How has your illness severity changed over the years?

DX'd - Other
21

When I was younger I had a lot more energy so the positives were in ascent. Now that I’m older, the negative symptoms and a bunch of cognitive stuff affect me more. Yes, I still get delusions and paranoia at times but those can be reduced with meds, negatives cannot. It’s frustrating.

That, and prejudice against Schizophrenics.

I’ve heard it say that sz gets better with time. In my experience with living 10+ with this illness, I can say this is false. You learn to manage it differently than you did at first, and that change is because you do not take as many risks knowing how serious sz is, but it doesn’t get any ‘easier’. Look at schizophrenics who are in their 60s and you get the impression they are burnt out by their struggle with SZ. Life has passed them by.

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22

I’ve had symptoms since early teens, now I’m almost 50. Never medicated. The noise level has gone down and I’m not as isolated as I was when young. It used to be like there were two televisions and three radios on all the time, and now I’d say there’s just one radio on all the time and sometimes two… Aggressiveness of voices is more manageable now. I don’t feel like a victim anymore. Visual hallucinations are the same but I manage them better just over time.
I would say that through years of experience and therapy I handle things better as I get older. I’m pretty rarely frantic now as compared to when I was younger. Everything seems more subdued…

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