a person with Schizophrenia would be given an anti-psychotic medication. The type depends upon the setting-if your story is set in the present time and if your character is being treated in an ER for agitated behavior they would most likely be given a stat injection of Haldol and then stabilized long term on a newer anti-psychotic like Risperdal (Risperidone), Zyprexa (Olanzapine), Seroquel (Quetiapine), Abilify (Aripiprazole) or Geodon (Ziprasidone). Clozaril would only be prescribed for a chronic Schizophrenic who has failed to respond to other anti-psychotics. They may also get an injection of a benzodiazepine like Ativan (injectable) to quell the agitation.
If your setting is some 20+ years ago, they would be more apt to receive Haldol, Navane, Prolixin, Stelazine or Thorazine. Only Haldol and Prolixin were injectable then.
In present times or the past, if a "normal" person were to take the meds, they would be unlikely to experience anything beyond sedation and grogginess, the degree dependent upon the dosage. The drugs don't make you high which is why they are never abused. Long term effects would only materialize, if at all, over substantial long term use.
Side effects for either a Schizophrenic or normal person that are typical and usually immediate are dry mouth, constipation, sometimes blurred vision and usually controlled with Benadryl, Artane or Cogentin. Dystonia (like the ocular effects of the eyeballs shooting up and only the whites of the eyes showing are uncommon and often immediate and dose related. Also relieved with anticholinergics like Benadryl.
Hope this helps and good luck with your story!

Answer 2

Well as a person who is taking some of thouse drugs and has taken others at dif a time...

Abilify is the new wonder drug for me.
zyprexia was the old drug I was on that really sucked for me.

The impact of these drugs on a person who is not mentally ill can be large. These drugs can cause many health problems of the mind or body. But I think the biggest thing a person without a mental illness would find is that when on a drug like abilify for along time if not mentaly ill if they went off it they run the risk of relapsing like a person with a mental illness even when they dont have one. This means if you are ever gona go off these drugs you need to talk with a doctor about it and go off them slowly is what they might suggest. That means cutting the dose over a long period of time. Hope this helped and hope your not a mentaly ill person thinking about stoping drugs without a docs advice on how to do so.

Answer 3

Will you accept the opinions of an hallucinating Schizophrenic paranoia outpatient who has been on old and new medications for over 40 years? All the answers except those by "Starwalker" and "Opester" seem to me to not qualify as having been from one who has medical knowledge.

The first medications I was placed on were neuroleptics such as mellaril,stellazine, trillophan and haldol. I developed a medium case of tardive diskonesia (parkinsonism) from taking stellazine for years (which is irreversible) and was switched to another neuroleptic. After the newer atypical antipsychotics came out I was succesfully switched to risperidal which I am still on.

I don't really remember what the medication was that I was taking when I first suffered (quite suddenly) "auditory" hallucinations while going to a psychiatrist. This was in about 1964. (auditory is a misnomer for me as the "voices" were in my mind like mental telepathy and quite loud, often multiple voices of both sexes and mostly very violent) I have always had the suspicion that it was this medicine that induced such auditory hallucinations since the first hallucinations I experienced in the military were physical hallucinations and paralysis. I had never had a previous auditory hallucination and they gradually lessened in severity and frequency after that as I was on stellazine after hospitalization. But I still had physical (poltergeist like) hallucinations that have persisted over the years.

I never suffered many side effects, other than tardive diskonesia and seizure like monthly episodes when on stellazine, with any antipsychotic medication. I tried commiting suicide once in the early years by taking a handful of neuroleptics but it luckily didn't succeed and only put me to sleep for 12 hours.

In the last decade or so psychiatrists have accepted that depression is closely tied up with schizophrenia paranoia and I have also been taking small doses of an antidepressant (SSRI).

I have been able to work full time for 15 of the 40+ years I have been medicated, due to TLC and the meds. (Tender Loving Care is the most important factor I think) I also attended two universities in this time.

I hope this helps you. Good luck, good health, peace and love!

Answer 4

Being Schizophrenic and having read your replies it is easy to see you might get nowhere with your article as the answers are either too in-depth or completely nonsense and some even talk about medications completely unrelated to the treatment of Schizophrenia.

If you want really correct information go to the library and look for a book called "physicians desk reference" . This book comes out every year so it would have the information you need to place the person in a particular time setting.

Answer 5

well... hallucinations are considered part of psychosis (a state that also includes delusions and illusions). naturally, an anti-psychotic would be used. it really depends on the diagnosis in terms of what meds to use. for someone who is schizophrenic, they'd be tried on an antipsychotic and dosed to the level where their symptoms are controlled. typically, i see a lot of patients on multiple antipsychotics; for instance, someone might be on Seroquel (quetiapine - quite sedating) at night, but takes olanzapine or Haldol (haloperidol) in the morning, so the regimen synergizes.

now, if this is just someone who's hallucinating, but has no other features of schizophrenia, then they wouldn't be on a high dose of antipsychotic or multiple regimen. for instance, hospitalized patient post-op tend to have delirium and agitation. in these cases, you can use a benzodiazepine (Ativan, clonazepam, etc), but the problem is that it puts them to sleep. in an elderly patient, this would not be good, because the staff has no way of knowing whether the patient is having further symptoms (eg, chest pain from heart attack) because he's sleeping through it. in these patients, an antipsychotic will be used instead, because it's not as sedating; i commonly see low dose Haldol used for this reason.

if an antipsychotic were to be used on healthy person, they probably wouldn't show very much if it's a low dose or short duration. (exception would be Seroquel, which is sedating, and would cause even normal people to be sleepy.) if they were on the antipsychotic long term, then you'd start seeing side effects particularly with the typical antipsychotics, like dystonia (muscle contraction that don't relax), shuffling of feet (akathesia), Parkinson like tremors; there are also syndromes like tardive dyskinesia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome that you can read up on.

Answer 6

Prozac is one -the side effects are a horror story themselves
risperadal is given for sleep during a hallucination time period
xanex is given for the anxiety part.all of which have a high potential for addiction.

Answer 7

They would be given anti-psychotic medicine, brands like Abilify,Zyprexa,Risperdal

Given to a person without these problems, they would just get the side-effects, nothing else.

Answer 8

generic names..haloperidol,risperidone,even clonazepam
most of these drugs will give you a calming effect if you r not suffering from the hallucinations.....