I just got officially diagnosed today, how did it feel for you when you did

I think I didn’t feel too much anxiety about it because first time round I wasn’t medicated and the positive symptoms went away as soon as I got sectioned so I was just like meh.

I felt indifferent because I knew what it was. I’m sure my Mom who was in the room didn’t or my brothers when they heard about it. The voices had been in my head for about a year and had not left, my Uncle had it, and that’s all I knew. I also knew by that time that they didn’t automatically put you in an asylum for it by then because I already was taking some pills from an overnight hospital visit where they simply gave me drugs and put me back home after asking if I had voices in my head. The beginning of the horror of the diagnosis started when I started SSI (almost immediately after the diagnosis) and the Social Security people told me I could have no more than $2,000 in the bank. Also finding out that the meds didn’t end the illness with one dose was an eye opener. I also began to understand things better when the weight gain began on Risperdal and the first bad reaction to haldolperidol. More horrors followed as the years went by.

I’m now 46 I got diagnosed age 18 and I was devastated I remember feeling very depressed

Knowing what is wrong with yourself is the first step to dismissing delusions and realising that you can put these things to one side. A diagnosis helps a lot with insight once you know more about it.

I was angry and fought it. I thought/think my delusions had a clear cause (trauma etc) and a diagnosis of sz meant they were refusing to treat or even acknowledge and look at the underlying problems. They refused to give me therapy or help me with lifestyle.

Also, they made real bad prognoses about the future and stigmatizing treatment which i thought werent helping me.

I thought a sz diagnosis hurt me. I fought it. They changed it to PTSD. And still refused to treat me. :expressionless:

I secretly suspect i might have sz, with trauma as a cause, but im still afraid of that label.

When my second pdoc told me I had schizophrenia, I was wandering in the streets and I thought everyone knew my diagnosis. I was feeling bad

i knew something was very wrong with me but i diidnt know what, i cant remember when i was told but i think it was a relief, i think i was too out of my head to think much about it, but i am quite an accepting guy and i still would rather not take meds but i know that i need them, if i didnt take them i’d hate to think what would have happened.

Hello and welcome to the forum. For me i’ve had a couple of rough years coming to terms with my mental health issues. I have Major Depression as well as Schizophrenia. I used to go through periods of denial where i would stop taking my medication, i’d become unwell again and then end up in hospital. However, i’ve been put on some really good medication and since then i feel so much better. Things have definitely stabilised for me at the moment. So long story short, it took a while for me to ease into the diagnoses, but i feel i finally have.

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Over the summer I wasn’t aware and I too couldn’t put sentences together to speak, but it got better over time. Actually celexa helped.

I didnt believe them from a bar of soap.

I thought I was the true messiah

One time without meds I thought I was Moses

We tend to take things to an extreme. If we didn’t we would probably be normal with all the fuss that’s going on

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I often feel like messiah. I always have grandiose ideas, no matter what meds I take

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The first time when diagnosed with SZ, i was in denial. I thought my symptoms are not severe enough to warrant that diagnosis. But years later it got worst enough, and i have to come to terms with it.

Same, I have mild schizophrenia

When I was diagnosed with sz I cycled between denial, shock and acceptance

when my pdoc changed it to sza I accepted it more readily as it made sense, explained my symptoms better

I was like nah no way I haven’t heard much about mental illness other than some one I was working with started hearing voices and had to quit the job. But it hit me not even a year later. I swore I was possessed hahah. But once the voices started fading I was like yea never mind. Yea hopefully start to feel better as time moves on. For me it was lame and then eventually I realized it’s better I found it early. I just actually found out that both my dads bros were sz as well. It just doesn’t hit my family hard.

I wasn’t aware I was diagnosed. You have good insight @John_Raven

I knew nothing of mental health neither did I want to. I remember when my mom told me I was schizoaffective. I was like what does it even mean. Wished a year later they told me I was sz. At least I had heard of it.

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I was really suprised. The doctor who diagnosed me had told me they were screening me for autism, which I felt fit, and then he was like “You seem to have schizophrenia”.
My first reaction was “But I’m not crazy!” because I didn’t know anything about it.
I was given a course on schizophrenia, and learned a lot, which eased my mind.
I find the more I know about it, the easier it is for me to deal with.
The scary parts come when something is happening and I don’t know why or if it’s normal for people with schizophrenia.

I find the more I acknowledge my symptoms instead of pretending they aren’t there, the easier it is to tolerate them.

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I didn’t believe it for a long time. I thought what I was experiencing was real because I wasn’t yet on the right meds. If you can accept it that means you have insight, which is a good thing.

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