Life now is a piece of cake compared to when I first got sick. I didn’t do all the crazy things you guys did but my case was severe in the beginning and when I was 19-20 I was in my first group home and two weeks after I got kicked out of there I got put in a long term hospital for 8 months.
When I got out of the hospital I moved into another group home and I slowly became what they used to say a lot in the 80’s; I became stable. My twenties were hard but I did some fun stuff, then got addicted to crack when I was 25 and smoked it for the next 4 years. My last year as a practicing addict I had a bad mental health relapse; in 1988 I was hospitalized several times again. In 1990 I kicked my drug habit and got a couple jobs and had about 7 good years of being really productive and being really social.
I’ve been kind of cruising since then; maybe gone downhill in the social arena by isolating and rejecting anyone who wanted to be friends.
But hell, I got up early today and cooked a nice breakfast, went to the pharmacy and picked up a couple medications and drove through Jack-in-the-Box. I’m going to do my homework and hopefully go out again later. Life is a 100% easier then when I was 20 though the physical health problems aren’t nice.
I am 31 years old this year. I’ve had probably 2 notable times where I was doing particularly bad mental health wise (definitely more times but can think of them). 19-22 and more recently at age 29. I had been diagnosed SA at the age of 19. Looking back I had noticeable symptoms before that and those symptoms where amplified with amphetamine abuse.
Thankfully after my most recent hospitalization 5 months ago. Things have been a lot better relationships are real and positive. I’ve also moved into a house by myself that my parents own. I’ve also started going back to the gym and trying to be more active. I’d say as an adult this has probably been the best time of my life so far.
The giant gap of time between ages 22 and 29 was full of drinking 750ml of vodka everyday, if not more. I’m sure there were some times of chaos in there.
Amphetamines and Benzos are terrible substances to get addicted to and the detox is hell.
sometimes I get pissed I’ve recovered because in a manic state i always felt like I was in GOD MODE. However I do know that is quite far from the truth.
I was wary of people for many years but then decided to research how sociopaths ply their trade so that I can pick up the signs of sociopathy very early after meeting someone new. I also decided to let potential friends know fairly early on that I know a lot about the topic of sociopaths and that I can spot them a mile away. If they’re not an honest person then they run away pretty quickly and make an exit after I tell them that. I watched all the documentaries and read all the books by the researchers.
Im 43 yrs left school at 14, left home at 16 yrs after spending 3 months in the nut house or psych ward. Went to college to just catch up a bit on all the schoolwork id missed. Moved town as i was always paranoid and ill but undiagnosed.
Met now hubby, he didn’t want no kids , he had serious gambling problem. I worked all of my twentys but struggled with voices, paranoia never fitting in anywhere and never keeping hold of jobs for very long but i had hubby and i loved him. Finally diagnosed sz at 32 yrs, spent my 30s in and out of hospitals. Now things have calmed down i struggle with symptoms still but im more settled, i do what i can manage