Do you think I’ll get better? I’ve had four psychotic episodes since the age of 26. I don’t have any positive symptoms but I find it hard to motivate myself to do basic things like wash and clean my clothes. Do you think I’ll get better? I think I have negative symtoms.
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If the psychiatrists made you stop taking antipsychotics, your negatives should improve somewhat. They’re pretty sedating otherwise.
Yeah I’m reducing then should be off them in 5 months 
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Do you have negative symptoms?
I have battled psychosis since as long as I can remember and I am now 23 years old. I am doing better now than I ever was…if I can get better from having lifelong psychosis you can improve too. I’m not saying you’ll be completely cured, but you can DEFINITELY improve your situation with the right meds, therapy and self work and care.
do you find it hard to motivate yourself to do stuff or have you ever?
Yeah absolutely I struggled with it for years. Certain meds took it away. Geodon did, and now I’m on modafinil and it takes it away. However I am a bit of an odd case so I’m not sure modafinil would help everyone. I hear vraylar is supposed to be good for cognitive things too.
Where do you get modanfil from? Is Geodon and vraylar anti psychotics?
Yeah geodon and vraylar are APs. Modafinil is only prescribed to people with sleep disorders, which I also happen to be diagnosed with. (Narcolepsy) As a result of that, I am not sure if my anhedonia/amotivation was due to my sleep disorder, depression, sza or a combination of all of them. Hence me being an “odd case”. However I did seriously struggle with those things and had no idea they even could be fixed until it sort of just happened unexpectedly with the meds I was on. Could happen for you too. Don’t lose hope!!
Did youfind it hard to motivate yourself to shower and cook?
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Yes when I was at my worst I could not feed myself (cooking, ate fast food like every meal so I gained a lot of weight), sometimes skipped showering for days, couldn’t get dressed and would go out in pajamas, skipped brushing my teeth for actual months which cost me $5000 bucks dental wise, the whole deal.
Now I don’t have issues with anything trivial. I’ve even been making my own meals lately.
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That’s pretty much where I’m at.
do YOU THINK IT’S THE meds helping you or you just got better?
The meds. I didn’t have access to my modafinil for nearly 2 weeks because of some mix up at the pharmacy or something and I relapsed and it was awful. God I am grateful for this med. I don’t know how I did anything before it really. I think the mood stabilizer I’m on helps too, with the depression based part of it.
I’ve quit meds a lot and my symptoms always come back. I don’t quit meds anymore.
I have mild negatives, but I have no problems brushing or bathing. I bathe every other day, because I have problems with my sweat glands where I don’t sweat much.
It gets better with time you just have to stay patient. It took about 2 or 3 months for me to come back down to reality and after that it was complete hell because my mind went haywire but I hung in there and slowly but surely my mind began to stabilize. Once that happened I got hit with depression and sleep issues. I had very low motivation but the fact I had to be at a job made me get up everyday. I was also having problems with showering regularly and motivation but I just kept going. I hung in there and with medication the depression is in control and I’m maintaining my hygiene as well.
While all this was happening I started working a job and kept myself busy and distracted and I’ve been stable for almost a year now but the key is that I stayed active and kept myself busy. Now I’m working on resolving my sleep issues. With time I slowly started becoming interested in the things I used to enjoy and my motivation to do things returned.
I was also going to the gym 3 days out of the week and it seemed to help with the depression a little bit but again I tried to keep myself busy and active. I know it’s easier said than done but I believe having a little bit of responsibility helped me get through the tough times.
I’ve cut down a lot of hours from my job, my mind has stabilized even more, the depression seems to be getting less and less each day and my energy seems to be returning as well but I know it will take a little bit more time before I start to normalize.
I thought I’d share this with you so you have some hope because with time and me staying active towards my recovery it’s getting better. Now don’t get me wrong even though I’ve made a lot of progress I still have sleep, cognitive and memory issues but I’m working towards resolving them as well.
Good luck and hang in there!!! I wish you all the best!!!
Yes it will get better
Recovery is always possible, but it’s not something that “just happens” for most, it’s something you build, and you may have to devote a lifetime to it. I was DXed around age 24. I’m turning 50 in November. I’m still working towards recovery every day. If you’re willing to put in the effort then you will certainly reap some rewards.
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Oh I feel bad this is exactly what I go through, laundry is so hard and I wear the same clothes a lot. I also have a lot of positive symptoms though, so just be glad you don’t have those. When I have my hallucination free days I try to focus on that.
I enrolled in a vocational program through the county and successfully got bused out to a place where I’d pick a job (I picked cooking) so I’d end up chopping vegetables and cooking meat with others for like 30 people. Half the day was me working and the other half was group session and lunch/snack. It was available 5 days a week but I only ever managed 2 in a week.
It was so helpful! It made me feel like I was working. I had been paralyzed for a long time but I was so proud of myself for that. I really had to have it structured by other people though… we recently moved out of the county so that service is no longer available 
I’m back at home a lot now.
So even though It’s hard, it proved to me that I can still do it, if someone structures it and I force myself to get on the bus. Don’t give up on hope. I’ve read plenty of stories of functioning schizophrenics who had hit rock bottom in their life before, and still ended up with fulfilling lives.
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My nurse told me the anti depressant will work. (What the hell is going on with the keyboard on this site?)