How were you diagnosed with SZ?

I was in university. I felt stress and my grades were affected so I stopped university. I started hearing voices, a baby cry and my mother calling me. I saw many doctors to talk about my symptoms.

My family dr ignored me. I then saw a dr in a clinic, I asked him to refer me to a psychiatrist, he refused and referred me to a psychologist but I never went because they wanted 200$ per session and I didn’t have money; I knew it wouldn’t help. I saw an endocrinologist, I thought I had hyperthyroidism because it can cause schizophrenia-like symptoms. He refused to send me to a psychiatrist. He told me see a psychologist.

Frustrated, my psychosis got worse, I thought I was immortal and Jesus, I ended up trying to kill myself with a bottle of Tylenol to end the symptoms. My parents came home and saw me vomitting the pills. They brought me to the emergency where the dr said I was close to loose my liver. I would have needed a liver transplant if my parents came home late.

I was then sent to a psychiatric hospital where a psychiatrist diagnosed me with SZ and prescribed me Risperdone.

Why is it so hard to diagnose SZ?
Why is it so hard to see a psychiatrist?

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Well, I’ll answer this question specifically, though you are asking something else. It probably depends what country, city, state, county etc. that you live in. I’ve really never had that problem here in Northern California. I see psychiatrists through the clinics I go to near me, depending on where I live at the time and Medicare and Medicaid pay for them… It must be harder to see private shrinks. When I first got sick, the psychiatrist in the hospital came every two weeks and saw each patient for 5 minutes. Yep. (it was free). When I got released to the group home, a counselor gave me a list of all the psychiatrists in the vicinity who took Medicaid. I picked one at random that was close by and I ended up seeing him for the next 7 years. The rest of my psychiatrists after that have been the resident staff doctors at mental health clinics that were near me. And that’s how it still is.

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I was smoking marijuana at age 14,
Caused me to hallucinate, but I wasn’t hearing voices or having delusions at the time,
Smoked for about 9 months and my mind state was becoming otherworldy schizy world.

I smoked k2 and that brought me completely over the edge,
Had a complete psychotic break and started hearing voices, my concepts of reality were delusional,

Was diagnosed right after the psychotic break.

I was absolutely out of my mind for the first two-three years of my illness,
Until I got my grounding back and I’ve been working to recover from this ever since.

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Here in Canada you can’t see a psychiatrist without a referral from a doctor. That’s the issue.
Once the doctor refers you to a psychiayrist, they call you for your apt.

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I think in Canada, since it’s socialized medicine, they need to ration mental health care out to only the most in need people. So you need to be well off your rocker and doing something life-threatening to yourself or others to be declared mentally unfit enough to receive treatment.

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well my story. i was always a bit disorganized and a little paranoid and had some negative symptoms like lack of motivation in regards to school. i knew i fit some of the criteria for being diagnosed sz but thought it was institutional bs. what got me is i quit my jobs and started to travel and hike, i hiked all around often using the highways as a guide, following them to my destinations. i must have got questioned and thrown in jail 5 different times by the cops for doing this. anyways i naturally got less and less co-operative with cops. wouldn’t answer their questions, wouldn’t identify myself. anyways i was hiking home from the greyhound bus stop one time in ohio it was about a 25 mile hike to get home and before i crossed the state line a cop pulled up behind me. i knew immediately i was going to jail so didn’t co-operate. this time it was in a city, cincinnati. and when i was in jail they asked me a lot questions and made me see i dont know what psychologists, social workers etc. anyways i was in jail a month and next thing i know they call into my cell and inform me they are transferring me to a behavioral hospital where i would be diagnosed schizophrenic by the doctor and given meds. i wasn’t hallucinating at the time, so didn’t really put much into it, i had hallucinated a couple times before but it wasn’t persistent and went away and didn’t cause me any trouble. and that is how i was diagnosed sz. now im sza which is more accurate, im way prone to mania and at times depression. i would say my moods unmedicated are 40% normal, 40% manic, and 20% depressed. i think i was 26 when i was diagnosed. i went off my meds at 27 and started hallucinating like mad for 3 or 4 years. but have been med compliant for the last 4 years and just get calmer night time voices now.

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Its sad that you were jailed a month for doing nothing. They should have sent you to the hospital right away. I have dealt with 4 cops who came to my house to calm me. My parents called 911 because I was violent. I was scared that they tase me so I accepted to go with them to see a psychiatrist.

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due process is slower in a city because they have more cases. this happened to me in little rural counties on other occasions and i only had to sit and wait to be released for a week or two. it is what it is. its not viewed favorably to hike or hitch hike here even if it’s not illegal. i have stopped that behavior now as i don’t like run ins with police.

in virgina a similiar thing happened and i was taken directly to hospital.

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I was in a drug program in 1972. I conversed with someone about their talking about me. He gave me an ink plot test and sent me to hospital. I have also been given written tests that proved their point. lol

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I ended up in the hospital after voices were telling me to kill myself in numerous ways. I also thought I was a prophet with superpowers. I had states where I was catatonic and nothing people told me was registering. I had visual and auditory hallucinations but the auditory hallucinations were more prevalent. I stopped taking care of myself too. I’d go days without a shower or brushing my teeth (I know gross). I also stopped talking to my support system cause I was so out of touch with reality. I was so paranoid at work that I even hid under my desk a lot cause I thought someone was going to shoot me.

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Same, I thought I was Jesus and that if I kill myself I will go to heaven. Once 4 cops came to my house and took me to the hospital because I was violent with my parents and was paranoid. I was jealous of my family because they are normal. I can’t work because I have negative and cognitive symptoms. Meds are only good for positive symptoms. Negative symptoms are like depression but antidepressant don’t work for them.

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I had my first semi hallucinations when I was around 14 when I felt the walls of the room moving. I hadn’t ever taken drugs. It just happened and happened again a few times. I went on to graduate from high school and then university and then went on to a career, marriage and a family. When I was in my 40s I became increasingly paranoid and delusional but had no insight. By the time I was in my middle 40s my emotions were all screwed up and I was having marriage problems due to my behaviour. By my late forties I was fired from my job and the stress of that sent me over the brink into a heavily delusional and hallucinatory state but with no insight. I started drinking heavily. About 2 or 3 bottles of red wine a night but no drugs. I thought I had to keep everything a secret or the bad people would come and torture and kill my family and me. This went on for 10 years with terrible delusions, severe paranoia and fear and powerful totally real hallucinations, again with no insight. One night as I lay sober in bed in my apartment I thought there were bad people upstairs playing bowling with the frozen heads and body parts of the team that had been sent to save me and my family. I panicked and ran outside my apartment into the hallway in my pajamas and saw blood smeared all over the halls, the mail boxes and apartment door. There was a massive amount of blood everywhere. I ran out of the apartment to a Tim Hortons donut shop and pleaded with the person behind the counter to call the cops. About 5 minutes later the RCMP showed up and they took my cell phone and handcuffed me and put me in the back seat of the police car. They asked me a few questions and called my ex wife. The officer then said he thought I needed help and that he was taking me to the nearby mental hospital and he asked if that was ok. I said ok. I was admitted and interviewed and treated with medication to which I luckily responded well. A few weeks later I was taken to my apartment to see if I could handle it. It was very scary but I said I was ok and so they released me a few days later. I was assigned a psychiatrist who put me on Olanzapine and explained to me that I had late onset paranoid schizophrenia. Over the next two years the hallucinations and delusions washed away because I was taking the prescribed medication (and getting enough sleep and not drinking). I was left with a strong set of negative symptoms and some cognitive symptoms. I have been putting my life back together now for the past 10 years. A big part of my recovery has been psychological and it has been made possible by the unconditional love shared with a wonderful lady that has become my wife. As for my overall recovery it is a work in progress. I find this site very helpful.

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First I diagnosed myself because it was beyond obvious. But when it didn’t go away after several months, I dropped out of school, lost 2 jobs, and had severe insomnia I confessed to having it and let the doctors diagnose it.

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Has anyone noticed the trend now, more intellgent and bright young hopfulls are being affected by Voice Hearing & other mental health issuse more so than 25 years ago ?

This was rare in 1995.

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I have also dealt with RCMP and 4 cops. When I stopped my meds, I was writing nonsense about politics on Facebook and RCMP agents came to my house questioning me if I what I wrote was true. They thought I was a terrorist. My brother told them I was off meds and they left me alone. Another time when I stopped my meds, I was violent with my parents and they called 911, 4 cops came to our house to calm me and brought me to see an emergency psychiatrist. I accepted because they would have tased me and brought me involuntarly.

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Yea, I have a major university degree in physiotherapy that I finished with high grades though my grades were lower after I was diagnosed. I am now 29 y.o. and was diagnosed at age 21.

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The RCMP treated me well. The officer that picked me up didn’t know me and cuffed me for his own protection which I understand. I met him many years later by chance and thanked him for saving my life.

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Thank you, Aziz for giving an honest testimony in to your harassment.

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This year in a familiar reunion with docter

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I was having very noxious olfactory (smell) hallucinations. So, a pdoc diagnosed me with sza because I was very suicidal.

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