i am a schizophrenic and i think i am losing touch with reality (living in my own world and hard to connect with others, know about my feeling well, tbh i dun even know how i feel in myself!), and i wonder what is it like for people to “recover” from schizophrenia after taking the medication for some time, how do you know you are “normalized” again and “recovered”? please share your experience to me, do anyone who does not take drug recover themselves and think they are recovered, cause i wonder if u dun take the meds u never know what a real “recovery” as you may and still having a psychosis in yourself but u dun know as u are in schizophrenic state. Pls share your experience when u take the meds and “recovered” , it would be so helpful for me, thank you so much!
I am not recovered but if I were I don’t know what my life would be like either…
I knew I was recovered when I wasn’t sensing other peoples thoughts anymore and other people weren’t sensing my thoughts either. Ie., the paranoia was gone. I also knew it when I didn’t perceive that the whole world hated me anymore. It was all a grand revelation.
how r u doing now, mate 
do you think medication help?
I’m on meds at the time, and I exercise. Try to take small steps when it comes to goals
Yes, medication definitely helps. I would be very sick again without it.
I don’t know if a full recovery is possible; I always think it depends partly on your (or anyone’s) definition of a “full recovery”. I think the first psychotic break for most people is the worst stage; when schizophrenia is at it’s worse. That seems to be where most peoples hospitalizations occur even though a schizophrenic may need to be hospitalized at a point down the road; usually called a “relapse”.
But if you are freshly diagnosed and then get put on the right med, you have a good chance of what the doctors in the 1980’s (I’m 57, diagnosed at 19) called being “stabilized”. Being stabilized means after a period of time, maybe months, maybe years, your disease kind of evens out. Your medicine is controlling your symptoms somewhat,you are not experiencing extreme psychiatric symptoms. This is when if you are lucky you can think of getting employed or going to school.
I’m not saying every schizophrenic follows the same timetable in their recovery or that everybody experiences the same recovery rate or that the course of everybody’s schizophrenia is the same but this is a general outline of what many go through. This is called recovery. If your symptoms get better and you are functioning better, this is what is called “recovery”. And it happens to many, many people.
It is shown that many schizophrenics will get better in middle age, around 40 years old or so. It’s certainly true for me. In my youth I was hospitalized about ten times; one hospitalization was 8 months long when I was 21. My symptoms were intense and I suffered horribly for a few years. From 19-22 I was mostly psychotic and didn’t really function, no job, school, or much else. I always craved peace of mind, I could literally not relax for years, my brain ran my body and my brain was f*cked up.
But around 45 my symptoms became less intense. Some troubling delusions went away, others became less serious. I still was ill, sometimes seriously, but I did get relief. But starting just a couple of years ago, I obtained the peace of mind I craved for so many years. My racing thoughts slowed down and my mind got quiet. I feel so lucky this happened, it improves my quality of life often. Anyways, I hope you get something from this. Inmy disease I’ve worked for most of the last 35 years, I’ve gone to school in person and currently I am taking online college classes. I live mostly independently, I’ve been driving steadily with my own cars since 1998. I live in a nice apartment with friendly neighbors except for one. I take care of my own finances and shop, cook, and clean for myself. I am far from an ideal of what some peoole would call a full recovery but I did OK for myself. Today, I was up at 6:00 am and I fixed breakfast then just to get out of the house I went to my carport and sat in my car and listened to a CD in my car and dozed off! I woke up when he lady next door came out to smoke a cigarette. We chatted and I came inside to plan the rest of my day. Plan A is going for a walk.
i am really happy to see it and the changes that happen, thanks so much 
I suffered from thought broadcasting and thought insertion symptoms and paranoia with hallucinations and paranoid and grandiose delusions from the time I was about 23 years old. I wasn’t treated for any of this however because I was in nursing school at the time and I was afraid of being booted out of nursing school for psychosis so, I hid my symptoms for many years.
I was finally treated for mental illness at age 31 when I made a serious suicidal gesture. From that point onward, I was in and out of mental hospitals like a revolving door for years. And always for suicidal ideations and gestures.
In 1994, I was diagnosed with sza disorder. My suicidal ideation and depression continued for another eleven years and then ended. The psychosis continued for another twenty three years and then ended.
I am very lucky to be alive. My son, who had paranoid sz, didn’t survive his illness.
As long as I’m not suffering from paranoia or delusions I’m relatively ok. I don’t know what recovery means though. If it means I can live symptom free without meds, that would be great. I don’t see that happening.
I believe that recovery means living symptom free with meds.
do you mean the meds help eliminate the symptoms?
i am like sth stuck in my head and i cannot feel the reality and think unblockedly.
I have felt ‘normal’ as you call it for the best part of 8 + plus after being sectioned for a month when i was 31 years old.I have had 3 jobs since and now run my own Ebay Uk Business.
Sorry forgot to add that i do take meds for my Paranoid SZ but is the lowest dose Pysch can give me hope this helps!
it did help! thanks for sharing with me!
@SkinnyMe Very sorry about your Son i have Paranoid SZ but wasn’t diagnosied until i was 31 and sectioned.But Thankfully/Hopefully iam in recovery and have been for the past 8 + years taking meds etc.
Are you taking meds, if I may ask? If so, do you feel your recovery/quality of life is helped or hampered by them?
Are the meds taking away the paranoia and delusions for you, if I may ask?
So the meds basically stabilized you and allow you to feel normal?