New generation of drugs help schizophrenia patients

BY BILL BRADLEY

Being afflicted with the crippling mental health disease, schizophrenia, is a tough road for the estimated one percent of Canadians, 300,000 that face life with it on a daily basis.

But there is hope for those who can rise above it, said magazine publisher Bill MacPhee of Fort Erie.

He spoke at the Howard Johnson Hotel Tuesday night. The event was hosted by the Schizophrenia Society of Ontario, Sudbury Chapter and co-sponsored by the Canadian Mental Health Association and Jansson-Ortho Pharmaceutical company.

"I was diagnosed with schizophrenia when I was 24 years old," said MacPhee.

Within a year he had lost his house, his job and his friends, he said.

"The medication I was on, Haldol, turned me into a zombie. I was very slow moving, had delusions and hallucinations."

Every person experiences different reactions to the drugs used to treat the disease.

"In the past, the drugs available to patients were very severe with lots of side-effects. After my doctor realized the Haldol was not working for me specifically, he put me on Loxvinen. That reduced my hallucinations and paranoia, but made me depressed as I suddenly realized what I had lost in my life."

For five years, MacPhee lived as  a "couch potato," living on a disability allowance.

Finally he was  inspired by the quote, "If things don't change, they stay the same."  He also recalled his Grade 7 teacher telling the students that if they didn't work hard for things in life, they would never amount to anything.

A community volunteer Martha Mason encouraged MacPhee to take a course at the local college. He choose photography, but was not very motivated in his studies. He did stick it out for a year.

During that time, he realized the life he lived was not normal. He decided to get a job. He tried delivering pizza, starting a lawn service company, construction work, but none panned out, he said.

Then one day at the library he came across the book, 101 Ways to Start a Business. In it he read that one should start a business in a field where one had personal experience. Schizophrenia was his personal experience. He decided to start a magazine, Schizophrenia Digest for people like him, their family and friends.

His father backed him up for a $60,000 loan by mortgaging his house.

"I started in my dad's basement and had only one ad in my first edition in 1994. I did have a 15,000 copy production run thanks to the loan," said MacPhee.

Fast forward to 2007.  MacPhee works full time and has four employees, including his wife.

The United States edition of the glossy magazine, now filled for ads, has a 50,000 production run and another 25,000 copies are distributed in Canada.

"The magazine is marketed to those with schizophrenia, for caregivers, family, friends, mental health professionals including doctors and psychiatrists, as well as staff and volunteers with mental health agencies and  community support organizations," said MacPhee.

In 2008, MacPhee will publish a new magazine, Anchor: Conquering Depression, based on the mental illness of depression.

"If you go to www.schizophreniadigest.ca you will be able to get a free edition once it is on-line," he said.

A lot of the content is dedicated to the medical drugs now available which make life more bearable to sufferers of schizophrenia and  depression, said MacPhee.

"I now am on Fluanxol, injected every four weeks, along with some orally taken pills to reduce side-effects. I find this really works for me. For three days after an injection, I am drowsy, but then that passes and I have the energy I need to lead a satisfying life."

Even newer drugs like Consta by Janssen-Ortho are also making life easier for schizophrenia patients, he said.

"These new drugs are cleaner with fewer side-effects, keeping people much more active than 20 years ago."

In Greater Sudbury the Canadian Mental Health Association offers a wide variety of programs including housing for people afflicted with schizophrenia, said Patty MacDonald, manager of operations for CMHA.

The  50-member local Schizophrenia Society has regular meetings to  educate the public and help family and caregivers cope with loved ones who suffer from the disease. The group meets every second Thursday of the month at the Sudbury Regional Hospital.