Ask a guy with schizophrenia anything

Ask a guy with schizophrenia anything.
Also, are there more out there with schizophrenia/pshychosis? What are your experiences?

Shameless self-bump

I'm 25, family history of schizo/bipolar. I am capable of being schizo. My mind has touched madness a few times, especially after doing drugs (even easy stuff like too big of a bong rip). So I pretty much don't do drugs anymore. When it comes on it lasts for a month or so of panic attacks, anxiety, and actually being able to 'hear' myself think. Believe it or not I am conquering it though. Almost lost my job (I make good money) and was causing a lot of problems in my life, started happening after my first big trip when I was about 23. I still have some episodes but I have trained my brain to know that it isnt real. I havent seen a therapist since I was about 9. I personally believe you can overcome psychosis but you need help, education on the subject, and the will to master your mind and live a life of desire (as opposed to being enslaved by insanity).

do you ever hear voices telling you to kill?
pretty sure im not schizophrenic but i heard other voice in my head time to time, but im sure its the dick wad in me wanting to break oout.

OP here. Sounds like you worked really hard to get everything together. I'm glad it is turning out well for you (I assume). I'm currently trying really hard to recover from the psychotic episodes I had in the past, but it is just to hard for me to do it on my own. I have had therapy since two years now, and I'm slowly recovering. As for drugs, I sometimes use some weed but it is not directly related to my psychosis/schizophrenia.

I never hear voices telling me to kill others. I do however hear a voice that is telling me to kill myself. I hate him a lot. Also, schizoprhenia comes in different forms. I, for instance, hear voices in my head. Others might have extreme paranoia for example. As for the voice you hear, if it is uncontrollable you might want to have that checked out. Could be some obsessive thoughts.

I don't have schizophrenia, but my dad did. Is it really true that drugs (or even alcohol) can trigger a dormant condition? I've never done drugs before (gotten drunk once though), but I don't want to risk it.

As well as it can go I guess. You know how fragile the mind really is if you have the same problem. Sometimes it feels like even the wrong train of thought could bring you over to madness and you might never return. The more I feel confident in my sanity the easier it is for me to 'self induce' panic or psychosis.. that alone is really horrifying. Having someone to talk to really helps (my girlfriend is sort of my therapist in a weird way). I think the key is just figuring out that you can be mentally wholesome again and working towards it. Hope things work out for ya, m8. I bet they will

Not OP, not condoning alcohol either because its also terrible for you. But sometimes drinking helps me calm down when i'm mentally unstable. It makes everything seem like it's just an instinct and I don't have to think. Quiets my brain down if that makes any sense...

from time to time it comes out, when im pissed usually, telling me to hurt others and showing me gory visions of who ever is infront of me. although i realize that its my inner psych trying to express my feelings by painting them around me. So i would never act upon the impulse, and i just push it down with little effort. think i should seek help?

yeh, im basically unafected though. The voices doesnt get to me and I realize a delusion a second after ive had it. Its inhibiting af though. Im really mentally slow.

I'm schizoid/psychotic. I hear voices alot, most of them babbling, people standing around me.
I started doing drugs when i was young.
Makes me feel better.

My schizophrenia has never been triggered by alcohol. I also never have had bad experiences with drugs. However, most psychiatrists warn you to do drugs as they influence the dopamine levels in your brains. It might be dangerous for some people who suffer from psychosis. I, however, have no connection between drugs/alcohol and psychosis/schizophrenia.

It is great that you have a girlfriend who can help you. And yes, the mind is really fragile when you're feeling better. It might be because you're afraid to fall into the same pattern again. I sometimes feel that I NEED to hear the voices in my head to feel better afterwards, which terrifies me a lot. And thanks, keep up the good work.

borderline here with a schitzo gf. i really need her to relax. She needs everything planned and timed but I just can't do that all the time because I was raised without set plans or schedules, other than food, work or school. advice with calming schitzos down would be helpful.

its not really true its a myth. its all relative, id say drugs help me to tame my schizophrenia.

SWED.

try meditating

I think what happens is that people are harshly restraining themselves to maintain a mental state closer to that of normal people.
The drugs make them feel guilty and that will cause a violent backlash of their mental instabilities.

realistically just try slapping her. youll disrupt all the thought intrusions and obsessions. then try drugs. meditation is the most powerful tool for fighting any mental problem, teach her void meditating. dont ignore this advice

Op here, I understand what you mean. I also have compulsive thoughts and gory visions. As long as you can contain them and can distinguish them from the real world it should be fine. When the thoughts become so extreme that you experience tics or sudden movements that might endanger yourself and others you might want to seek help. But talking to others about it might help you understand and contain it some more.

Its nice that the voices do not get to you. I have had some moments I had to hit myself in the head to get them out. Hurting myself is never good, but sometimes the voices in my head make me feel like it is the best thing in the world. Never let it come this far.

Hey OP, from your perspective, is there any advantages/positives at all for yourself from 'having schizophrenia'? Like are you more creative, or do you think in alternative ways sometimes that are helpful?

Just curious, so much MH stuff seems to paint a 'normal' person and a 'sick' person.

comunicate alot more. be distracting.

seek more in depth professional help.

is it true you can tickle yourself?

I don't have schizphrenia but I do have schizotypal. What's cool about being schizotypal is that I can actually provide a unique perspective of help to schizophrenics to help with socializing and stuff like that. Read my story about my grandmother and i'll give you an example of how I can help you.

I had convinced myself that my grandmother didn't like me.I'd go over to see her and I felt like she was being distant towards me. Or I thought that our relationship was getting worse over time because every time she saw me we didn't interact well enough and I worried I kept giving an unfriendly uncaring impression on her that was making our relationship worse because of my social anxiety and social difficulties. I would notice she would socialize better with other people in the family than me and things like that. Etc. I just kept piling on reasons after reasons for why she didn't like me.

Well, this idea that my grandmother didn't like me, as convincing as that felt ended up being a complete and total schizo delusion that wasn't true at all. I saw her this thanksgiving and she told me with the most sincerity i've ever heard out of anyone, "I miss having you over at my house. I would like to see you more sometime" Wasn't saying it just to be polite or anything. It was real.
That was an example of a strong delusional belief that felt completely true being completely debunked as not true.

I have had a ton of experiences like this where my delusions were proven false.


The biggest difference is that if I was schizophrenic instead of schizotypal, if my grandmother said those reassuring words that she missed me, I would STILL believe she didn't like me. Because one big difference between schizophrenics and schizotypals is that I can be convinced that my delusions aren't actually true. But from what i'm told you guys can't be convinced of them. I don't think this is actually true and think if you heard my story maybe you'd learn to question delusions more.

i was raised to never touch a woman in anger, but i can see giving her a little tap on the cheek to get her attention in the middle of a panic attack. however, it doesn't help when she's just stressed, manic, and yet not doing anything productive. she doesn't meditate enough anyway and already medicates, but it's not enough. I need her to start treating herself better but she says that eating unhealthy helps her drown out the voices.

councelors have been profoundly unhelpful for both of us as we're high functioning, high intellegence, and proud of what we have accomplished. we are communicating more but it almost seems like we need turn key systems that help us stay on track.

Op here, I'm a sucker at planning myself so I don't really know how to help you let your gf get more relaxed about it. My ex-gf had depression and also wanted to have everything planned out perfectly. I just cannot deal with it either. The only thing I could advise you to do is that she keeps her own schedule and you keep your own as well. If you want to do things together, try making a planning board om the fridge of some sorts where all the activities will be scheduled and be more clear to see for her as well.
Also when she has an episode, (what helps for me) try to distract her from her mind. Try talking to her about normal stuff, how things went at work/unirversity whatever.

>trips demand an answer.

That's not what i mean. I mean a psychologist that can help you feel out what you need and want THE MOST and the rest can kind of get taken out until she can level out a bit.
You can work out how to talk to her better through this process.
>tldr if she needs that much help she's faking being high functional or rather doesn't know better.
>tldr she needs to stop being told what to do, and to do so, you need help

I don't quite know if I've got schizophrenia or not. I've never seen things that aren't there, and I've never heard voices telling me anything.
I have, however, been hearing... things... for the past few years. Constant tones, meaningless whispers, that kind of thing.
At times it's driven me to the point of insanity and back, and at other times it's been... calming, if that makes sense.
It's always there, and I can't make it go away. But in that same way it feels reliable, like it's always got my back. I must be fucking insane to think such a thing. It's just a noise, right?
Right...?

The devil mocks the weak and helpless.

AIDS happened because a nigger fucked a monkey

OP, when were you diagnosed with Shizophrenia? How have things changed for you since you were?

What's your opinion on having that label, and what's your opinion on the DSM in general?

Here by the way I know that post gave off this idea that I totally know what i'm talking about but I really don't know much about schizophrenia. That post was just operating off of the few things i've been told or stuff i've been reading about from medical websites.

Probably in hindsight a bad idea. If I was wrong about any of those assumptions I made about schizophrenics I apologize.

But yeah if you have that problem I did of assuming things are going bad in a relationship or assuming people are thinking a certain way about you I hope my story helps you to question those assumptions. Because in my case pretty much every time I started overthinking a relationship I turned out to be wrong about what I was assuming. That was an example of a schizo delusion I was dealing with

Hi user. For now, I do not see a lot of positive sides of having schizophrenia. I'm not more creative than others, but I do get help to get my emotions and thoughts under control. This is one thing that helps me a lot. I have the opportunity to 'bend' my emotions towards something I want it to become. For example, when I'm feeling down, I have learned to bend the emotions in such a way that it is not escalating into depression, but into something positive.

I can tickle myself, but it does not feel ticklish.

Thank you for your story, I think it will help me to understand that not all I will assume will be true.

i'm serious. anyone? i read that only certain shizos can tickle themselves.

it'd be easy to distract her if i had anything interesting to tell her. we have a business, a kid, a dog, community events, house repairs, and travel to see family still to plan. this time of year is stressful enough just doing travel like we normally do, but now its extra stressful with all the shit we've added. something is always getting ignored so we can get ahead somewhere else, like our relationship or just trying to unwind.

she has leveled out because she has somewhere to put her energy. before all the stress, she was rearranging the living room every other month. which not only took entire days away from her, it didn't help get other things done like chores. she does fake some of her emotions because she doesn't seem to pity anyone, myself included. when i feel like shit, she doesn't try to make me feel better by giving emotional support. she tells me how shitty things are from her side, how much she lost, how much i still have, then wrap things up with a joke or two.

Ahmetcan Şeref Şehirli

OP here. As long as nothing is getting out of hand you should be fine. The voices I hear can also be calming for me, but that does not mean that they are not dangerous. If you start to become too dependent on them, you might want to have it checked out (you dont want things to escalate).

I have been diagnosed with psychotic disorder in 2014, but my psychiatrist told me that if I had not come to him earlier that he would have diagnosed me with schizophrenia. He did not want me to give the official diagnosis so I would not have the label 'schizophrenia' on me forever. I do take medication against schizophrenia and I hear voices and my psychiatrist told me I do have it, but he doesnt want to label me, which I am glad about because we both see a lot of potential to me to recover from my episodes.

Does anyone have a living being inside thier head? I have a sentient free thinking voice in my head that talks to me 24/7 and causes me intense anxiety which it feeds off of. He's actually pretty chill. I hate it. Ive had one for 15 months now.

>schizotypal
>strong delusional belief
ouch-too_close_to_home.png

i forgot to mention that i work from home now so we basically spent all of our time together, watching the kid until she heads to school in 6 months and rarely get any time apart.

How u got diagnosed op

waifu has 2 axis bipolar and started having tonic seizures. really freaky stuff.

She folded, faded and dropped to the ground at the mall last week. she's a really private person and just the thought of having something like that happen in public is freaking her out.

currently on ativan and seroquel, we're trying to figure out if her ECT therapy last year had anything to precipitate this.

At least we have access to quality medical facilities - Mass General, Yale, Hartford

Diagnosed with psychosis at 17, could hear voices and would have visions that looked real. Some visions were for minutes at a time where it felt like i was doing something and i beleived it happened- 2 examples are when i was working with my uncle i thought i smashed his head in with a hammer and would frequently see myself setting people i hate on fire. I also had a psychotic episode this year that caused me to get hit by a car on the motorway (fucked both my legs up big time)

Judging by your picture, how the fuck does someone who's got schizophrenia not even know what it is?

I had to do several tests (i forgot the names) and had to talk to the psychiatrists quite often about what I was hearing in my head, and how I was hearing it. I got diagnosed with general psychotic disorder in the UMCG (UCP) in the Netherlands.

You might want to spend some time apart as well. As far as I know, a relationship where you do everything together can also be suffocating which might not help your conditions.

I'm the schizotypal poster. If I try to tickle myself I definitely have a little reaction to it like my body convulses in the place where I start tickling. But its not enough to make me laugh or anything

Ah man that sucks. Can your legs recover well enough? As for your diagnosis, it sounds really familiar to me, however the visions are not too vivid to me as they are to you. I have more voices in my head than vivid visions.

Sterkte

Dank je wel

How do you deal with haloperidol's side effects
I just have an urge to walk most of the time and it really pisses me off

>suffocating
no shit. i know this, but i've had a hard time socializing due to my own borderline disorder. my friends circle has basically evaporated, especially after my job became remote-only. non work friends live 20+ minutes away and all my family live in another state. ive taken back to chatting to people on kik in hopes of finding some more friends but its hard to get people off their couch, especially in winter.

I'm not taking Haloperidol so I won't know the effects, but I take Abilify (5.0 mg). Some side effects will disappear after a month or two, but I currently have parkingsonism which will not go away until I stop taking meds. As for the walking, I also have that I cannot sit still for a longer period of time. If it wont go away for you after two months, you might want to talk to you psychiatrist about it.

I'm not who you're trying to talk but I think I can really help you here.

There is a genetic test you can do that tries to match you up with anti-psychotic medication that your body will respond to the best with the least side effects. After I had this test done the anti psychotics that the genetic test found gave me no side effects at all. And we discovered medication I had been using with bad side effects were a bad match for me.

My brother had that side effect you were talking about and he switched his medication to something that didn't give him side effects. Next time you see your psychiatrist bring up the genetic test. All they do is swab the inside of your mouth with a q-tip and they have the results by your next visit. Keep changing your anti psychotic medication with your doctor until you find something that gives you the least amount of side effects and then stick with that one.

If you set your mind to it, it will become easy to figure out. Bring around more appealing, appetizing fresh produce foods and things.. you should cook. Also when I said drugs I meant like recreational drugs - smoking weed, DXM is actually really helpful for schizophrenics.. just keep the dose low, at 180 pounds like 150 mg sets me straight as hell. Never found anything that worked so well. Meditation is a powerful tool, you should work for that. Good luck, I hope you help her. You seem strangely kind to be willing to work through someone with such an ugly condition. I view it as an ugly thing anyway, having it myself.

Thank you
Really

Hey Sup Forumsro, what you describe about "Oh you feel like shit? I feel like an elephant shit!!" is a very precise behavior. There's a guy called Eckart Tolle that describes it like a competition between egos. It's like your gf is so centered on her ego (not her real self, her ego instead) that either competes with othe on good stuf, or she will on awful stuff. Look for this Tolle guy, you'll find a lot of his talks on youtube, a bit slow in talking but funny and *really* helpful.

See that name you're posting under?
>Anonymous

You're talking to yourself again. I'm talking to myself again. Get a grip, me, you, we need help.

Also it may be tricky to locate a cheap source of DXM that is pure and not mixed with tylenol. Thats the only hard part, I'm not telling you to have her drink nyquil. That would be a bad experience for like 25 minutes. Good luck indeed!

Lowering calcium consumption eases the shaking

Ah man, that sucks to hear. I wish I could really help you. Maybe you can still try to get your evaporated friends circle back together? Get them together for christmas? Go to a pub? I don't have borderline so I dont know how hard it is for you to get social activities going. Some advice I could also give you is to get your hands dirty and start doing things you would not easily do. Work in the yard, get out there, even if it is close to home. Even if its winter, there is still enough to do.

I have a single voice who I comune with and it's more of a mutual respect. where it wants to try murder but I try not to think about it while the voice begins planning out senarios, I ignore it but it's always there. I openly talk to myself but I try to keep it down.

I've been asked if I was alright a few times just mumbling about death and stuff,

Also don't have meds and doctor says it's only mild since I told him I don't hear anything

Thank you for the advice, will try.