Any 35+ years old men have “success” stories?

I’m almost 24 and fell ill at 17. Was at home until recently when I moved out on my own. I’m getting disability soon probably. I feel my social anxiety is going to prevent me from having a job and dating anyone. Is there anyone that that sounded like you 10-20-30-40 years ago?

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When I was 19 I thought I would never have sex or a girlfriend. I ended up having both. But not a lot of sex and I’ve only had two real girlfriends. And one fake one. I liked the fake one best. I’m 59 years old.

Uh, I was really ill at age 19. I never thought about working or going to school because I was really incapacitated by this disease. I saw no light at the end of the tunnel, I was often suicidal and would have just given up without my family’s help and especially my dad.

At age 22 I got out of the hospital and just by a fluke I became employed 9 months later. I never planned on becoming employed but I was in a vocational program and the counselors saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself and with help from them and taking series of small steps I got my first job after getting I’ll.

Stayed there four years and now I’m looking back on being employed almost steadily since age 23. I had a lot of help plus being in the right place at the right time.

Yeah, I’ve never had a lot going for me but I work, drive my car, take college classes and live pretty independently. None of this looked possible when I was in my twenty’s.

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im 33, have had a gf for 5 years now. Getting back to working. Things are going decent. Finding the right work is a bit tricky. I dont have social anxiety though Im pretty good with people.

You will improve you just gotta keep trying. Never quit never give up and youll make it.

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My future is disability the rest of my life and the negative symptoms are getting worse every day that passes if you dont have these then expect better things

I am sorry sz hit you so young…I didn’t get sz until I was 35 but I don’t know which is worse…getting sz early or late onset like me…everything I worked for was thrown down the toilet. I was suicidal…after two attempts over the course of two years I found a new med and I was saved…been getting better ever since…now I lost all my weight I gained on risperdal and zyprexa and doing well with my life long gf…you can excel, but you have to keep the drive and hope going…without hope you are lost…find hope, find life…easy as that even though it is not an easy task…I feel for you man…

Hi @Nomad I’ll share my story of ‘moderate’ success since being dz as a person with sz. I’m 42, was dz at age 23. In the 20 years, I’d say I’ve been employed about 2/3 of the time. Helpful was having a degree and not experiencing + symptoms. I participated in a wonderful fellowship called Jump Start when I was about 30, it gave me confidence and I was able to meet other like-minded peers.

I had a few really good paying jobs early on after graduating. As time progressed, I sought the right job and not the right now job. I recently got back on disability after four years working in marketing/ sales.

Social anxiety is a tough one but gets better with age. I’ve had two gfs, each lasting about a year. Again, it’s important to find the right one and not necessarily the first one who comes your way. But beggars can’t be choosers, sz is not a particularly a trait in demand!

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Plan your life around what you think you can accomplish, it ‘could’ work out ?

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I’m 41, and I’ve had some success. I’ve had schizoaffective disorder since I was 15, which made everything difficult, right up to completely buckling under the stress of med school at 23 years old. When I had to leave med school and come back home to live with my dad, I thought my life was over, and I feared I would never amount to anything.

Since then, I’ve been able to work some okay jobs, got a graduate degree, held a teaching job for 10 years, had gf’s, briefly had a wife, lived on my own most of the time since then. There was a nearly 11 year period (2008-2019) that I had my own apartment.

Things can get better. I think the more experience you get with the illness, the easier it gets to be, especially after finding a good med combo.

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