I’m not diagnosed with schizophrenia but my OCD revolves around developing it. I do believe I am bipolar after I stopped taking Luvox (which I was just prescribed a couple weeks ago) for hypomania. Right now my heart is pounding, mind is racing, etc. And I’m just so scared I have this mental illnesses. Keep in mind I’m not having delusional thoughts, or hallucinations but my general well-being just feels so disconnected to reality. My OCD likes to play tricks on me of course (I have constant music in my head, intrusive thoughts, mental compulsions) but I also have visual snow where like my vision is grainy and I sometimes see speckles and dots of weird colors. I dont know what is wrong with me but this year has been the hardest year of my life. I dropped out of college, have no job, and just am in constant fear of going crazy and feel like I am… Especially now since I might be bipolar. I don’t know what to do because my erp therapist is very hard to get ahold of and I don’t see her often. My psychiatrist keeps putting me on drugs that don’t work or cause more harm than good and I’m just in such a mess… Can I get some insight, do you guys think I’m developing schizophrenia? I have such a hard time keeping track of my thoughts and constantly forget what I’m thinking now. Along with the music and voices as my intrusive thoughts.
Hi
How should we know?
We can’t even know if someone has it, let alone knowing if someone is developing it which is something that not even professionals can’t say with precision. Work with your doctors and ask them, in this moment you should focus on the disorders you have.
I think part of the problem, and reason you are so stressed out, is you view the possibility of sz as an end. It is not. It is just a change in your life. There are a lot of people on here who may not like being sz but who have gained great insight into themselves as a result of it.
You don’t know what you might have. And if you have sz, your life can still be okay. It can even be a good one. It just takes learning how to manage your expectations.
The thing is my therapist said it’s not Schizophrenia. My worry though is the future. It all comes from this, I have a hard time focusing on the now and especially with what shnptoms of bipolar this medication has brought out.
What does your psychiatrist say?
Pure OCD, intrusive thoughts. I have mental compulsions as well. Apparently it’s a form of OCD called “schizOCD” where you believe you are crazy and actually start to interpret stimuli way closer to dismiss the “hallucinations”. I believe I’m suffering from bipolar type 2, or cyclothymia, since I get super frantic and have “highs” and exetreme “lows”. The problem is this was just recently brought out by the ssri I was prescribed.
What makes you think you have schizophrenia? It sounds to me like this hole topic is you “checking” your obsession.
Interesting lol, I heard of many people with ocd that were obsessed about sz but didn’t know it was even an official type of ocd. 
How many psychiatrists did you visit?
I have visual snow too, but I have no idea what it’s from. Do you happen to know what causes it? I’ve been trying to figure out what caused it for at least a year.
I have music and intrusive voices in my head 24/7 sometimes it’s really loud and throws off my thought process, I also have a hard time thinking clearly sometimes… I don’t know if these are schiz symptoms or not but it sometimes makes me feel disconnected from reality.
I only visit one psychiatrist but I’m looking on NAMI to find more help. It’s gotten to the point where it’s unbearable.
No known cause, scientists think it is neurological though.
Oh, well thanks anyway, and about your original post, in order to be diagnosed schizophrenic I think you have to have either hallucinations or delusions, or both. I think there’s a type of schizophrenia that @far_cry0 has where it’s just negative symptoms, but it’s called something else.
When I was in the hospital and they diagnosed me schizophrenic, they gave me something like a pamphlet with information about schizophrenia, and it said the diagnosis is made when you have at least two of the following symptoms:
Hallucinations
Delusions
Disorganized thinking
Negative symptoms
(Something else I don’t remember)
And at least one of the symptoms has to be either delusions or hallucinations, so I doubt that you have schizophrenia.
Thank you. I’m very happy that you posted this.
To be clear do you actually hear the music and voices or is it a thought?
@redanne the 1 you can’t remember is catatonia and it can be any 1 of the first 3 that you need so if you had disorganized speech you wouldn’t need delusions or hallucinations.
@zeno It isn’t an official sub type but a common theme.
It’s internal, I don’t know if their both thoughts but I constantly have it going on in my head. It’s similar to a radio station because I can change the music whenever I want. The voices are just repeating voices of people talking, I’ve heard from my psychiatrist that these are all OCD related though. People with bipolar disorder and anxiety can have this too apparently.
In stereotypical OCD one might have thoughts like these that they cant control. In stereotypical psychosis one might hear things such as this. If your psychiatrist seams to be good i’d trust their opinion.
Yeah I mean I’ve always had it and it’s always out of control it feels like. So I’d assume it’s just OCD.
Oh, that’s right. I knew I was forgetting something. Thank you.
i notice the dots of wierd colors too every now and then, dont worry about it. i think the anxiety is getting the best of u