Poll Age of diagnosis

I wasn’t diagnosed with sz until I was 37. When were you diagnosed?

  • Under 18
  • 18-22
  • 23-25
  • 26-30
  • 31-35
  • Over 35

0 voters

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I had just turned 20 at the hospital my first in patient stay they diagnosed me sza but I didn’t know what it meant and no one explained it to me and I had no insight

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Had hallucinations and delusions for years before I got help. Used drugs and alcohol to self medicate to deal with what my mind was doing to me, always came in cycles and waves. Wasn’t until I ended up in a 5150 that I was diagnosed and got on meds

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At 24, although at that point I’d had psychotic symptoms for about 3 or 4 years. Not sure whether that was mostly the prodrome or actual sz.

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I was diagnosed with depression in my 20s. Then I got super manic but didn’t get any medical attention. I should have been diagnosed much earlier.

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That seems confusing and scary

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I was 26 I think. I would have been diagnosed sooner if I had seen someone. I got picked up hiking along the highways, and then I was diagnosed by a doctor who worked for the state. I was a mess back then but didn’t realize it. was not hallucinating prior to my diagnosis, so it was no big deal, just some anxiety, racing thoughts, and paranoia, and disorganized thinking. I started hallucinating later at about 27 or 28 after a two week fast, the hallucinations kept up for 3 or 4 years before I accepted I needed meds.

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I was 17 when I first had psychosis. Then 23 when I got it again. They then called it sz because it happened twice.

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I had depression and anxiety from 16 on. The men started following me when I was 31. I started thinking I worked for the government sooner but I didn’t tell people about that until later. I know now I never worked for the government. That’s what the meds changed for me. And I’ve received messages from animals and crows since my early 20s.

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  1. I have previously had what were probably psychotic episodes, I certainly had the delusional thinking for a while as I believed many conspiracy theories. I didn’t seem to put too much thought into a schizophrenia diagnosis at the first hospital I was in.

That lead to me thinking I had brain damage from a car wreck I had 2 years before which then morphed into me thinking I was sundowning and had early onset dementia - both of these were delusions. I also thought my phone was hacked and that it was going to be the end times and I had some bad times because of that.

Luckily after walking the railroad tracks for 8 hours I was picked up by cops and taken to the hospital which I tried to escape from through the ceiling. That didn’t work and to make a long story short, after roughing up two cops who I thought were taking me to an incenarator I was given IV Zyprexa and strapped to a board overnight. The meds worked and I began to realize that I was there for a reason.

After 2nd hospitalization I was given injection Invega and had the delusional idea that it was actually meth and that I was reincarnated Hitler and they were trying to get me up and going for WWIII. This didn’t set off alarm bells but when I thought the TV was talking to me and that I wrote songs through time travel then I guess something clicked and I voluntarily went to the hospital and after that last round I haven’t went back and that was 2 years ago.

I had to get out at least part of my story on here at some point, I figured this thread is as good as any.

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Wow. I’m glad you have insight now. I’d be scared believing all that. I probably would be in hiding

There was so much ridiculous stuff going on in my head at once. When at the hospital the second time I thought I was on an undercover camera show where people laughed at you and everyone but me was in on the joke, that felt really crazy.

Then there was the guy who anointed me with shampoo because I knew something of Hebrew, those things definitely feed your “I’m special” delusions.

I don’t even want to bring up my craziest delusion though, it was just too crazy.

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Mental health problems from 14. First saw a pdoc a few months before I was 17. First official dx when I was 18.333.

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  1. I had voices for a while before the psychotic break. It consisted of me seeing and hearing things more often and to a point my memory was gone and visual perception turned into a sharpened images. I thought everyone knew everything about me and that I had special powers because of the secret world of voices and I was able to know what wasn’t seen. I watched the NASA channel on satellite TV and I understood every bit that I started seeing the construction of rockets in front of me. I thought I was a genius and then the voices confirmed that. Then the day I got help I lost total insight, my pdoc asked me if I watched TV, and I started seeing a TV in the corner of the office, also heard a lady telling me my mom was the cause of all my problems, later on that night before my therapist, my aunt was baking Christmas cookies and I forgot how to put sugar in a mixture. I then took my meds (abilify), saw my therapist who I forgot who she was because of the break and she said it was the calmest she ever saw me
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So Abilify really works for you. That’s great!

No the abilif made my voices more often and worse
That was the first the AP they put me on. I froze during lunch time and started hearing my teacher talk and it was so freaking loud, and then the one time I looked into his eyes in the hallway and my hallucinations transported me to a diff part of the school. I would put my head down and seen neon cliffs and fall into them, grab my desk. I had nothing but trouble with that med. My ex bf at the time was talking to me telepathically to have sex with him

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Now that I think about it, I guess that med wasn’t all negative, it stopped me from losing my total cognition like I was, it just wasn’t strong enough. I can see why you said that!

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So what does work for you?

I’ve really had my illness since childhood. I had my first total psychotic break at age 23. But, I was not diagnosed until I was 34.

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Well I never gave abilify a chance… Kids in school said it was making me stupid. All my meds work and then they stop working and then I’m left with side fx

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