Well that’s one way I put it. I take meds these days because I’m impossible to live with unmediated. So would I rather be a hermit?
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Yeah I don’t have a full or productive life. I’m currently self employed and have only had shitty retail jobs in the past, I can’t save any money because when my anxiety acts up I go on shopping binges, I hear voices 24/7/365, I’m engaged but he has bipolar disorder and not a romantic bone in his body. I’m off meds and I function, but I don’t lead anything close to a charmed life. I’m miserable and I wish I could take meds, but I physically can’t because the side effects are so debilitating for me.
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I guess for some it weighing up effects on quality of life and functioning when not taking vs side effects caused by the meds when taking.
@darksith has made it very clear he’s heavily reliant on his partner. I suspect having a good support network is crucial if going down the no meds route (something a lot of people with psychosis/sz don’t have ).
Ultimately it’s what’s best for the individual and I agree also that severity of psychosis/sz can influence whether one can manage without meds.
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I apologize, from now on I will say that “I” cannot live without meds. My psychosis (and others here on the forum) is too severe to live without them.
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You’re not wrong @jukebox. Don’t let them get you down.
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I’m not trying to strong arm you or get you down. But you haven’t done your research, and neither has @Malvok, or anyone else on here who would be so narrow minded. I used to be narrow minded as well. I used to believe that taking meds was not only dangerous, but a sign of surrender, and weak. I don’t believe that anymore. But I do believe whole heartedly that many people would rush to take meds after one hour in my head. Most people don’t live like this.
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I’ve lived with sz for 30 years and have personally met dozens of schizophrenics. I have never found one that did not benefit from medication nor one that did not suffer horribly without medication. My personal experience is enough research.
Show me one person living a full and productive life as an untreated schizophrenic, one.
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Yeah, I’m with @Malvok and @jukebox on this one. I too have met a number of schizophrenics (+100 give or take), and I’ve seen the whole spectrum of mild disturbance to severe, chronic impairment. ALL of them were appropriately medicated, and showed significant improvement. There is one exception, but it hasn’t been mentioned yet: those folks who are so far gone they will never breathe free air again. Those poor folks are medicated to the gills to protect themselves and others as much as possible, nevermind trying to reduce severe positive symptoms. There is a world out there that few people have seen…and it ain’t pretty. Talk about a moving experience; try to grasp the reality of those so severely ill they will never set foot outside an institution. I spent 4 years in one, and they do exist, no matter how much we’d like to think the old state hospitals no longer exist. Those are the folks getting 800 mg Haldol Decanoate every 3 weeks.
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Yeah it’s sad thinking of those of us who will never really improve nor ever see the world outside a ward. When I get upset about my illness I think of those who have it much worse than I do and it helps me cope.
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I’ve also lived over 30 years with hallucinations (auditory, visual and tactile), delusions, suicidal ideation, depression, severe anxiety…I have paranoia (which is one reason I don’t take meds), apathy, and other negative symptoms. This is not a contest. I just can’t have people who do not know, tell me that I must not have sz, or it must not be so bad for me. It’s ••••••• bad for me, and I’ve made that trade.
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The truth…you speak it.
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No, it’s not, but when you tell me I don’t know about sz I just let you know you’re full of ■■■■.
I also lived a lot of years seeing demons and being helped by angels and I have to tell you that my life improved imensely with meds. In all levels of it. I don’t think @jukebox or @Malvok means you can’t live without them, you obviously can, but that our lives improve on meds.
When I think about you, to be honest, I think how can you deal with so many times almost commiting suicide because a demon told you so. And hurting yourself. I’ve been through that and by coming out of it I can say I’m glad meds came into my life. Not another second of that torture.
It’s healthier for me to decide not to live with that.
It’s also my opinion that people that choose to live without meds often cling to their delusions, I remember and know, because I still live it, the way we can cling to a delusion as if it is true. I prefer to live without that, and so does all the people that take meds for that. We fight a lot, and that strenght must be recognized also.
It’s not certain that someday you’ll lose it and actually hurt yourself or somebody. It hasn’t happened but it can happen, that’s why we get hospitalized so many times.
At the same time, I admire those that decide to live without meds and are able to live without them. Not because “it’s cool” but because it takes a lot of strenght to deal with hallucinations and delusions and not believing in them as they happen.
My 2 cents…
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Yes.
Of course someone can live without meds but it’ll be a pretty wretched existence. Medications help improve our lives and I feel that everyone, given the right med or combination of meds, will benefit.
Will everyone live a full and productive life with meds? No, but they’ll live better off than without.
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I was off meds for 2 years, and barely coped. Then I ended up in hospital due to psychosis. Those pills are called anti PSYCHOTIC for a reason.
I’m just wondering when was the last time @Hedgehog had a psychotic break with reality where they became a danger to themselves or others.
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@Hedgehog Do you experience distress/impaired functioning or are a danger to yourself or others? For me these are red flags for treatment, usually meds. If not then I would say you don’t need psychiatric involvement, be it meds or otherwise.
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I’d rather not be on med’s too, but experience has taught me that doesn’t work for me.
Butteredtoast does’nt like to be sedated.
Same from me to you
Come on @hedgehog, still waiting for you to provide one example of someone living a full and productive life as an unmedicated schizophrenic. Just one.