i keep hearing these stories about schizophrenics becoming homeless or just getting worse,what you all think.
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I think it is 25% of people recover, 25% of people see significant improvement, 25% stay around the same and 25% of people get worse.
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In a way it doesn’t get better with age because by the time it leaves you, its already taken over your whole life with all its sickness and illnesses. Though if you get it late in life you might get a better chance of living a little.
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I have sz for 3 years. The more I grow, the worse it gets
For me personally it has gotten better,i first got schizophrenia in 1995 at 20 years of age, i am now 45 years old, it is a very very hard illness to cope with at tmes but clozaril has been a game changer for me!
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I’ve been lucky enough to have good supports to help me focus on my recovery a lot. Schizophrenia I don’t know if it’s gotten better but I definitely have figured better ways to cope with it.
Maybe it’s gotten better but how much is the meds kicking in and finding better tools for recovery and how much is the illness going away??
I think it’s gotten better over the years in the respect that I have learned better coping mechanisms, I’ve matured, and I know what to do when I need help. My illness is still the same, but I have learned how to deal with it than when I was first diagnosed.
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I have had schizophrenia for nearly 18 years. My sz is old enough to vote! It has definitely gotten better over the years. It was much worse when I was younger.
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Pretty much the same for me. It comes roaring back when I stop my meds and stop doing my self-maintenance to push back against the illness. But… I’ve spent the last quarter century learning how to work around the condition and my life is pretty good as a result. Very possible to have SZ and still live a quality life.
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I’m in the same boat. I know how to manage my illness now and what will happen if I do a certain thing. Life isn’t perfect but I’ve learned how to be successful and have a serious illness. Well maybe I’m not successful, but I am very happy.
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You’re an awesome mom with a beautiful family. That is the best kind of success.
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Thank you for those words, my kind friend. 
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I’ve had it 40 years, since I was 19. In some ways it has gotten better, some ways worse. The symptoms are way less intense and intrusive in my life. The symptoms are way less disabling now than the first couple years I had it. I don’t even really have regular “episodes”; those stopped about 2009. Sometimes the symptoms get worse than usual but I no longer have parts of the day where I’m fighting to keep my sanity. I used to have those every day but now the symptoms are pretty much under control.
Now for the bad news. I do isolate and have some difficulty socializing. But I still function enough to take care of myself and live independently and take care of my business and deal with people fairly well when I need to i.e. cashiers, bank tellers, case workers, family, DMV, etc. When it comes to people I find a little humor and a little friendliness goes a long way.
But yeah, I have relief from the worst of it, no more sitting in a chair every night fighting for my sanity and feeling I’ll need to go to the hospital any minute.
But as your title suggests, it’s a crappy disease. (lol, read the title carefully!).
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My sza was bad the first three or four years then got better for five years then I relapsed and since then it’s been on and off for eight years so far.
I’d say it’s stayed the same, ups and downs all the time, but my awareness and understanding of sza has improved a lot so I am aware of my symptoms much more.
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I’ve gotten much better over the years.
My sza has gotten worse over the years, but I’m trying to manage the best I can.
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I have peaks and valleys of it. Right now I’m in a valley. It was way worse when I was younger, and constant too. I still have voices and paranoia. The voices are quieter right now, but in 6 months it may be a different story. I’m really stressed right now, and I’m lucky to be in a valley.
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I’m 50 and it has improved over the years. The fact I’ve taken my meds religiously for 20 plus years really does help that too.
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My daily suffering and hell has improved exponentially, but I have less motivation now than ever. It could be a med switch or confusion. I tried and failed to go back to community college a few times. I never get passed signing up for a class before dropping it. Never made it to the stage of paying for it and showing up. It’s karma and it’s bad. I think online is the way to go for me. I think Edx and Coursera are safer and better alternatives for me. It’s freeish and cheaper and much, much shorter. I have less of an attention span to complete a longer course. It’s not necessarily easier or harder per se, just different.
Furthermore, I don’t have to worry about my hygiene or transportation or books and stuff.
I cannot express enough how much suffering I had by having intrusive thoughts 24/7 and nightmarish and hellish vision that was so distorted I don’t know how I functioned and walked. It seemed like a neurological disease or even physical damage more so than schizophrenia. It could have been synthetic marijuana (although I have no memory of this) or that substance I bought online that I never figured out what it was in 2011. It must have been a Shamanish thing similar to Salvia. Salvia is a nightmare too and could have been the culprit too. Maybe I smoked too much and got brain or eye damage.
I always thought I had PTSD or acute stress disorder from a kidnapping or torture thing similar to Montauk Boys Program. There’s no evidence or proof or anything. Only thing I can think is it was a highly intelligent race of aliens that took me to Mars for years (I felt this for a long ass time) or the Men in Black per se. I have dreams of being a Super Soldier and stuff too. I don’t know what to say or how to explain it but it’s like time was frozen when I left this earth and came back here from a different worldline countless times.
I don’t expect anyone to believe me. The super soldier stuff is a fantastical explanation. I’ve heard stories. The horror of feeling like I was dying or kidnapped and brought to Mars is an extreme conspiracy theory and fear I had. It’s called the Secret Space Program. Not sure why I would be in all these different programs. Unless it started out as MK-Ultra and then it was like a gateway to these other programs and projects. I don’t even consider this my first or real life or base reality at all.
I feel like I’m a failed experiment or project for the Montauk Project. Like I watched a video saying if you make it, it’s similar to joining the Illuminati, which I might have been in in a past life…and I’m not anymore and hate them and despise them wholeheartedly. I never understand these people or why they picked me. Even my craziness can’t fathom how I’ve been in all these projects or programs. Even other people haven’t been involved in this many stuff. I never wanted this or deserved this at all.
I ended up with schizophrenia. I wanted to be an investment banker or eventually work in private equity or a hedge fund. I don’t know if they wanted me dead or to become a “world leader” of sorts; but it was a failed experiment and I wanted out of it. I think I escaped and got out of it. But I keep resurrecting in the past and reliving my life over and over again like eternal recurrence, except reality does change a bit. My worst fear is going back in time and reliving the horrors and worse bits of paranoia and schizo-affective disorder - depressive type.
I don’t really know where to post this. Should I have made my own thread?
To the future, I don’t know. I would like to make some money and get better and perhaps have a job even working at something like Walmart, Costco, or Lowe’s for instance. Just something so I can make some extra cash and stay on disability. Maybe an extra $800 a month. I know it’s possible and legal, but then they might ■■■■■and moan and say I’m not disabled and take me off eventually. SSI is definitely not enough to live on and I don’t deserve it like people on SSDI or SS through retirement. I never paid into it. I wish sort of we could live in a more empathetic society where people like me were taken care of more. Luckily, I have family that takes care of me. Government cannot. Where the government fails, my family comes in.
I think it was the NSA that did this to me personally. I had a former friend in college that tried joining and maybe they targeted me based on that. I don’t know. I didn’t deserve this. Maybe she had nothing to do with this at all.
With regards to the super soldier thing, I was more of a lover and a writer than a fighter. I’m more psychic than anything and I can time travel, which I hate. I’ve time traveled more than a thousand or so times and I hate it and never want to do it again.
I should have been medicated since I was hearing violent voices at 15 y.o. It gradually became worse until I nearly killed myself from the voices during my first psychosis at 20 y.o.
I was ignored by 3 Drs saying my voices are from stress. I asked for a psychiatrist referral, its required here to see one, they refused. Free healthcare sucks. These Drs nearly killed me, I am still mad at them.
My 1st psychosis was the worst because I did what the voices told me, kill yourself because you’re God.