Tiredness from anti psychotic medicine.

Depending on the type of antipsychotic taken, people find that one of the side effects of many antipsychotic medicine is tiredness. The type of tiredness I am describing is physical exhaustion during the day and in the morning. Tiredness also includes sedation in the morning, which means not being able to wake up in the mornings. A person can find themselves feeling so drugged up it can seem impossible to wake out of sleep.

'With the antipsychotic medicine I take, I find I get very sedated in the mornings, and most mornings are a real struggle to wake up out of sleep and get out of bed early. I find this quite irritating and I have been known to get quite frustrated with myself despite it not being my fault. I try to remind myself that this is out of my control. I usually have to make afternoon appointments, but sometimes find that they are difficult to attend when I wake up at midday sometimes or after midday. I also have the issue where I feel exhausted.

Because of the antipsychotic medicine I find myself tired all throughout the day despite the fact that I have slept throughout the night and morning. It feels like fatigue. '

A good thing to do is to talk to your doctor about getting some blood tests done as you could be low in iron or vitamins D or other vitamins or minerals. Sometimes it could be worth doing this to help with the exhaustion caused by the antipsychotic medicine.

Also excercise can help. This is usually advised, as this can help boost our energy. It might be an idea to attend a dance class, or do some walking, swimming, or play tennis or basketball or badminton. Do something you enjoy.

Force yourself to do exercise with a family member or friend even though it is hard because of the exhaustion. Keep it light excersise. It will be worth it in the end.

Also if you do the excercise with someone they can help motivate you, and you can motivate each other. Or you could go by yourself and attend a class where there is a group of people. Then you can make new friends and see the same familiar faces everytime you go.

There may also be some walking groups in your local area you can join. However it is difficult living with exhaustion.

The best thing is to talk to your psychiatrist about it. See what options they come up with. There are other medicines that are antipsychotics that do not cause exhaustion.

It can also be difficult to deal with the sedation aspect of taking antipsychotic medicine. You can feel like you are missing out on your life and the day.

Speaking to your Psychiatrist could be one way of approaching the issue. Maybe getting the medication reduced could help. But sometimes medicine reduction with antipsychotic medicine does not solve the issue. You could get it reduced three or four times and still not get a result. You may still feel sedated and there's the risk to you getting unwell if the dose is too low.

However your psychatrist will know when to stop reducing it way before it ever gets to that stage.

If reduction does not work and sometimes it can. The only other option is to change the medication and try other antipsychotic medicines.

'I find I have tried many antipsychotic medicines some don't work for me, in that they make me relapse. They don't do anything for me to keep me well. Others come with other terrible side effects I just cannot tolerate. I really don't want to get unwell. The medicine I currently take keeps me very well mentally, however it is just the extreme exhaustion and the sedation I find so hard to manage. However I am sure there are other medicines I can still try.'

In my view I feel that all antipsychotics need to be reviewed and created without being sedative and causing exhaustion. It could be re -developed without having most nasty side- effects. If this were the case then people with Mental illness could possibly achieve a better quality of life.