Greetings! I recently had a curious relapse that I believe to have been set off by smog. I ask if the fellow forum members may have had a similar experience. I know there is some research that pollution (more specifically benzene) may increase risk, but I mean, I think it’s actively causing my condition.
I had gone from out in the country to a high pollution city and… it did not go well for me. Moreover, I found that removing pollution (ie, using activated charcoal filters and growing peace lilies) seemed to make my symptoms abate, particularly paranoia.
I’ve even noticed it follows the usual traffic; symptoms worse at 7AM (people driving to work…), 5PM (getting off from work…), and for reasons I can’t fathom, 3AM (if I’m up late). The pattern really makes it alarmingly obvious it’s smog from traffic.
Is it just me? Or would air filters seriously help schizophrenia symptoms in general? Would anyone else like to try this?
I was born in our city, but it’s a fairly clean city… I’m in Seattle. One thing I do notice for me… It’s not so much the smog… as the noise. That much traffic can be deafening.
There are a few parts of the city near the main viaduct and the I-5 corridor that I avoid. I bet it has high smog too… but the constant heavy traffic noise, and sirens, and horns, and engine roars… that gets to me.
I’d say, if you can find some air filters that are good quality and won’t break the bank, why not? Clean air is a good thing for everyone and maybe the soft hum of the filter will help drown out the traffic noise. I’m sure it will make the house feel cleaner too.
I was born in our city, but it’s a fairly clean city… I’m in Seattle. One thing I do notice for me… It’s not so much the smog… as the noise. That much traffic can be deafening.
Seattle? Cleaner indeed, on the West Coast. I had gone from Oregon to Charlotte, North Carolina (7th most polluted city in the nation, I believe) visiting family to a street some two blocks from a busy highway that really should not have been zoned residential.
I’ve also been doing some reading of my own and found that benzene increases dopamine and norepinephrine. Oh boy, that is contraindicated beyond belief. No wonder I’m getting messed up.
I think I might be onto something! I’m gonna duck back out to Oregon a few months to test my theory, at least to my own person, to rest and recuperate.
If anyone wants to be daring enough to grow house plants to try and tame schizophrenia, hardware store nurseries sell peace lilies and snake plants for ~$4 and the worst case scenerio is you get a new hobby and a lovely decal.
I’m a gardner I have house plants. I’m rather partial to palms, money trees, jade plants, rubber trees and banana plants. I like the taller broad leafed potted plants that require less light.
They are dramatic and easier for me to take care of at home.
Plus, larger leafs, more / lager stoma’s and more carbon dioxide/ oxygen exchange.
We just bought a Peace Lily yesterday… Cool you mention this. they are the #1 indoor plant air purifier.
benzene and formaldehyde are nasty chemical pollutants that can be in a home, and pollution in cities can affect people. I know it affects me. i need fresh and clean air.
people just do not realize how much the environment plays a factor in both mental and physical health…All the chemicals and artificial additives in foods you eat and take for granted that its ok…it’s not ok. White sugar and high fructose corn syrup alone can cause major malfunctions in the body and brain. And when it causes an illness which is really a reaction to the refined food products, doctors want to throw medication at people, which only adds more chemicals to the system.
Sodium nitrates, aspartame, bleached products, hydrogenated products, artificial fillers, foods that are so processed that most of the nutrients are gone…
then the foods that are sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, fungacides, or animals injected with growth hormones and antibiotics, caged in their own filth wallowing in dung…and off to market for the consumer to indulge in the poisons…these are the things that cause illness in a lot of people…
Add all that on top of the pollutants in our air and no wonder more people feel sick!
