So sorry to hear about this. :(

When I was in the hospital a year ago I got overdosed with 5x the amount that I now use (and still have bad side effects from!). But in my case it was gradually over the course of 2 months.

But it literally took me 7 months to gradually get better from the overdose because these drugs linger within the body for a long time.

I had to fight really hard and change psychiatrists to get on a much lower and better dosage. I still don't have psychosis and I'm on the lowest effective dose.

Also, my psychiatrist is offering me the choice to get injected every 8 weeks instead of every 6 weeks. And before that it was every 4 weeks, and before that was every 3 weeks.

I don't know what to tell you except to keep monitoring him and have maybe an alternative psychiatrist check in with him.

There's chances that he will develop anhedonia and/or some hormonal problems from the overdose.

What specific medication was it?

Hi, thank you for your reply I ended up ringing hospital and speaking to his key worker.... Who was very apologetic and who said that although it was a mistake that it wasn't quite as bad as it sounded at first- as (although it is bad that it happened!) he was given the wrong drug also! But it was lucky really, as if he had been given 600 of the usual one he has injected (ciprolex?) it would have been far worse for him.
They are going to visit him daily to check blood pressure / general well being, and up til now, he is not feeling any ill effects from it

Anhedonia? I've not heard of this before, could you tell me what this is exactly?

Anhedonia, in terms of antipsychotic medication, is when you all feelings of pleasure are fully or partially chemically blocked. So the result is that the person literally cannot experience any pleasure from anything or it's greatly reduced.

Anhedonia can be experienced under different circumstances by meth addicts (caused by the meth), or by people with clinical depression (caused by the depression).

In schizophrenic people, it can be experienced without being caused by depression nor meth use. It's caused by the antipsychotic medications in those cases. According to the research that I read, it's caused by antipsychotic medication being at too high of a dose.

However in my personal experiences, I get partial anhedonia from normal doses of certain antipsychotic medications. This is one of the reasons why it's hard to be medically compliant. I ALWAYS feel better off of the medication, every time. And I've been off and on medication several times and it's always the same result.

I had nearly total anhedonia from Geodon in the past and after a while I started feeling suicidal because if you can't enjoy anything at all, nothing feels good and there's no point to living, there's no satisfaction from ANYTHING.

Luckily, I changed medications after several failed attempts by my psychiatrist to prescribe various antidepressants. About a month after I was off of Geodon, the anhedonia was gone and I felt emotionally OK again.

Each person is unique. Not everyone has the same reactions to medications.

Also the side effects can be delayed because it takes time for the medication to build up to certain levels in the body. And of course each medication works in a slightly different way than the others.

If your brother experiences issues later on, he might want to go to an endocrinologist to work in tandem with the psychiatrist. Antipsychotic medications are known to affect the pituitary gland adversely. The pituitary gland is the master gland of all other glands and hormones in the body.

In my opinion, psychiatrists aren't very tuned into all the full range of side effects of the medications they prescribe and how they manifest.

And the thing to realise is that the doctors make money no matter whether or not the patient feels good or bad. The doctors just go home at the end of their workday and it's over for them. But for us patients, we have to live with side effects and other problems every moment of every day. We can't find relief at the end of the day.

This is another reason why it's hard to be medically compliant and why people like me feel some resentment towards most psychiatrists.

My therapist and other mental health workers tend to be more understanding because they see me more than just 15 minutes every 2-3 months.

Stay vigilant and good luck.

Thank you so very much for your informative reply It really is most appreciated!
I've not been back on here til today, lots (& nothing!) been going on here
My brother is still showing no adverse effects-thank goodness, although his general well being is still poor, but on the plus side, I've had more contact with his care worker and a meds review is meant to be coming up.... I'm invited along as long as my brother allows..... He is very good at saying all is well when he sees consultant and doesn't always tell them how incapacitated his condition makes him... So I just hope he will let me join them, but have a feeling he won't... ( he thinks I interfere too much, as, for example-when I try and tell him things like "anti depressants have to be taken continuously and not "as and when", he just doesn't get it And I do try so very hard to help without fussing too much!! I only have his interests at heart, and just want to help him as best I can, but he thinks what he "hears" and thinks is always "right" ( maybe just a man thing tho!! Jokes
Anyway thanks again for your help, I hope you are feeling well