I struggle to believe I have this illness, does anyone else feel this way?
On one hand I read people’s posts on here and about symptoms and can identify with it all, but on the other hand I can’t shake the belief that I don’t really have sz.
I think it’s partly because my delusions have seemed so real, surely being ill would feel more unusual, but it just doesn’t. I take my meds, but struggle with it every day because I doubt that I really need them. People tell me that they make a lot of difference so I take them to be on the safe side.
I just can’t stop doubting that I have this diagnosis though.
Quite a lot I find myself struggling to believe I have Schizoaffective, then it becomes a thought that I feel like I shouldn’t take meds even though I’ve had breakthrough symptoms.
It’s like, I know I’m on them for a reason but what if I’m faking it all?
I realized my reason for not totally believing my diagnosis, might not be the same as yours, it’s more of thinking I faked my symptoms.
One way to figure out if you have schizophrenia is to reality test your belief.
I was feeling like I had recovered from schizophrenia, but I just returned from a trip to New York that proved to me that I still have symptoms of schizophrenia.
I hope you don’t have schizophrenia, but keep in mind that it’s okay either way.
Thanks kindness. I reasoned to myself that they don’t give out this diagnosis on a whim, but I only recently got it offcially changed from bipolar with psychotic features. I wasn’t forthcoming about all of my symptoms for years.
It’s hard for me to admit it also. I keep saying to myself “I can’t believe I have sz.” It is not part of my delusions either. I think it is just a hard thing to admit.
It is kind of hard to admit and it’s not as socially acceptable as telling people you have depression or anxiety. Even bipolar sounds better than sz. In fact, they asked me if I’d rather keep my official diagnosis as bipolar because of the stigma attached to sz. What’s the point though? Only doctors see the official diagnosis and they don’t care.
I was in a van taking me back to my house (I had returned from a trip to NY) yesterday, and a guy in the van said he was in the navy. I was in the navy, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to say I was discharged due to schizophrenia.
I used to be really creative and artistic before I got ill and meds take it away from me even more. Sorry to hear that both of you have been through similar.
People out there, I’ve had schizophrenia for a long time, and let me tell you, get a grip on your symptoms–the fact that you have mental illness, and do your damndest to take care of yourself, by consistently taking your medicines on time, and have the med times on your phone like clockwork, keep your appointments, learn about your mental illness, if your don’t deal with this problem, it will bite your little butt. Take time to nurture yourself, pace yourself in your tasks, give yourself mercy in a realistic way, and when your medicine gets ineffective,well, that’s where your shrink comes in, get you a med change, and you don’t have to go to a mental hospital to get that done–they can give your directions on how to step yourself down on your old medicine and up on your new medicine, to make the med change effective.
Thanks William. That all sounds very sensible. I do take my meds everyday and don’t think the Government is testing microwave weapons on me any more. So, I guess that’s progress.
Very difficult question. I want to say there is no way to check schizophrenic beliefs. If some hallucinations shared by two or more people than there is a chance. I personally feel my belief only be proved by hallucinations.
