After an hour reviewing the recent issues with breakthrough psychosis, the extreme anxiety around the requisite blood draws to check white blood cell count, and the real issue of this being the least stable time of year, I heard Tim’s new psychiatrist say the words that I knew were the right decision, but vex me nonetheless: “let’s leave him on the Clozaril, add 100 mg at midday, and postpone any big medication changes until his impending move to an 18 and over facility in May.”

I hate Clozaril. I hate it like I hate war and The Real Housewives. It’s that level of hate. Reading the insert of the side effects and five – yes, you read that right, five – black box warnings of possible side effects, like abnormally low white blood cell count, seizures, inflamed heart, diabetes, and hypotension with respiratory arrest, makes you wonder how bad the psychosis has to be to be willing to risk all that.

Read the rest at The Balanced Mind Foundation.