Are you at where you thought you would be with recovering from SZ? I am reaching a more recovered state of being then I ever have emotionally and mentally. I was in better physical shape in the past while having SZ symptoms and taking medication. I don’t really know what is helping exactly. My change in medication or all the advice and examples I have seen on this forum. Or entering my mid 50’s in age. What were your expectations when you got diagnosed towards overcoming or recovering what ever you lost from SZ symptoms. Honestly when I was first diagnosed I thought I would make a complete recovery. But life is situational for me. I am finding myself in a very good situation at the moment.
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I thought I’d just go back to my pre-hospitalisation level of functioning. That hasn’t happened.
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No, but that’s because I was initially told I would not experience recovery. I am not where I was before I got sick, but I am doing so much better than anyone said I would.
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I wasn’t thinking anything at all when I was first diagnosed. My mom fought the pdoc’s tooth and nail and kept drilling it into my head it was only teen depression. I thought at 18 I was all better, dropped my meds but I was wrong. I didn’t acknowledge my illness until I got rediagnosed again at 27. Since then, I feel I have improved so much but I attribute that to both accepting my illness and how long I have managed my symptoms.
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I had no concept of it
Till I joined here and realised that a significant chunk of my struggles was Olanzapine side effects
After I got stable and diagnosed I parted ways with the MH team
Did not speak to them for two years and the only reason was my GP was scared of adjusting the meds and probably did want to deal with it
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The problem I always have with every new doctor is the assumption they make that I want them to alleviate all of my positive symptoms through higher AP doses. That is not possible without turning me into an unemployable, drooling, lump. I like having a job and fun hobbies and an enjoyable life. I can deal with the positive symptoms as long as I have enough APs to help me hang onto my insight.
What I cannot deal with is returning to poverty, having to live on crappy food – when I can afford it – and not having the interesting hobbies and lifestyle I enjoy now.
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Same here, Ive never been the same since my psychotic break 30 years ago. A shell of what I once was.
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I like seeing your posts with your hobbies
Gives everything meaning to do those kinds of things
And I agree on this new doctor syndrome
The one I have now has only met me once. Last week his advice was to go back on diazepam
Took me nearly a year to get rid of that
No way I am touching benzos or Pregabalin again
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Unfortunately I had zero insight into my illness for decades after my initial diagnosis
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When I got diagnosed I didn’t believe it. I thought that everything I experienced was real so I never thought about recovery but about trying to escape abuse.
Lately I’m realizing that even if the abuse part was /is partially correct or not I am definitely psychotic. This is something pretty new so I guess I’m still a little optimistic about regaining my old self. I fantasize about being well In My 40s
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A doctor told my parents when i first got sick that I’d be dead or institutionalized by the time i was 21…well, at 50 I’m at least living independently, i do advocacy work, and i manage my own money. I’m not doing well at the moment but I’m still kicking and will persevere!
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It wasn’t something I thought about. By the time I was 24-25 I had the chronic schizophrenia label attached to me… At best was reckoned to be group home material and at worst suitable for transfer to a long stay ward. I’d given up on myself about as much as everyone else had given up on me. First person to treat me as though I wasn’t a hopeless case was my future wife.
Things hadn’t been helped by my having my unrealistically rose tinted image of pdocs and other mental health professionals shattered within a week of my 1st admission. I needed help and support but couldn’t trust those who were supposed to provide it, due to a pivotal event that cemented my poor relationship with mental health professionals for over 4 decades.
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I love doctors… “I need to remove all discomfort.”
“What if discomfort is good for me?”
I went to the left down the fun bit, everyone else went to the right. Heaven forbid they fall into cold water while having fun and wind up uncomfortable.
What is the point of being alive if you don’t live? That means feeling All The Things.
The video is from October 14th, 2024.
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At first didn’t know if I would recover at all. I showed no improvement for the first 2 1/2 years. If anything I got worse. When I got out of the hospital in 1982 after an 8 month stay I moved into a nice group home and I started to improve, though very slowly. I assumed I would just keep getting better until schizophrenia was gone and I was back to normal like before I got sick.
I remember I was living in Palo Alto and I was walking down the street one day and it hit me like a ton of bricks and I realized that I wasn’t going to get back to normal and that I would have this disease for the rest of my life. It was a sobering thought but I took it in stride and didn’t obsess about it or dwell on it I just kept living my life.
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I thought I had ADD and I was being misdiagnosed as Bipolar. Therefore, I never expected a ride as rough as it turned out to be.
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When im not having breakthrough symptoms im functioning better than before. Problem i regularly have delusions of control and breakthrough symptoms lol. Its being nicer to me since i added a small dose of zyprexa ontop of uzedy. Curious to check out cobenfy. What i really want is a watch that protects the balance of my neurotransmitters i think thats the future.
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I thought that psychosis was something you had for a while and that it would go away. That didn’t happen.
Then I thought that meds would cure me. That didn’t happen either.
I was a mess. There was nothing left of me. All I had was voices and disturbing images entering my mind. I couldn’t even keep my head up because of the negs.
I’m much better now but it’s still a struggle.
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That is a beautiful place to paddle board. I remember some things you said like so many could give life more throttle instead of hitting the brakes. And to embrace things like my fear. I am learning what to be discomforted with. If I am going to be discomforted regardless I might as well do the things I wanted to do in life.
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I hadn’t heard of schizophrenia before, or at least didn’t know what it was. I was miserable. I guess I have improved since then.
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When I was in the psychatry first I thought my live is over and that psychosis last till the end
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