How old were you?

DX'd - Sz/SzA
1

How old were you when you first had positive symptoms? Do you think things get better or worse with age

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2

I was in fourth grade the first time I hallucinated a person talking to me,

The voices go back a little further.

My symptoms peaked around 20-22 years old,

Then got better.

Now I’m 33 and things are slowly getting worse,

But medication is helping,

In the way that it can, you know.

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3

I just wanted to know what the rest of the ride will look like. My meds help, though like you said in the way they do.

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4

I was 16 yrs old .
Now I’m 45 and still plugging away at it .

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5

Everyone’s experience is different,

And a lot of years I wasn’t med compliant and to some degree,

Still am not.

So,

Its possible to have a much better outcome than I have.

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6

I was 13 when I had my first psychotic episode, still remember the exact day I experienced things for the first time

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7

I was 32. I had a drug-induced psychotic break. Now I have cognitive and negative symptoms.

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i had a brief period of symptoms when i was 13/14? it was mostly just hallucinations with some mild paranoia. they stopped, then when i was 16 they started coming back but with more full on delusional thinking

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Doctor said it could have been as early as 13 when I got diagnosed at 21.

I blame drugs.

10

I hallucinated when I was a little kid. I thought a big eye lived under my bed and I used to see it when I looked under the bed.

I hallucinated some demonic voices at about 20 but my girlfriend said she heard them too so I didn’t give it much thought to be honest.

I got delusional at 38 and didn’t figure out I had hallucinations until I was nearly 42 after stopping my meds. Even then I thought someone had slipped me a mickey or some LSD or something.

I didn’t figure out I was sick until I was about 44.

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11

I don’t know what positive and negative symptoms are.

12

Looking back on it I had mild positive symptoms as a child, voices, delusions. I’ve slowly gotten worse, but I’m on meds so that helps tremendously.

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13

Positive symptoms are delusions and hallucinations.

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14

I was about 8 years old when I first started hallucinating for sure. It got worse with meds when I was 11 and was pretty bad after that. Didn’t get diagnosed with a psychotic disorder until I was 17/18.

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15

I must have been 5 years old when I first experienced hallucinations and delusions, including paranoia.
It got worse as time went by.

16

21 years old. One day. I had a strange experience.

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I started hallucinating when I was around 11 years old, but I don’t remember how old I was when I had my first delusion.

If I remember correctly, my first delusion was I believed I had cancer. I was younger than 11, I know that much.

I started getting more intense and paranoid delusions around 11 years old whenever I started getting hallucinations.

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18

I was 3 years old, my first memories were of hallucinating vividly, auditory and visual. My mom says I talked about seeing stuff even before then…

I’m 23 now. I don’t think the illness itself got any better (though weirdly my hallucinations changed a lot), I just think I got better at learning how to cope with it. Like I eventually gained insight when I was a lot older, began to educate myself on psychosis, figured out therapy and meds and different things that helped my symptoms.

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19

I don’t remember my childhood well enough but I definitely can pick out some delusions as young as early elementary school.

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20

I was 12! I thought something was wrong with the house.