Hi-
I have had a form of mild schizophrenia for years. Sometimes it goes away, which is great, and I feel pretty good. I have found meditation and spirituality can help me, as well as vitamins. But what works for you guys? Have you found any way to really cure yourself of this thing? I know it is possible-plenty of people have got over this. If you are one then please tell me how. Thanks, Will
I don’t really think there is a flat out “cure”… but I do consider myself in remission. Sort of like cancer… the cells are in there, but they aren’t acting up right now. If all goes well, they won’t act up for a while. My SZ brain is still in there. I can’t get rid of my brain. So I have to learn how to work with it.
I have been more stable and functional with staying med compliant and definitely staying sober and clean. No more street drugs or pot or any of that for me anymore. Just started year six of sobriety and no major drugs.
I keep going to my therapist so I can get a handle on any negative, destructive, or delusional thinking. I go to my support group so I get some new ideas. I come here so I get some new ideas.
I also try and stay as healthy as I can, recognize triggers, keep the stress as low as I can. This past winter I tried more vitamins and a light lamp for S.A.D. I try not to get to freaked out when I glitch. I know I have a funny way of thinking, so I embrace the funny. At least I try to. Some days, I think I am hilarious. 
I also have an ace up my sleeve… I have a very supportive and caring family who has stood by me and learned all they could to help me out the best way they can. Never underestimate the power of a friend on your side. 
There is no cure. I am recovered and I continue to take my meds. No psychosis. It takes trial and error with different doses of different meds to get recovered and not too doped up. There’s a balance thats very hard to find…for some people it is impossible. Some cases are treatment resistant. Im not a good example, Geodon works like magic for me. I just take the pills morning and night and voila, voices and delusions bye bye.
But thats what makes me as close to cured as possible- my meds actually work and dont completely sedate me. I require caffeine to function (seriously, you should see me wake up and make coffee LOL).
Religion and spirituality helped me a lot too, and it helped me overcome the illness. So, stick with religion and spirituality, youre on the right path.
yes i cured myself , then i woke up from the pleasant dream !?!
take care
I too consider myself in remission instead of cure just like surprisedj,but I took 5 years to get the right treatment,and I still had residual symptoms but I am content with my current state…it might not work in the future…(touch wood)
Divorce improved my situation considerably.
What meds do you take?
I am taking abilify 5mg,it doesn’t work when alone,my doctor added mirtazapine 15mg,the two worked together
My Niece Shayna was terribly sick for about 15 years, then started avoiding processed foods because she realized she felt a lot better. She quit buying anything in a box or anything frozen, she said, and just started cooking fresh foods only, or grains, but not processed and packaged with seasonings. She is now off medications and is no longer hallucinating at all. I’m so happy for her! She’s always been my hero – she’s an artist and does beautiful work, works hard at it, but has had to take the bus everywhere because of the hallucinations. She has walked through the worst scenarios, knowing they were all in her mind, and just gone on and done what she needed to do. She’s so brave. And now she’s free of all that terror because she took a chance and did what made her feel better. It may not work for everyone, but what if it did? Try it while taking your meds and see if you feel better. Lay off the chemicals and food dyes and see what happens. By the way, hers is genetic and runs in our family. My father had it, my daughter has it and it seems her son has it – we have adopted him and he started hallucinating when he was 6. We always cook from scratch so Shayna’s cure didn’t help him, though he’s 7 1/2 now and rarely hallucinates now.
Risperidone works pretty great for me although I deal with some weight issues. I started tracking my diet online about a year ago and realized I was eating way too much sodium which would drive my BP up. I lost about 20 lbs so far and feel much better mentally and physically.
I avoid a lot of sugary and fried foods. I thought gluten was a problem for me, but now I am not so sure.
I would like to next cut down on my caffeine.
I think for me the cure would be to stay occupied, which means less time dwelling and thinking about the schizophrenia. You know?
It’s all about keeping the mind occupied my dad says. And that’s for everybody, but 100x more important for people with schizophrenia. I think if we would work and have jobs and come home tired, we wouldn’t have time to think about our problem. We’d just fall asleep.
Thats very true with your niece, food does make a lot of difference. Since i started adding a lot of raw veggies in my diet i feel much better, and there is possibility that, being on raw food you can function well without med. unfortunately i cant be strictly on raw food, i wont be able to sleep.
Will,
I have read, heard, and seen numerous people that were diagnosed as “schizophrenic” that COMPLETELY recovered and went on to live full lives. Personally, I am on a third of the recommended level of the anti-psychotic drug, and I have no issues. I have been doing self therapy for four years (becase I could not afford a talk therapist), and talk therapy with a psychologist for almost 2 months now and I know I will no longer have to take drugs in the future if I continue to get the help I need.
In the research that I have done over the past 4 years I have found that Psychosis and the other so called symptoms of “schizophrenia” can be caused by a myriad of things. I think it is important to isolate the causes and then work forward from there.
On my blog I list the various ways in which a person can become psychotic causes That list is in no way complete, but meant as a general guide. In addition to that I give a very general list of how psychosis can be resolved on the same blog resolution
We are dealing with a psycho-somatic issue. It is of the mind and the body. Chronic psychosis has a biological presentation (can interfere with perception, cognition, and various faculties of the brain). Psychosis is more like a reaction (akin to a sneeze or cough), but a psychic reaction. Unless the cause (whether it be bio-chemical or psychological in nature) is found, a “cure” or resolution is not possible.
Anyway chronic psychosis can be resolved or “cured” there are just too many instances of such recovery to be ignored.
I think I have gotten better mostly by learning and applying a lot of simple small tricks.
It’s a lot like solving a big complex calculus problem by using a lot of simpler algebraic and arithmetical techniques. A lot of my issues have improved just by tackling the habits of everyday living.
I will never really know what caused my illness. I know what my risk factors were but I think my job now is mostly a matter of patching hardware and software to use the computer analogy.
Managing the inputs is critical though… Control what molecules and information goes in.
schizophrenia. all man is schizophrenic. he is separated from himself. he senses it, and it manifests in different ways. schizophrenia is one of those ways. his unconscious mind recognizes that knowledge (particularly scientific knowledge which looks at smaller and smaller things), divides him from those things. to name the “soul” is to be separate from it. it is magical thinking to equate a thing to a word. so there is no reason to think in the first place. “thoughts” are all deception/failed ideas. the pure of mind has only “thought”; he is absolutely in “the now”, immune to illusion. being immune to words is a power of the mind.
(i explain more about these things at http://theendofthewordblog.wordpress.com/ )
No hope.
My brain is broke
What is your diagnosis?