High functioning and low functioning are poor ways of describing where someone is at with their illness, A better way to measure is on a scale. Mild - Moderate - Severe schizophrenia or SZA. I was told by more than one doctor that my symptoms hover around the moderate level - Where do you stand at your best?
I think it changes as time goes on and treatment is changed. When I first got sick I didn’t function very well. And was probably at the moderate to severe end. Now I’m still afraid to leave the house but my symptoms are not really affecting me so I’m probably at the mild end of the spectrum. I recently decided to stop getting ECT treatments and am wondering if the symptoms I’m experiencing are going to get worse so we’ll see. I see my pdoc on Tuesday so I’ll discuss it with her. Good luck to you.
I do realize it changes over time, but I am talking about overall and where someone is at their best
At my best - mild, at my worst - moderate, about 50/100
At my best, I’m in remission (few hallucinations, no delusions, no negative or disorganized symptoms). So probably mild.
Last year I was at severe. I was hallucinating constantly and very delusional. My thoughts were so scattered that I had to leave school for a semester.
i had bouts of depression and psychosis in between that im 100% no symptoms
Can’t say in terms of schizophrenia/sz-a as i no longer have those diagnoses but occupationally= poor(never worked) ,socially = poor( very few friends in 57 years, very poor social skills) , symptoms= chronic , and overall moderate although things like social anxiety/interaction are severe.
I am rather much at a consistent level with very minor fluctuations. That level is higher than it was 31-32 years ago when i was labelled a chronic schizophrenic and earmarked for a group home or a long stay ward .
I guess i am now chronically ‘off’’ as opposed to acutely ill. Signs of problems were present years before mental illness was mentioned at 16.
At my best, I would like to think I’m pretty high functioning. I really would like to think that. If getting out, having a job is the criteria, then that’s what I’m thinking.
But if being symptom free with no disorganized thinking and no lack of concentration or lack of understanding is the criteria, then I’m probably moderate. I just adjust my meds and go to therapy and work around it all the best I can.
moderate symptoms.
medications making me ill.
low functioning human, not a crime though truthfully.
Aty best I’d have to say mild, moreover it’s moderate though with the risperidone, but I think I need an increased dosage.
I tested off the chart for postive symptoms, but I came up as low for negative symptoms, mainly being asocial at the time of my diagnosis. Now I am far from asocial (seriously far from it) and my meds have my symptoms under control. I was told I had a moderately severe case, I was legally insane, agitated and an insomniac alcoholic when I was diagnosed. I just didnt have the debilitating negative symptoms too, I was in college, making A’s and B’s (cutting class and acing exams) and physically active and full of energy, restless in fact.
I was hallucinating constantly and my hallucinations were all non-bizarre so I thought it was all real, save for the voices in my head, they were obviously not other people. But I heard and saw people talking and laughing about me wherever I went, it was like I was living in a nightmare. I remember telling the evaluator that I could hear people laughing in the hallway as I was telling him about my past, and he told me “No, that’s just you. I didnt hear anything” and I remember someone in the other room yell “HE KNOWS” which made me think that I was actually being watched and was catching on.
I heard voices non-stop and hallucinated people saying things that they werent actually saying, and my delusions were complex conspiracies with plot holes all filled in. I was the opposite of how I am today- I was socially isolated save for a few drinking buddies, my friends avoided me when they came home for spring and summer breaks and such, and I found myself cutting class to workout and then drink myself to sleep (alcohol fixed my insomnia). I only had one real friend who still drinks today, albeit a lot less. He has a few drinks every night, we used to hangout all of the time and drink a handle of liquor each, puke and keep drinking, usually finishing the bottles. He and I have strong friendship, hes straight but Im bisexual but we had sex once. He also has a medical condition, a physical and not psychiatric one.
Going to a restaurant meant hearing a room full of people all talking about me, making fun of me and this led me to believe that I was on television or the internet, as I heard people talking about what I did alone in my room (personal stuff like masturbation, sleep patterns, what movies and TV shows I watched, ect)
I remember getting so drunk that I was fading and felt like it was a relief from everything, my voices stopped and I had my face in a toilet, I preferred my face in the toilet while projectile vomiting 25 shots over my face in my pillow screaming at 3am.
My case had seriously severe positive symptoms- disorgranized behavior and speech also happened, I often mixed up word order in sentences and had to repeat myself, I also did things rather backwards or incorrectly at times. Apparently I would say nonsense when I was drunk, my friends told me I would say random things when I was about to puke, usually like philosophical stuff that didnt make much sense.
Caffeine made me focus better and helped me stay organized, so I drank energy drinks abusively, but too much of that made me even more agitated and then I would quit what I was doing to workout, often injuring myself working out insanely, not warming up and just going for heavy weights. I pulled both abductors and tore a lower abdomen in my groin because I was raving psychotic, hadnt slept the night before and tried to squat 315 without warming up (very very stupid for someone who weighs 165)
Now I am medicated and functioning more highly -all A’s, social life, constructive exercise regiment (powerlifting, not psycholifting), and I dont cut class or drink.
I used to see symbolism in everything, every room i entered i scanned and saw hidden meanings in the objects and decorations in the room.
I hate looking back
Mild schizophrenia, but I deal with more illnesses then schizophrenia, I have depersonalization disorder (I’m not in control of my body and speech) have a severe brain injury causing many issues with personality, perception, and learning disabilities and even more.
My mom and I both considered myself at least a moderate case of schizophrenia.
I don’t have any voices or delusions or paranoid. I live like someone who have a weak body and brain. I can’t manage a lot of thinking or information processing at a time. I was administered a series of cognitive tasks a few days ago. The tester told me I broke a few of their records. She had never seen anyone doing that. But I didn’t get the words and instructions into my mind toward the end of the session. So I looked at the stuff and did what seemed like the best things to do.