What we're you like before your DX'd

I used to work as a general labourer and data entry clerk . I was working 7 days a week. (Part time on weekends and sometimes overtime during the week) I had no sleep at night so I smoked a joint to go to sleep. (I got nearly 4 hours each night except on the weekend. I wouldn’t eat at all during my work days (I would drink coffee and cigarettes during the day)
Except having a big dinner in the evening

In the mornings I would smoke another joint and have an energy drink. If I was working overtime I would down a five hour energy drink to get me through the day.

I was happy. Everyday. Everyone loved my mood and it was contagious. Seeing me in such a great mood would make everyone else much more productive.

My parents knew I smoked marijuana but not to the extent that I did. They thought I smoked every other day until they caught me smoking in the mornings and at night. Needless to say, they got worried and admitted me to a psych ward. That’s when all hell broke loose.

I stopped smoking marijuana, energy drinks and 5 hour energys abruptly. The hell I went through in the psych ward was worse than benzo withdrawals I think.

Every since I left the psych ward I wasn’t the same. (It was my third time but I don’t want to discuss my previous visits.

How were you before you were DX’d?

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I was a high functioning adult.

I was making about $120,000 per year when I got sick. It really shook my world around

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I was smart but the doctors suspect I had mental illnesses before the psychotic symptoms. I had two suicide attempts from overdose. But I was in college just before the first psychotic break. I passed college math and physics courses with good grades. I was on the dean list. The hardest class was economics. I found it completely boring

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It feels like I am writing this about someone else. I was someone who’s thoughts and opinions mattered in a certain industry. I was successful in my own right. I travelled, was invited to private parties attended special events and my opinions were often published. I had been featured in magazines and on industry television, once upon a time I mattered, or atleast I felt I did.

I worked all the hours God would send, I was extremely confident, social and had everything under control.

While I admit that my former life was more exciting , my current is far more in line with my values. I find that I am more at peace with myself, more honest and I believe that if I continue to concentrate and work hard on my current endeavours, I will do something which will not only have value to a certain industry but to all types of people.

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I was in the military and doing great. Then suddenly I couldn’t comprehend anything. I got over it and barely made it out of the school. I was in the fleet doing average and I studied over 100 hours for a promotion exam. Then I turned into a dirtball. It really doesn’t make sense. I don’t think it was just a coincidence that these things happened at crucial times of my career.

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I used to work a high stress high reward job managing group homes for adults with developmental disabilities. I loved it. Then one day a co-worker said jigs up and took me to the hospital. I was in and out for the next year or more and haven’t worked since.

I played a lot of video games, made jewellery, made cosplay costumes, was a gym rat, baked all the time, loved to draw, and went to the movies almost every weekend.

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I was a junkie. Looking to feel better than they way I already felt. Schizophrenia, addiction, and depression run in my family. I had them all before the voices

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before my sz diagnosis I was diagnosed schizotypal. I always was a loner and weird. right before my onset I had a depressive episode. years before my onset I was an always happy person.

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I was anxious and had a temper problem but I was generally happy. I worked high stress jobs without issue. Then the blackouts at work started. :frowning:

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From 6 to 12 I was timid and intelligent, I mostly played single player games.
From 12 to 15 I was becoming more social and I played competitively online.

Then I thought I was maturating, I started to study much more and dress like a greybeard but… I started to feel different from others and distressed by them, plus my anxiety was getting out of control (wasn’t able to eat or sleep because I was anxious about exams).
So I dropped out of school and my gp sent me to a psychiatrist because he knew my mom was sz.

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i was still a kid, hadn’t really accomplished anything in life, very socially withdrawn, going to community college and just basically avoiding my mom who wanted me to get a job at the local walgreens. i was very motivated and took pleasure in everything i did even though i had no friends, i set goals for myself and undertook projects. read, used the internet to watch movies and download mp3s. basically just loved life and music. i was very talkative to the few people i trusted enough to have conversations with, but not as involved with social media as most people my age.

after sz i was a shadow of my former self, essentially mute due to poverty of thought and lacking totally in personality. i felt no pleasure or emotion and had no motivation. i still have no job and very few friends. i go to college still and am working very slowly on getting my ba in either psychology or anthropology. if i didn’t take so much time off for sz i would be almos done right now. would probably have a job and many friends. go running 4 or 5 times a week. enjoy life and hard work. unfortunately i am ill.

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I was a musician. Played in a band named Hunger Farm. Put out a couple of 7” singles, an Lp/Cd, and had a song on a Flipside comp. Did a couple of low-budget tours. Broke up after the album. Became sick about two years later. But I’m glad I got to do these things before I got sick. Stoped talking about it when I realized it sounded delusional

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I was not working yet. Still in school. My first real job I got after I got diagnosed. My day treatment is a community transition program that encourages people to work and be part of society again. Maybe I still have a shot at being successful one day.

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I was in limbo before dx. i never knew what i wanted to study when i was in my teens and early 20’s it wasn’t until i had some work experience i began to envision what kind of career i’d have.

i drank a lot with my friends at the time, that was our ritual, we were all pretty much alcoholics

i was a bit free spirited i traveled the country and saw most of the states. and i was a big sports fan.

basically i was supposed to be a grown adult but i hadn’t shed my adolescence yet, for me it wasnt’ until i was 28 that i really began to mature into adulthood

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A drug addict

Looking at things through a positive lens, this diagnosis probably saved my life…

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I was an outgoing, bubbly cute girl. I had friends and I was smart. I was definitely a proud ■■■■. I was known as a weird girl. People were calling me psycho before I even knew I was, lol.

I was confident and I didn’t have social anxiety. I would hug everyone I met and was very kind. I didn’t mind that I was seen as strange, since I always dressed different and liked to stand out. I was very hyperactive and was always vibrating with energy.

I mentioned this before but I was really intelligent. I was an vivacious reader and was always eager to learn, even though I had troubles learning in a controlled environment like a classroom due to my ADHD and a developmental disorder.

Unfortunately since my dx none of these things are true anymore (other then me being cute)

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Very interesting stories

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Before my sz I used to be cheerful, I had many friends and I was like the prankster of the group. Good times…

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I was cheerful, out going, loved to draw/paint portraits, ate healthy, exercised regularly, loved to play the piano, was confident, no intrusive thoughts

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Before Schizophrenia I was a total “normie”, had a good job as a Medical Receptionist, was married and had a wonderful son.

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