I’ve been on a rollercoaster with medications. I think for me they can give strength of mind. I was off them completely for seven months when I knew something was not right. Now I’m on 20 mg of Zyprexa. I feel better, but at the same time I know that a lot of our mental health comes from how we deal with our mental illness. I found out that we seem to be able to carry mental health with us by our mind set, and how we deal with our mental illness. Does anyone have any ideas on this. It’s nice to meet you all by the way.
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Welcome Freelee1.
I am lucky enough to have been able to work for most of my 35 years with paranoid schizophrenia. I find that when I am at whatever job I have at the time that my illness takes a back seat to what’s going on. I am concentrating so much on doing my job, fast and good, that I am not thinking of my illness so much. I am just doing by best to do a good job. My next trick is working for 5 more years and than retiring. And at the same time, taking the remaining 3 classes at college to get my AA degree.
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It took me about a year to get a good med combination going. I’m on 40 mg a day of abilify so that I don’t hear voices, and then two other antidepressants, one that helps me with sleeping, mirtazapine, and one that helps me to not overeat, bupropion. My meds give me the opportunity to have a second chance at college. I’m not very strong. I feel so weak. I just feel stress or fear pretty much all of the time. I’m afraid of becoming either homeless and/or a pariah, so I study. I already dropped out of one university, have been studying at a community college, and just sent out applications to other four year state universities nearby, after changing my major. Since developing schizophrenia I’ve been struggling with self loathing, and pretty much my whole life I’ve struggled with depression. I’ve been diagnosed with depression and anxiety too. My mind is just a mess. every time when I go to bed I struggle with just emotionally feeling all this weight sweep over me from the depression. I try to study about four hours a day or so for school, if I can even manage that. I have so many mental issues that even just getting through christmas break is hard, forget the days when I’m in school or going to work. I work part time for my dad. I struggle with feeling like a failure. I’m 26 years old and live with my parents still. I got a high school diploma and a driver’s license, but I can barely even drive the car anywhere, because I’m too much of a coward to drive anywhere new by myself even with a gps. I’ve thought about suicide every day for the past four years, and i see a psychologist and psychiatrist for my problems. Every day feels like a struggle. even getting out of bed is a massive effort. i just push past it every day because, like i already said, I’m afraid of either becoming homeless and/or a pariah if I can’t eventually succeed in getting a job that pays enough for me to support myself. I’ve also got a supportive family, supportive doctors, supportive relatives, all of my needs met, and I pray that Jesus will help me through all of this.
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Wow, same here sea00. A lot of what you just said describes myself. I feel fear, and anxiety a lot. I’m 37, and have dealt with this since I was eighteen. Life is really difficult for people with sz. I’m sure this forum we’ll help with making connections with other people. I have not met to many people who really understand what we fight with this illness. One thing I find is that now,and in the latter 6 Years is that there is light at the end of the tunnel after each psychotic break. The fear is the thing that is the most difficult for me. I can not stand being afraid all the time. I know Jesus has a plan for us. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment
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If you have any tips, or use any mental tricks to get so much done with this illness we have let me know when you have the time. Thanks for the welcome, and the comment
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I am ambivalent towards APs. ADs are cool. Ativan was cool.
I don’t feel like meds made me stronger. I feel they made my life less hellish so I didn’t have to be so strong all the time.
I was holding it together fine unmedicated until the hallucinations slammed me in the face. Now I’m kind of a scared baby, afraid of what my eyes will show me or what I’ll hear. Meds have yet to help, but I’m still getting them upped until we find the spot where they stop the hallucinations. At first, my Zoloft was really helping me with being anxious until the hallucinations. Now I feel like nothing is working and I’m a nervous wreck all over again. 
So not so strong right now.
If your psychiatrist is persistent they will find that drug that works for you. When I came off Olazapine after being on it for two years, it took a good six months to find a drug that works.
Hopefully I’ll find one that works for me soon! I’d hate for this to get in the way of finishing grad school.
If it helps, I was full blown psychotic when I finished my last year at University. It’s possible and you will get there. They have so many drugs. I ended up stabilising on Latuda, and that has done well for about 18 months now. I think the dose needs upping now but need to tread carefully as I do not want taking off it.
With finding the right meds, you need to read up on them and make sure you consent properly to them.
My doctor was willing to try the newer ones on me. Abilify didn’t work but Latuda did. I appreciate you may be in the US, so not quite sure how this sort of thing works out there.
Wish you all the best though with your studies and getting on the road to being stable as speedily as possible.
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That does help to know it’s possible to wade through life even with this! I’ll definitely be reading up on the medications before any new ones are suggested, especially since my insurance only covers a limited selection.
I think it’s a bit of a lottery. Some drugs may help a lot with minimal side effects, others will be horrible and you will have to come off them.
It’s entirely down to your own body.
Good luck!
your welcome 
My first tip is to keep taking your medication. It’s the best, proven way to treat schizophrenia. A lot of people with schizophrenia take their medication when they are doing bad but as soon as they start feeling good or at least they feel a little better, then they think they don’t need it anymore. They aren’t aware enough or they don’t put two and two together to realize that they only feel better because of the medication. And once they stop taking it, then they are setting themselves up for a relapse, whether it comes in a month, six months, or a year.
And I’ve seen many, many people do this. And a relapse can erase all the progress you’ve made in your life and it sets people back and it could take months or a year to get back on track to how they were doing before they went off of it.
One of my best pieces of advice is to NOT TAKE DRUGS’. I’m not yelling, I’m emphasizing a point. Schizophrenics are more susceptible to abusing drugs and drug addiction and alcoholism than the general population of non-schizophrenics. It’s a sad cold fact. I’ve been there. I was addicted to crack from 1986-1990. It ruined me and I almost lost everything I had going on in life. I got clean in 1990 in AA.
The members of AA will often say to people who are considering doing drugs or drinking, "Hey, I did the research for you. I was out there, the lifestyle of the addict or alcoholic is not pretty and often fatal.
Drugs or drinking can start off innocently with a little drinking on weekends or a couple of hits of crack once a month out of curiosity. But I will tell you as a guy who grew up in a great family, an extremely affluent city, who went to church and did yard work for family friends after school got out, far from crack or heroin. I got hooked on crack. I’m the last person who you would think who would become an addict! But none-the-less, when I was 27 years old I was out there risking my life to get drugs, risking my freedom and my health almost on a daily basis.
I don’t know if you actually do drugs, maybe my point is moot. But just read what I just wrote about drugs carefully and think about it.
Anyways, yeah, I took my medication as prescribed always. I’ve seen therapists and psychiatrist steadily during my 36 years with this disease. When my parents or mental health professionals made suggestions about what would be good for me i listened and went along with the program. I went to the hospitals when needed to, I attended group therapy hating every minute but it sure has heck helped me and I’m glad I did it.
I attended the vocational programs despite being really mentally ill and they ended up preparing me for jobs. I went to family therapy when they asked me to. I lived in the group homes, not causing too much trouble.
To get better, you are probably going to have to do things you really don’t like or that you have no control or power over. You may hate it and resent it but it will help you down through the coming years. Recovery does not happen over night. It can take months or years. As you live your life you may have to be in programs and you may not see any improvement but just keep plugging away and doing the right things and you will give yourself a fair shot at being successful.
Mental health workers aren’t out to bug you though it may seem like it. They are on our side and they love to help people and see them, make progress. Don’t fight them. Don’t take everything they say as gospel or don’t blindly take all their advice but they want to see you do good, for your sake and their sake. That’s enough from me. Except for tnis…
A positive attitude will get you places you haven’t dreamed of. And even as schizophrenics we have control of our attitude in many ways. Good luck.
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That is really helpful nick77. Thanks