Hi Everyone. I am new here. I just found this website whilst looking for the ‘living well with schizophrenia’ you tube channel and patreon page that i use. I am looking for any website that will help me. I have diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2019 ( to my horror). It was a nightmare come true to get that diagnosis with its horrible stigma. I had my first psychotic episode in 2013. My schizophrenia is now in remission ( hoary!). Drugs played there part but most helpful for me was CBT for bipolar and psychosis delivered by my NHS team. I only wish it had been used when i was an inpatient for 5 months on section. I am a doctor but when i was sick i could not recognise that was the case as i did not have text book symptoms of hearing voices ( though do get intrusive thoughts like in OCD) . Instead i got delusional memory . I am a doctor trained as a GP. I have not worked as a doctor since 2019 . When i got out of hospital my cognitive symptoms were severe and i could not understand medical topics that previously made sense to me. I tried to study to prepare to go back to work but trying to do so just made me cry/ depressed/ suicidal. My shrink seemed unbothered by this and i did not get any advice on how to combat negative symptoms. I gave up on trying to go back to work as a doctor and took a job as a nursing assistant on an elderly mental health ward. I have been taking high dose vitamin b and vitamin D. Then i found some articles that fish oil can help so since July i have been taking high strength fish oils. Since then i have found that when i study i can understand again. I don’t know if it is the fish oils or simply time that have improved my cognition. I am already at a disadvantage when it comes to cognition as i have dyslexia with a very poor working memory. I have read that people with a poor working memory are much more likely to develop schizophrenia. When i was sick with psychosis i had symptoms of a mini stroke. I should have phoned an ambulance but i waited til the next day and phoned my GP. She wrote off my symptoms as a migraine and told my psychiatrist i was preoccupied with ideas that i had a stroke. I have now had a brain scan which shows microvascular ischaemic changes . I am really angry and now want to sue my GP. There are probably many reasons i developed schizophrenia like PTSD and family sexual abuse in my teens as well as dyslexia. I am just wondering if anyone can relate. I am thinking of buying more vitamins and supplements to help my schizophrenia after finding this page. Currently i take high strength b vits, high strength fish oils, vitamin D, Magnesium. ZInc ( i have elhers danelos syndrome with a scoliosis and people with this condition have a deficiency in a brain cell protien that should transfer zinc into brain cells. This causes schizophrenia) . I have spoken to my shrink about vitamins and supplements and sent him papers showing their benefit but he just got a bit cross that i sent him so much and was overwhelmed. He did not answer my questions. Hoping people including professionals on here might give good advice/ chat about this. I am anxious about going back to work in case other docs don’t want a schizophrenic as a colleague. Also anxious in case it gets in the papers that a local doc has schizophrenia. Anyone out there who can relate?
Hi @SufferingDocMaggie . Welcome to the forum.
Are you taking an antipsychotic?
Vitamins, minerals etc. don’t really treat schizophrenia but can be useful when used in conjunction with an antipsychotic.
Well done on previously being a GP. I had a career before I was diagnosed at 38 (I’m 52 now) in I.T. but that came to a screeching halt.
Welcome to the forum.
You’ve found the same experience that most schizoaffective and schizophrenic people have - not being taken seriously.
Our concerns are brushed aside by many health professionals and it is frustrating to say the least.
All I can say is to fire your current pdoc (shrink) and GP. Find new ones that are open to learning new information. Even if you have to travel further.
Also,
If you find yourself in need of help, just tag a moderator. Type the @ symbol, then our names
@anon4362788 , @Moonbeam, @rogueone, @Bowens, and @sweetpotatofries
Enjoy your stay with us!
I can’t even begin to tell you how familiar all this is. It is very nearly the exact story of my life. Main difference is that I worked in behavioral health, not medical health. And instead of a stroke, my brain stem herniated, leading to long term damage and slow nerve death.
Hi @everhopeful . Thanks yes don’t worry i am on depixol 50mg. It must have helped my psychosis but it was CBT and fact checking that really gave me insight. Before that i lied and told the shrinks ‘ yes you are right i must be sick’ just to get out of hospital. I didn’t believe it but it was the only way i could see to get free. I had been on section 5 months! It was when i got out of hospital that i realised i was sick because i tried asking my neighbours about a little girl i thought they knew who had been murdered but they knew nothing about it. Then i released I WAS sick and the depression and suicidal ideas crept in as i could not imagine my life would be worth living with the diagnosis of schizophrenia hanging over me. You tubes like the account ‘ living well with schizophrenia’ and the ‘Mental Health Forum’ have helped. As did CBT for bipolar and psychosis. Only found this page today. Regaining some cognitive skills has made me think i can maybe get my life and career back albeit only working part time.
It sounds like you have a good attitude towards the disease, and that’s half the battle.
It’s good to hear you are trying to get back on top of things. But it isn’t easy. I agree that supplements can be part of the solution. The ones you are taking all seem to be relevant for improving mental health. Others I suggest trying at the top of my head are: Lions Mane mushroom, citicholine and Niacin. All of these have the potential to help some people calm down the brain, stopping intrusive thoughts and so forth.
I have had this disease for about 15 years. 5 years ago I decided to study to try to get better, so I studied Natural medicine basics for one year and went on taking the study to become a health shop worker.
I still have the disease but supplements help a lot. I am able to work part time.
I suggest using the search function on this site when you are researching supplements and symptoms. There is a lot of data on this site.
You’ve definitely got the right attitude.
you need antipsychotics not vitamins. Vitamins and other things can help but until you find and impliment those things you need something to support you. If you dont and just keep searching about alternatives over the years youll just fall further into schizophrenia and it will become permanent and worse…
the earlier you take antipsychotics the better. Best of luck.
Schizophrenia is permanent with no cure.
Because of Schizophrenia, I have low working memory. Not the other way around.
Right… I see … yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Cheers and welcome to the community from another working professional with SZ. In my case I’m an insurance broker, not a doctor. Used to be an I.T. professional before that industry burned me out. I was med-compliant for three decades until my psychiatrist gave me an opportunity to go off my APs. I have, but this is with supervision. CBT has enabled me to cope with the ongoing positive symptoms. I do have some colleagues who are aware of my medical issues and it’s not an issue. The bottom line is that I’m able to step up and keep up at work - that’s the part that matters.
Looking forward to chatting with you.
Welcome, this is a very good site and with good knowledgeable people
Hang in there , I’d suggest taking a multivitamin, eating healthy, exercising, and low sugar, then only take aps at night. Each person is different but I have a minimal schizoaffective disorder , and have found that if I overload on medication and take morning meds , I get bogged down, lazy , gain weight, tired before work is over , generally unhappy and psychotic symptoms get worse. Currently I take a one a day mens pro edge in the morning and olanzapine at night .
Hi
I am already on antipsychotics and in remission thanks.
Welcome to the forum! Glad you found us
You’ll find your experiences are very typical unfortunately. But I really like your attitude about. That’ll go a long way to help you.
A few tips on things that confuse newbies:
Cake day is the anniversary date of when you joined.
The 1515 or other numbers at the end of peoples posts are because there’s a 15 character minimum to post. So people put 15s after until they get to the minimum characters to post.
To tag someone, put the @ followed by the name.
I was a professional when I got sick. An aviator. Schizophrenia and medications ended that. I worked with schizophrenia for a while in professional applications. Even once doing pilot stuff and getting paid $400 a day. Of course it wasn’t flying. But it was a good job.
I take a multivitamin and fish oil but not because it does anything for my schizophrenia.
All those supplements don’t work for me and some made me worse. One even made me psychotic. I forget which ones did which. But for example I have tremors from Geodon and I take Benedryl for that and one of those supplements made my tremors come back even with Benedryl.
I would be careful but some people have luck with them. You never know.
Are you in the US?
I paid a lot into Social Security when I was working and was certainly no doctor but I made good money up until my mid 40s.
I went on SSDI in 2014. Went off and back to work for about 2 or 3 years and have been back on it this year. My SSDI is almost $3000 a month. And it’s tax free. Working I was making more than that but not a whole lot more.
I have lost a lot of good jobs. I am just not as sharp as I used to be. I used to be able to do everything. And excelled at everything I did. But now failure is familiar. It’s not worth trying to work a professional job anymore.
While I was sick I went back to school and got an aircraft mechanics license. I am going to do that part time next year and stay on Social Security.
It’s worth looking into if you need a break.
If you make that much via SSDI, it absolutely is taxable. Yeah, okay. I get it. Yeah. Yeah. 
I am in the UK. I used to get personal independence payments of £600 a month. This was income independent. It was really helpful. I had the mobility part as well due to a dodgy knee and sore bunions. These have now improved and when they reviewed my case they decided that since the schizophrenia is in remission now i should loose all my PIP. That was a blow! When i was on benefits i got about £1000 universal credit/ month and the £600 PIP. It would have been very hard to cope on Universal Credit alone. I now earn about £1500 / month in my job as a nursing assistant and get a top up from universal credit of about £400. That means i am better off working. UC is good once you start work if its a low income job but very hard to live off alone. I don’t know how people do it!
Sorry to hear of your experience with supplements. I checked all mine with my shrink first. I sent him papers on them all but he was disinterested and did not want to read them all ! I have ordered sarcosine off the advertised link on this site. I ran that past my psychiatrist too first as it has been known to cause hypomania in some.
It would be good to know what supplement made your tremors worse.
Looks like you used to be a very high performer. It is hard getting unwell. I am glad you get good support from welfare. That makes life easier.
Hi @FreedomNow . I am on the depo depixol so i don’t really have that option. I am forgetful anyway and when i was on Olanzipine I would forget to take it sometimes. Both make me sleepy all day. Thankfully i have not had too much weight gain on depixol but i am a fell / trail/ road runner which helps. I have to take a lot caffeine in the mornings to stop me drifting off . It is really annoying!