The Bitter Story of Schizophrenia Relapse due to Sudden Stoppage of Medications

Opinion

Hi! I am Dr. Charan Gowda K C, an MBBS graduate from Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education, Tumkur, born and brought up in a middle-class family in Bangalore. I am very much interested in becoming an orthopaedic surgeon and my desires bloomed larger and larger. I studied for the postgraduate seat with intense desire and cleared the entrance exam with colourful results. That was the time when I was in heavenly pleasure and everything was reachable to me. I was the victim of Schizophrenia at that moment when I was influenced by antipsychotics and everything under my control. Those were the days when everything happened according to my wish. Suddenly happiness bloomed all over my home when I grabbed a postgraduate seat in Orthopedics. Gloriness of the year 2022 and my new beginning in K.S. Hegde Medical Academy, Mangalore was thrilling and I was blessed to perform beautiful work of minimizing the pain of most of the patients with a smile. It was the month of October when I joined the post-graduation with enlightenment. Suddenly a thought struck my mind, “How about stopping medications now?” As I was in good condition those days, my senses urged me to stop medications abruptly. Thinking that it was tiring to meet the psychiatrist in Bangalore (as I was studying in Mangalore) for the revisit, I ended up taking antipsychotics abruptly. Gradually Satan was following me to take control of my tasks. Days rolled by and dizziness started to occur. I was shocked! My hands went into my phone and I texted the treating psychiatrist the reason for my problem. I made a mistake for sure. Day by day my cognition declined. I still remember the moment of the ACLS course when I Opinion became blank during the demonstration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a dummy piece. I narrated the incident to my parents and told them the reason for the cause. It was a bitter truth to hear and I was treated in the same hospital for the same. As I was partially feeling better, my head of the department suggested me meet the treating psychiatrist previously who had seen me for help. I consulted the doctor and took treatment for the same. Electroconvulsive therapy was done six times and adjusted the antipsychotics and I was discharged. After discharge, I had temporary memory loss of the events that had occurred for the past 1 year. I should accept this bitter truth for sure and no other way to escape. Due to this, I was like a lonely horse out of the track. I had forgotten the names of my batch mates, seniors, and faculty of my college. I was tensed. This time Satan was at my back and manipulating my thoughts. My parents were upset and took me to an astrologer for help. We performed rituals and prayed to God for help which a common people can perform. Slowly I was influenced by the words of the astrologer that my time is bad for continuous 2 years. From that moment the words of the astrologer were striking in my mind often. This made me sad all the time. Psychotic symptoms accompanied me like hearing voices, feeling pain all over my body, not being able to move my limbs, burning sensation over my eyes, and headache for long periods which was not relieved by taking medications. I thought it was all due to my bad time which the astrologer said. Sometimes I was in a dilemma whether it was due to the psychiatric problem or because of the words said by the astrologer which was due to my bad time. To confirm this I went to a few more astrologers and asked for my horoscope. They all said that my time was bad for the tenure of 2 years. Even though I was getting treatment from the psychiatrists I was a fish out of water those days. Then I was scolded by my parents to join duty as soon as possible and to manage the symptoms somehow, as I was away from the hospital duty for a long time. I somehow boldly decided to continue my course. All of my professors helped me to gain confidence. I worked for a month, and in between my duties, I suffered a lot. I could not manage the duty along with the haunted symptoms. Then I went to NIMHANS for the same. I was given antipsychotics and slowly my symptoms reduced. I was counselled by good professionals and was treated positively. Slowly my life geared up. Some of my symptoms disappeared. I was far better than before. I am now wishing to lead a happy and prosperous life with good health.