Do you think drugs caused your illness?

DX'd - Other
1

I’m not 100% sure. I went to a party, I started hearing things from people in different rooms, talking about me. I was smoking weed at the time and had been for about 4-5 years. This, is when I belive my illness truly started to manifest, besides adolescent depression.

The amount of people using cannabis has gone up dramatically the past 20 years, yet schizophrenia has stayed at a flat line, so even tho doctors like to connect schizophrenia to cannabis use to negate the fact that reality itself could be a partial trigger for it, we can pretty much rule out cannabis as a cause/trigger for schizophrenia.

However Im pretty sure more hardcore drugs can increase the likelyhood of schizophrenia being triggered.

Prior to getting ill, I had taken ecstasy 5-6 times. That’s pretty much it for my drug use.

I think it was my environment that caused me to develop schizophrenia.

I’m probably wrong.

You guys?

2

I Know Of A Dude Way After I Was Already Diagnosed During Some Messed Up Scary tymes ,

N e Hoo He Was Into Meth ,

and It Was LYKe He Wanted To Have Tha “symptoms” We All Have ,

That Some Of Us Would Lyke To Escape From ,

Honestly That Is The Onli Drug I Think Could Be A Start Of Some Sort Of Slightly FAKE Schizophrenia ,

Unless We Are Sensitive To Bodily Unwanted Chemicals As We Grow Up Throo Bleach T(Y)me$ ,

Im Not Sure To Be Honest ,

BLARGH!!

3

Mental illness runs in the family… I was crumbling and having a hard time with reality when I was a little kid… long before drugs.

But I did reach for the alcohol at 14 and the drugs at 15. I used to love ecstasy. I used it to chase away the flat disconnect I felt in life. I used it to keep my connection to people.

I drank to quiet the voices. I smoked pot to try and feel happy again. I took amphetamines to keep the motivation up.

Drugs in NO way caused my Sz… but it in no way did me any favors… in fact… I’ve only started recovering and getting my life on track and I’ve been clean and sober for 6 years now.

1 Like
4

I wonder sometimes… When I was 17 I smoked some pot that a friend of mine left behind at a party, and it must have had something in it like angel dust or something. I had a massive headache the next day and couldn’t concentrate or think straight, and for months after that I’d feel funny and space out for a while.

I’ve wondered if I might have injured my brain or something. Some time after that I smoked some fairly strong weed, and I had a bad reaction so I’ve stayed away from drugs since then. This was in my prodrome days, and I didn’t get sick for another 6 or 7 years, but it makes me wonder if this might have contributed.

1 Like
5

I had schizophrenia at age 12. Only briefly dabbled in the stuff for 6 months when I was 18/19.

6

The “diathesis stress model” usually applies. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diathesis–stress_model.

7

I believe several bad trips on acid triggered my schizophrenia when I was 19 but I probably would have become schizophrenic eventually anyways even without the drugs.