Chapter 12 Antipsychotic Medication Pre-Taper THE PRE-TAPER FOR an antipsychotic medication has changed more than any other medication type with recent scientific breakthroughs at The Road Back. The amount of nutritional supplements required has continued to drop dramatically with these discoveries and the ease a person can now get off an antipsychotic has dramatically improved. Antipsychotics disrupt additional balances within the body and the drug created conditions need to be addressed. In the past years, antipsychotics were only prescribed for schizophrenia, bipolar, psychosis and extreme mental disturbances, but that is no longer the case. This edition of the book includes the recent breakthroughs that dramatically reduce the side effects and major symptoms associated with antipsychotic medication as well as the normal mental symptoms people may be experiencing that might prompt a physician to prescribe this class of medication initially. Starting Your Pre-Taper Now is the time to take a deep breath and relax. You may have suffered greatly from the medication in the past and you may be suffering from what appears to be side effects that will never go away. There is hope and there is a solution. Your body will be going through some changes during the pre-taper and those changes are positive changes. Your life is about to change for the better. If you need assistance from a parent or a trusted friend, give them this book and have them work with you and help you through the daily procedures. Your physician should also be supportive as well. What to do: ྷ Consult with your prescribing physician and/or pharmacist and layout your drug taper schedule. ྷ Plan out the second and third reduction of the medication as well at this point to ensure you are ready with the correct dosages of the drug. ྷ Once you have read all of the pre-taper section proceed to Chapter 16, “How to Taper Antipsychotic Medication” and fully read it as well. The Pre-Taper For the next 7-days you will be doing your pre-taper. You do not reduce your medication during the pre-taper, but, to state again, this is the time to also plan out the reduction phase of the drug which starts after the seven days of the pre- taper are completed. Goal of Pre-Taper: ྷ Drastic reduction of all major side effects. ྷ If hearing voices, those completely gone. ྷ Mood swings stabilized. Supplements you will take: JNK Formula Neuro Day Neuro Night DAY ONE Supplements: JNK Formula – Take 1 of the JNK Formula first thing in the morning. DO NOT TAKE A SUPPLEMENT WITHIN 1 HOUR OF TAKING MEDICATION. If you take the medication when you awake, take medication as normal, wait 1 hour and then take 1 JNK Formula. Take the second JNK Formula capsule roughly 4 to 5 hours after the first one. Neuro Day - One hour after taking the JNK Formula take 1 capsule of the Neuro Day. Take the second Neuro Day roughly 4 to 5 hours after the first Neuro Day. Neuro Night – Take 1 capsule of the Neuro Night 15 minutes before bedtime. Take in this way the first 3 days. If you do not feel sleepy or have a difficult time going to sleep still, try taking the Neuro Night a little earlier than you have. Usually 30 to 45 minutes before bedtime does the trick then. Antipsychotic medications cause a condition called metabolic syndrome. This begins after only 1 week of starting the medication. This is why diabetes is so common when taking an antipsychotic medication. The supplements used in this program will begin to regulate glucose and help stop insulin resistance. If you are taking medication for diabetes you and your doctor need to be aware of this. The dosage of the diabetes medication may need to be lowered over time and likely stopped in the future when insulin and glucose remain normal. You may not need to take the second JNK Formula or the second Neuro Day each day. Judge that by how you are feeling. If 1 JNK Formula and 1 Neuro Day keeps symptoms away, then just use 1 capsule of each a day. Taking notes along the way will help as well. Notate how you feel, if symptoms come back during the day and the time. If a negative symptom tends to come back at a certain time of the day try taking the Neuro day an hour before that time.