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Pssssss1222's avatar

My psychiatrist damaged my eyes and brain with ziprasidone. What to do?

Asked by Pssssss1222 (105points) April 13th, 2024 from iPhone

Hello. I’m writing this with Google Translate because my English level is average. Sorry if there are spelling mistakes. Well, I entered a psychiatric clinic and from there they started giving me Zipwell (ziprasidone). Everything was going well until I was discharged from the hospital and the Zipwell capsules ran out. Before that I was told to go to my psychiatrist to get a prescription for them, but I didn’t comply and didn’t go until the capsules ran out. The first night before I went to my psychiatrist I couldn’t sleep and in the morning I had a panic attack. Well, after I went to my psychiatrist and he wrote me a prescription for the medicine, we went to the pharmacy and they told us that they didn’t have the medicine and that we would have to wait until Monday for them to get it (it was Friday at the time). That night I woke up with hallucinations and palinopsia (seeing a after images of moving objects) that I never had before I started taking Zipwell. It was one of my worst nights. Thank God in the morning we took the medicine from another pharmacy in another city and everything was over. About a month later I clarified that the medicine was not working well for me and we went to my psychiatrist to tell him. At that time I was taking 120 mg. (60 mg in the morning and 60 mg in the evening. I asked him if he could reduce it to 40 mg in the morning and 40 mg in the evening, but he told me that he could not do it, because then he would have to stop the health insurance protocol and to make another one for a 40mg box.He also told me he couldn’t stop it for me at the time because he was “ordered to do so” (if I was given Zipwell by the hospital he couldn’t stop it at the time). And instead of reducing it gradually, he told me to reduce it to one 60 mg tablet instead. I asked him if this dose reduction was too drastic and he said it wasn’t. I started taking that dose, but one in the evening I felt sick and when I waved my hand in a dark room I realized that I had palinopsia again (double vision of moving objects). By 2:00 p.m. my eyes were literally closing and if I didn’t go to sleep I felt like my brain will explode. After 5 agonizing and double vision nights (which as I said before I never had in my life until I went into the hospital and started taking Zipwell, which is ziprasidone) I realized that the 60 mg daily dose was not enough for me and again I started taking a 60 mg tablet twice a day. During these 5 days, something had obviously happened to my brain, and although I was already taking the required dose, I still saw moving objects with after images. 2 months later we went to the same psychiatrist again and told him that I had increased the Zipwell to 2 tablets a day. He told me “that I did well”. Then, out of the blue, he increased my dose of Zoloft (antidepressant), which I have been taking since visiting this “psychiatrist” from 50 mg in the morning to 75 mg, again in the morning. 5 days later I started having delusional palinopsia again. But this time I didn’t leave it at that. I realized this was most likely from increasing the dose of Zoloft and reduced it back to 50mg. And yet, I still see moving objects with afterimages, which I never had before entering the hospital. My theory is that out of the many withdrawal syndromes I have had, thanks to this “psychiatrist” and his “treatment” some part of my brain that is responsible for my vision has been damaged. I no longer want to see this so-called “psychiatrist” who damaged my brain. Would you please advise what doctor I should see for my eyes and should I have an MRI?

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2 Answers

seawulf575's avatar

I think the first thing to do would be to avoid that psychiatrist…find another one instead. I don’t know what country you are from or how your healthcare works so I don’t know if that is an option, but you obviously don’t have a lot of confidence in this psychiatrist.

If you are having double vision I’d suggest seeing an eye doctor first to ensure there isn’t something physically wrong with the eye. That doctor may also have seen this sort of thing with patients that have used medicine like the one you took.

I’d also talk to a regular doctor or possibly even a neurologist to see what their thoughts are. If they feel there might have been damage done by the drugs (I don’t know enough about this drug to know if that is possible or not). They might also know of other drugs that might be of help to you besides the one you are on. That would be handy knowledge to have when you go to the psychiatrist again.

gorillapaws's avatar

You’re being treated with powerful antipsychotics. We’re just random people on the internet. It sounds like you’re facing serious medical conditions that should be managed by qualified mental health professionals. My advice is to seek out a second opinion from a different psychiatrist regarding your mental healthcare and any psychoactive medication. Best wishes in finding a treatment that works well for you.

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