Confused about what to do

ok so i guess if you have read my other posts you know my situation but i’m going to mention it here anyway on this post. I am turning 18 and I am going to college and living on campus next year. Basically throughout this year I have discovered signs about myself that aren’t normal. It’s hard to exactly put my 1st long post and cram it in this post cause its pretty long lol, but basically i’ve been seeing multiple things that aren’t normal such as hallucinations, constant delusions (i can’t trust no one, even my parents, because i feel everyone is out to get me and ruin my future. constantly i feel like this), sometimes disorganized thinking, insomnia, and odd smells that i have no idea why they exist in the first place. i came to the conclusion earlier in the year that it might be after all schizophrenia. problem is my parents don’t really support mental help and would never accept for me to get it because it’s not something they have in their culture. which i understand from their pov being raised in a culture that doesn’t agree to mental illnesses the outcome would be that way. thing is I don’t know what to exactly do. my symptoms come really strong at some parts of a month and then fade a bit at the other parts. now idk if that is schizophrenia or not or if I am schizophrenic overall, but I just want to go to someone who deals with these issues in order to make sure. i have no idea whether or not I should try to work this summer, get some cash, and go to my college mental health services to request to be reffered to a therapist. im worried the college will tell my parents and they will find out. or if there is some type of insurance i could get without my parents knowing that could potentially cover some of the costs. or if i should go to a psychologist at all. i just need some help deciding.
thanks.
(sorry for placing this in the diagnosed section btw)

You should talk to your parents and tell them you are having hallucinations. Do you do drugs? If you do you should probably stop. Overall I’d suggest you get a good grasp on your symptoms and be ready to tell a doctor everything, from when it started to the current day. If you’re not on drugs there is no reason why your parents shouldn’t be understanding. Mental illness is a fact of life. Maybe its time they learn that. If your symptoms are mild perhaps an antipsychotic will return you to normal. All I know is your pretty young still and its best you do all you can to not make things worse. Start researching schizophrenia. Read all you can. It doesn’t have to be technical most of schizophrenia is more on the qualitative side of things. Best of luck, and welcome to the boards.

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If your (almost) 18 and you know your parents don’t support mental health issues, it’s time to act like an adult and take care of yourself as you see fit.
Parents may love you, but they aren’t always in the position to do what is best for you. If you can go to college, you can start to learn to take care of yourself, physically and mentally.
Don’t wait to see if others will take care of you, it’s time to take care of yourself.

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I would try to go to your college mental health services. once you are 18, you will be able to say who that information goes to. Dont wait until this blows up however. If possible, let your parents in on this after you get it checked out--they could be your biggest support. Please Dont wait on this one…Good luck to you*

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You are an adult now and have a right to privacy. Looking back to when I was 18, I’m 32 now, I wish I got the help I needed sooner. If you are covered by your parents health insurance call your primary care doctor and ask for a referral NOW. Call around and make an appointment, it may take weeks or months to get in to see someone. When you do call make sure to explain that you think you might be psychotic not just depressed so that way you get in to see them sooner. When school starts in the fall take advantage of the health services offered by the campus and get counseling through them. When I finally did get help later in college (for depression, I never told anyone I was hallucinating) I saw a grad student for counseling he was the best therapist I’ve ever had and I was referred out to a private psychiatrist for meds because the campus clinic didn’t do that stuff. After I graduated and didn’t have insurance anymore I continued going to the clinic for a while on a sliding-scale fee based on my income. Also, be honest with whomever you talk to, be it therapist or psychiatrist, your symptoms. I hid my symptoms for years, never getting help until I went off the deep end. If you feel comfortable telling your parents about this then go ahead and do so, but if not you have every right not to. As an adult you have a right to privacy even if they are footing the bill for your medical expenses. With my first couple of hospitalizations I kept my parents out of it. I didn’t tell them where I was or what was going on. Looking back this was a mistake. Now they’ve become an integral part of my support system when I let them because I can’t do this alone.

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Get help…when I was 18 it crept up like how you are describing then went full blast and I was 99% psychotic at 18 1/2. Like @Skims said, you are an adult now, ■■■■ your parents. If saving up money from a summer job for therapy and a psychiatrist is what you think you should do, do it.

I on the other hand and supported by and live with my parents, the opposite of how yours dont believe in mental illnesses. Mine are happy that I have a full ride to college and pay for my food, gas, powerlifting team membership and even supplements, carb and protein powders and preworkout powder.

I am like you, I graduated high school and went to college unmedicated and undiagnosed. I was finally given a formal 4 day evaluation when I was 19 1/2 and guess what, paranoid schizer on the loose. I was a raging alcoholic by that time, I put whiskey in my coffee every morning and drank everything in sight at night.

Get help before this illness ruins your life. You are in what is called the prodromal phase, it hasnt really hit you full force yet. It is going to. You are male and 18 years old, most male schizophrenics get their onset into the active phase any day now…

I am psych major in the honors department at my school. I write about schizophrenia and give presentations on it a few times a year. I also research it thoroughly on my own. Im in remission and on meds and am “incredibly highly functioning” according to my doctors, I make straight A’s and am a competitive athlete. I used to be a halfass drunk. I will be 21 in a week, if you have any questions I will do my best, private message me with whatever, I wont be shocked at anything you say and will understand, I was exactly like you at one point.

Do be warned, I think you almost certainly have it and are in the prodromal phase. Get on meds as soon as possible. When the active phase sets in, you will wish you had never been born and wont be able to hide it from anyone. I know that sounds bitter but I cant lie to you, this is serious ■■■■, this illness is hell. I say the moment you get a paycheck, spend it on a psychiatrist visit and your following paychecks on meds and hide it from your parents or just tell them (I would tell them, I have an aggressive demeanor).

Im rooting for you. You sound on top of things and have your head on straight. It might start falling off any day now, like I said, so be careful. If you call the police and complain about hearing voices and thinking crazy ■■■■, they will send Crisis Intervention Team officers who know plenty about mental illnesses and will send you to a mental hospital and treat you kindly, as long as you dont change your mind and try to fight them. Your parents can eat a d1ck, im sorry but I had to say that, people who dont believe in mental illnesses are ■■■■■■■ stupid.

ok then i guess i need to find some way to get help. btw i want to add that i do not take drugs or drink alcohol. but overall i know it might get worse and stuff, i’m just worried that even though my parents don’t find out that either they end up do finding out or that if the college finds out and i’m not eligible for future scholarships or jobs or something. does anyone know whether your college can somewhat do that? i just have doubts like these all the time. it’s hard for me to trust whether or not everything will go well but i just want to know if your college can do that. also…does anyone know of any official online tests for schizophrenia that if i took it i can show the results to the psychiatrist in the future so that they could understand my symptoms and whether it is sz or not. i apologize for the bombard of questions but opening 10,000 threads for 10,000 questions will only spam this site.
thanks.

I’m not sure exactly how to read the results and this is a long 500 questionnaire. I’m sure other’s could help with interpretation.

yeah i know of the MMPI-2 , and i have been trying to take this test for a long time but as you can see all sites that have this test have either removed it or caused the site to crash in error. :frowning:

Take note, nobody here can diagnose you. Only a doctor cab do that. Speaking of doctor, you should really get one. If you don’t have insurance, it will be very expensive. Usually they can’t tell you what’s wrong with only a single examination. Though you might be able to get them to prescribe you some antipsychotics. Ultimately that seems to be the goto treatment for most(all?) doctors.

If, as Mortimer is right about you being in the prodrome, getting help asap will probably help your overall outcome. The earlier you catch it, the better.

Also, the mmpi is down on every site because it should only ever be given by a professional. I don’t even know if it’s legal to have up, it’s probably copyright. If you take it online, it could really mess with the accuracy of the results too.

It’s better to go through a doctor it therapist instead of self diagnosing because they can ‘see’ the symptoms in a different way than you can. It helps to have someone who can objectify your situation. It rules out any obsession you may have with it.

Good luck, I hope things work out for you.

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