Thanks! I knew someone would get the reference XD I think tonight is the first time I’ve ever heard someone say “I have the same symptoms as you.” It’s sad that we’re all stuck with this madness but it’s comforting to not be alone in it
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Thank you! I already feel less alone. I’ll be hanging around for a good long while!
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Hey, welcome! I’m 28 and was diagnosed last year but I’m living with this illness since I’m a child. Because of ignorance of the disorder and it’s symptoms I never went to seek help earlier. I had to go through a psychotic break and be hospitalized for that to happen, glad that didn’t happen with you though.
I actually don’t tell basically anyone, just a couple of friends know. I wanted to tell them because I needed to tell someone and see their reactions. People are a little affraid of it but they trust me, I think as long as I’m on meds. Well, now you know a bit about me.
I think you’ll like it here, very supportive community.
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Thanks! Sorry people have been so ignorant to what you’re going through. There should be more education on mental illness. Just last week I admitted to a friend that I had SZ and she actually said “You’re not gonna kill me or anything are you?!” And I’m glad you’ve been able to get help since being hospitalized, we all deserve a shot at normalcy right!
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Yeah, some people thought I could turn homicidal and turned their backs on me, when in fact I was suicidal and in need of friends. Ignorance and stigma can be worse than the illness and cause more damage sometimes. But that’s all behind me now, I could move forward with my life.
What do you do, do you study?
Yeah people have actually been worse to me than my head has so I know what you mean! And I’m a dog groomer, which I love. At first I was nervous about working with clippers and scissors near people’s pets, but animals have such a therapeutic effect on me that I barely even notice my illness when I’m working. The only thing that stays are the voices. And I’ve got some hobbies too. I try to keep my mind occupied with productive things, it helps me a lot. What do you do for fun??
Ah thats a very cool job 
I’m studying tradicional chinese medicine in college. It was a dream of mine to study it, now I’m accomplishing it. It’s kind of weird actually, had to go through a psychotic break and discover that I have sz, to start trully valuing my life.
That sounds really interesting! I love medicine of all kinds so that stuff fascinates me so much! And yeah sometimes life is funny like that. Sometimes you gotta hit rock bottom before you wake up and grab life by the reins. I had to be abused before I ended up with my fiancé. (Long story short, he was the one who got me out of the abusive situation and we just hit it off and now we’re happily engaged)
Yep, it was exactly like that. Taking life by the reins… it took some time though.
Good for you, that’s a great love story right there!
I’m happy you got everything all together, it really feels great when you finally have some control in life. Do you still deal with any symptoms, if you don’t mind me asking?
And yeahhhh literally the knight in shining armor cliché haha he’s really something!
Well, as of last week no symptoms whatsoever. I’ve been a bit scared, I was so used to them, that I feel like it’s too good to be true. But that’s it, I’ve been exercizing more and studying keeps my mind off the illness.
So, I’ve been happy this last week or so Prior to that, I had the delusion I was god, just so you know lol… Since I’m on meds I don’t see anything anymore, but I used to see black shadows that I perceived as demons and other stuff, I had basically every delusion there is. It was rough. I’m sza, so I have a lot of mood swings, from mania to depression. But exercise helps with that, keeps me grounded.
I’m happy for you! I want to find my prince also
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I did transcendental meditation for about a year and a half. I also went to AA, drank very little coffee, and got about the right amount of exercise. I don’t know if I was any more serene, but my grades at school sure were better. I quit all this when I started drinking again.
Look buddy, why don’t you just cut the bull ■■■■ … and just come back next year? or Maybe five years from now? What the hell is wrong with you people…
Give me the freakin creeps…
How far are you going to take this?
What’s wrong? I don’t get your post.
You know I’m not afraid to call the cops about stalking and threats, so call your dogs off. Now.
I’m not about to get into a debate about theoretical morality and what is right and what should be right and what should be wrong. You broke the law when you decided to take matters into your own hands’; that’s the end of it.
Go to the doctor, @odysseus1…
You are extremely ill at this moment in time imo. Do it for yourself. You deserve proper care and treatment.
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Sorry it took me so long to answer, the Internet told me I maxed out my number of replies for the day lol That’s great that you’ve been symptom free for a week! Fingers crossed it stays that way! Seeing things must be awful, I’ve never had visual hallucinations but my auditory hallucinations are so bad that I actually can’t remember what silence sounds like anymore. As for delusions, I’ve always been super suspicious of people. I always assume that people have ulterior motives or nefarious intentions. I think everyone is out to get me when my paranoia gets bad. I’d love to find a medication that helps but like I said wayyyyy up in a previous comment, I can’t take pills because the side effects I get are too severe. Even though I hate living with SZ I’ve always wondered from the part of me that loves medicine how others experience the same illness differently. Like we all have the same illness here, but we have so many different constellations of symptoms.
And I’ve found that the best people wander into your life when you’re not looking so probably the perfect guy will just walk into your life and you won’t even realize it until you wake up one day and realize you’re both super into each other haha when I met my fiancé I had absolutely no idea we’d ever be together. The day I met him was at my junior prom and he was there with his gf and I was there with a guy friend lol
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How does transcendental meditation work for you?? I also don’t drink so that’s a start
I don’t tell many people but I told a close friend who I trusted and she told everyone we knew -_-
I hope things work out for you and your fiancé, it’s hard having normal relationships with a severe mental illness. I always try to make sure I never come down on him for not understanding how I feel. I hope everything works out for you, it sounds like having schizophrenia has really stuck you in a rut. It seems to have a way of getting in your head and knowing at you. I went through a period of time where I barely left the house because I was just so lost
Welcome to the coolest part of the Internet! Congratulations on getting engaged! I am engaged too.
Both of my brothers also have schizophrenia, so I grew up thinking it was completely normal. Ni didn’t realize I was different until I was like 24. I just thought everybody heard voices that didn’t exist, and it was totally rational to avoid the dentist because they would implant a tracking device in your jaw.
Growing up like that was good and bad. We had a tendency to feed into each other’s delusions and get caught up in conspiracy theories. And both of them are afraid of getting real treatment, so they can’t really relate to me anymore. They’re convinced the meds I take are a form of mind control, because I suddenly stopped freaking out about the government, and started to say the conspiracies don’t seem plausible.
This site is the place I feel like I fit in the most. I like talking to other people with insight. My doctor told me I was an anomaly for recognizing my hallucinations as just symptoms and not real voices, but there are tons of people here who do the same thing.
I also found a lot of common ground with a friend of mine who is transgendered. She can relate to the stigma, and the dual edged sword of knowing she can hide her true self to be accepted, but only at the price of killing her soul. We just sit around baking cakes and talking about stigma.