I haven’t posted here on schizophrenia.com in a while, and I figured that I’d post a message here to let all of you know that I may be posting again, even if it’s just a post here and there. A lot of you probably don’t recognize my username, but I used to post on the old forums under another username. I have a psychotic disorder that I think was likely brought on (at least in part) by a medication combination that I took for my chronic fatigue, which I previously thought to be a depressive disorder.
Unlike many of you here, I don’t experience fully-formed voice hallucinations, but I hear sounds that nobody else seems to hear, experience what I call auditory “pseudohallucinations” that seem to come from inside my head, experience what I think are best described as visual illusions or dysperceptions, and also experience ideas of reference (which would include thinking that songs on the radio are about me or are God’s way of trying to send certain messages to me). Fortunately, most of the symptoms that I’ve described are under control with the antipsychotic medication (Abilify) that I take.
Unlike my psychotic disorder, my chronic fatigue seems to be largely resistant to treatment, although I’m taking a supplement right now that seems to be helping for the time being. And that seems to be the story with me a lot. I keep trying dietary supplements in hopes that something will have a lasting impact on my fatigue, my difficulty concentrating, and my excessive sleep, but all of the supplement seem to lose their benefits, and that’s assuming that they produce benefits to begin with.
So, anyway, that’s a little bit about me, for anybody who wants to know who this “shadow2000” person is. I don’t know how much I’ll be posting, but I think it’s likely that you’ll see me use the “like” button quite a bit.
I’m glad you posted on this forum. I used to think the TV was sending me special messages. I hope you find a way to beat that chronic fatigue syndrome. I’m taking abilify too.
Thank you, BarbieBF, Anthony, and Joanne, for posting. I think that I should say that even though I have a fatigue that’s chronic and isn’t relieved by rest, I don’t have enough symptoms for a chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosis. I do experience difficulty concentrating, as well as unrefreshing and excessive sleep, and those are both symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome, but I don’t experience any other CFS symptoms. So, for now, I just say that I’m experiencing chronic fatigue (although not the syndrome). In addition to the many dietary supplements I’ve tried for my fatigue, I’ve also tried medications and some talk therapy, mostly without success. The monoamine oxidase inhibitor Nardil did seem to relieve my symptoms for a while several years ago (and before my psychosis came on), but I had problems getting that medication to work consistently, and now with my psychosis I think the medication would likely have a different effect on me.
But anyway, thank you again to those who responded, and I look forward to participating more here on schizophrenia.com.
well i dont want too make it worse for you, but if you read into
quantum mechanics and the theories about for example the many worlds interpertation.
then it could be plaussible.
first time i had seen ““what the bleep do we know””, was an eyeopener
Thank you for your reply. I was diagnosed with depression before the onset of my psychotic symptoms. Unfortunately, with the exception of Nardil (which was the only treatment that restored my energy for more than a few days at a time), none of the treatments that I tried seemed to put a dent into my symptoms. Now, I tend to get different opinions from different doctors as to what may be the cause of my fatigue, and I tend to agree with the doctor who spent a lot of time listening to me describe my condition (one of the few who’s done that) and concluded that what I had was likely “some kind of fatigue.” I guess I can’t completely rule out the possibility that what I’m experiencing might be negative symptoms, but if they are negative symptoms, they started seven years prior to the onset of my positive symptoms and are only made worse by most antipsychotics.
I tend to think that my fatigue is my body’s reaction to the fact that I spent far too long getting far too little sleep during my years as a college student. It was after that point that I was never the same again, as far as my energy levels were concerned. Whether my treatment professionals want to call it “depression,” “negative symptoms,” or just plain old “chronic fatigue” doesn’t matter to me as much as getting the right treatment matters, but of the treatments that conventional medicine and psychology have to offer, I feel like I’ve exhausted every option that’s worthwhile. If being diagnosed with clinical depression or being told that I’m experiencing negative symptoms would have resulted in me getting successful relief from my symptoms, then maybe I’d be embracing one of those explanations. And that’s not to say that I won’t try new treatments for depression or psychosis, especially if the treatments have something to offer that currently existing treatments don’t and if they treatments don’t seem to carry unreasonably risks. I’ll basically try any treatment that I see as reasonable as far as risks are concerned and that also holds even the smallest amount of promise, whether that treatment is something that’s used for depression, negative symptoms, general fatigue, or something else.
hello shadow. my 17 yr old daughter also has cfs. having read up on it she cut out meat and dairy products from her diet and her symptoms have vastly improved. she is not cured by any means but improved about 50 percent. it’s something u should think about. hope this helps xxx
Thank you for your post. It’s really good to hear that your daughter’s cfs has improved from cutting out meat and dairy products. That’s something that I’ll have to take a look at.
Well, Chordy, it’s been more than 14 years since the onset of my fatigue and about nine years since I last held down a job for any length of time. I’d like to say that one of the first things I’d do if I could find lasting relief for my fatigue would be to return to work. With the cognitive impairment that I started experiencing around the time my psychosis came on (or, to be more precise, at the exact time I took a particular combination of medications), I don’t think I’d have the competency to work as a newspaper reporter like I used to, as I have trouble following the things that people say in conversations. But I should be able to do something.
Other than working, I’d be doing a lot of the same things that I do when I’m responding to supplements (like I am to an extent at the present time): reading, helping out around my parents’ house (mostly with cleaning), and writing. And I would also work to take action and raise awareness about the issues surrounding the formulation change of an antidepressant medication, which I had some success with back in 2006, as far as my fatigue is concerned. I’ve already written some letters about the formulation change issue, but there’s more work that I think that I can do on the issue.
These are some of the first things that come to mind as far as what I’d do with more energy is concerned.
I’ve taken magnesium and didn’t notice any reduction in the severity of my fatigue when I took it, although it did seem to help a bit with the agitation/anger/irritability that I think may have been brought on by taking a particular medication several years back. I do appreciate your suggestion, though, and I also thank you for welcoming me back.
