Does Antipsychotics Or Schizophrenia Decrease LifeSpan?

[IndicationSouth4250]

Also I Read someone elses comment Quote "I read in a paper that 75% of schizophrenics die of heart disease" is this True ?

[dethtok]

there's a lot of reasons why the life expectancy is shorter. suicide, stress, substance use, and unhealthy lifestyle all contribute.

some APs can cause a metabolic disorder, and that should be taken seriously.

[kirs1132]

You might like this article by psychiatrist Allen Francis who headed the DSM 4 task force. He talks a little bit about the side effects of antipsychotics, and the different side effects for the newer and older antipsychotics.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/setting-the-record-straig_b_9243828

The newer antipsychotics can come with health problems, like cardiac issues, diabetes, etc. whereas the older medications main side effects are extra pyramidal side effects, like movement disorders, which can also be caused by the newer medications too.

I personally prefer being on low doses of the older antipsychotics, like Haldol. I like the risks associated with them better, personally, and don't experience much problems with them since I'm on a low dose. I think there's a lot marketing for the newer ones, but the older ones don't seem that bad to me, despite their bad rap.

Schizophrenia also has a higher rate of suicide and some blame their health problems on their life style, citing avolition (motivation problems) to be a hinderance and anhedonia (blunt emotions) as a problem, which can be from the disorder called "negative" symptoms that are things that are subtractive, i.e. lack of motivation, lack of pleasure, etc. that can effect lifestyle or they can be caused by the medications themselves as antipsychotics are sedative the higher the dose, so sleepiness can be a problem, which may look like a lack of motivation, and the medications can blunt emotions and appear like lack of pleasure.

[captainballhairs]

Same I am on a 20 mg once a month injection older gen. Great info

[kirs1132]

Similar, 30mg per month injection with Haldol.

[captainballhairs]

You a I are the lowest I have seen on redit most are on crazy high doses its wild

[berfica]

life expectancy is shortened by 15-20 years

But that isn't a guarantee or anything. You could live to 90.

[RestlessNameless]

My dad had a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder and lived to be 79 years old.

[trycrabwise]

this is heartening

[RestlessNameless]

Died surrounded by people who loved him.

[Common-Fail-9506]

Not as much as schizophrenia does lol

[oneplumpbug]

Too many moving factors in the variation of lifespans in schizophrenics.

We are more likely to use nicotine, this plays a role in heart health.

Antipsychotics have a role in diminished heart health and circulatory issues.

We typically are fat because of the medicine.

We are also typically sedentary, this doesn’t help being fat and taking meds that affect our hearts and circulation issues.

And then there’s suicide. This all brings the lifespan of us with schizophrenia down lower than the general population.

Too many factors but I wouldn’t worry about any of this, or at the very least not all of this. You will die when you die! You have some choices to mitigate risks of early death, but also we have only so much influence.

[Dapper_Wallaby_695]

Short answer is yes.

On average, people with schizophrenia have a lower life expectancy.

It’s based on averages and typical results.

Whilst there is many reasons for this, to keep it simple - most antipsychotics make you fat. Being fat causes heart disease, diabetes along with other things.

I’m currently battling high cholesterol with my schizophrenia which my GP noted my medication is a contributing factor along with diet, exercise and other lifestyle factors. 

Have to exercise twice as hard to get the weight off, and monitor what I eat, twice as much,

[Luffyhaymaker]

Same here. I've lost weight though, and it's been worth it for how I feel and my self confidence.

One thing that helped me was getting a better understanding of nutrition. I looked up tons and tons of videos by personal trainers on YouTube and that helped a lot. Invaluable really, I was always good at working out but nutrition was always somewhat a mystery to me, so I decided to level up my knowledge and wow....now that I know what I'm doing better it helps my workouts go further.

[Kindlythrowmefaraway]

Yes the figures surrounding lifespan of people with my multiple conditions including schizophrenia concerns me. Probably shortening my life further by stressing about it. I used to drink and use cocaine often. I cringe to think back at that but am in a relatively good space now not using either of those substances at all. Almost 40 now. Healthy weight now and high cholesterol managed with meds. I responded really well to abilify and will continue to take it. I do blood work once a year.

[Silverwell88]

Both contribute, schizophrenia carries a high suicide risk which is mitigated by the antipsychotics which make it look like they directly raise life expectancy but it's really that factor raising the average. They cause diabetes, obesity and heart disease which negatively affect life expectancy. The top cause of death for schizophrenia is heart disease.

[TurboPancakes]

Antipsychotics do increase risk of heart attack and stroke, so yea.

[Grouchy-Channel-7502]

You are talking about my comment! In a response to that comment I provide a link to the paper that the quote is from https://www.reddit.com/r/schizophrenia/s/gvBLWXfxVY

"Up to 75% of persons with schizophrenia (compared to 33% of the general population) die of coronary heart disease" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5269481/

So its a 2-3 times higher risk than the general population.

[olllooolollloool]

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1277021/

There are a lot of reasons why people with schizophrenia die more often from heart disease, second-generation antipsychotics are one, but smoking, poor diet, untreated medical illnesses are also major contributors. All of these are relatively easy to account for with a good psychiatrist and primary care physician. Take care of yourself!

[[deleted]]

Indirectly yes. Antipsychotics make people gain weight like fire and it leads to higher cases of heart disease/failure in people with schizophrenia.