Hi, Cherie ...

Yes, it is common - for Schizophrenia and for Bipolar. It is an excellent idea for the doctor (or his support staff) to help teach the patient and patient's family that tweaking will always be necessary, and when to call the doctor's office for guidance in the tweaking.

As time goes on, the patient and/or family get more familiar with recognizing signs and symptoms (hopefully), and are able to successfully manage the illness.

Of course, some doctors have never become comfortable with patient-led medication tweaking, but that means that a sudden change will have to go untreated for 1 or more weeks, waiting for an appointment.

While schizophrenic patients are not always optimal for managing their own symtom in intensity, their immediate family and loved ones can be very finely attuned what's going on.

Some bipolars have found tht keeping mood charts to be useful in pairing stressors and mood changes. They can also be helpful in letting the doctor know what's going on between appointments.

Many bipolars find that a medication may work for several years, then stop controlling their symptoms, at least at past dosages. I hope that never happens for me. I don't know if it is more frequent with the anti-psychotics. I have heard that the brain tends/tries to recover it's "own equilibrium" and that this is why certain meds eventually fail.

I was on the same antidepressant for 8 years and did wonderfully, from beginning to end. Only changed because of the mouth dryness that never went away - dental decay enhancer.

I haven't heard any feedback on Lamictal failing eventually or if anti-epileptics lose effectives for controlling seizures. I know my grrandfather took the same medication for decades without needing to change meds.

Theresa