My dads Fluzee gave me a wide birth when i visited. I soon found out why my mum divorced him.
My dads side of the family is full of tosspots. Thats why none of us see them anymore. They treated me like i was thick lol.
Mum called me a liar for years - and even had me put in prison. But its all forgiven now, and we get on lol.
A few people have shunned me because of my diagnosis but they were never worth having in my life anyway. Good riddance.
Simple: if they reject you for having sz, they are worth losing.
My friends, who are in Canada, have stayed.
Not sure if folks in Korea are receptive to these kind of things.
My family is very loving and supportive. I haven’t lost touch with any of my immediate family. I only really have one friend and he is a very good friend. He doesn’t care that I have Schizophrenia.
No, they were all pretty much a mixture of “I knew it” and “so that’s why you’re such a weirdo”
My family has been remarkable supportive - my brother and my sister. (I never married.) They’re a great resource for me.
I’ve kind of done a bit of isolating from my extended family. Not sure if they know I’ve got SZA, but some of them know I had a bout of psychosis.
They still treat me the same, as far as I can tell.
My mom and dad have been super-helpful and haven’t changed towards me.
Out of the three friends I still talk to, only one knows. I’d like to just tell one of my other friends about it, since that’s the reason we haven’t hung out in so long… But I don’t know how she’d take it, especially after all this time.
You mean you go around them and they ignore you? Or you aren’t invited to functions?
In my experience there is no way to tell in advance how a person will take the news.
There are some people Who I think will handle it well, and don’t. While others understand better with it than I thought they would.
When people get nosy about why I’m on disability I just tell them, “I have the bipolar.” Then I need to explain that I’m aware of it and take medication for it. This is my best solution.
Sz is TMI for too many people IMO
Yes. I lost people.
I hate this illness.
I’ve worked hard to try and keep my diagnosis a secret from my family. I don’t want them worrying about me. But they found out in the end. I’m only really close to my immediate family (eg. mum, dad, sister…). I have nothing to do with my other relatives. My immediate family accept me for who i am. As for friends, i never really made any until i started working. And even then i’ve only told a very select few people. Thankfully, they also accept me for how i am.
I agree wholeheartedly with @anon64158233 - those who don’t need help get so much support and assistance in life. When you’re down and hard on luck, no one has time for you, and the places that are supposed to help you, don’t. They see you as a burden, rather than someone who has potential, they just need a bit of support to get over some humps.
That’s very true, @anon99082702.
No way of knowing how people will take it.
I too have used the “bipolar card” before:
I had a panic attack while driving and called 911.
They came with an ambulance and one of the paramedics asked me if I was on any meds.
I had just started Abilify at 5mg, and told him. He asked what it was for, and I told him bipolar.
I was afraid that if I actually said SZA that they either wouldn’t take me seriously, or they would go the other route and treat me negatively or take me straight to the psych ward.
I’ve lost a ton of friends over this illness. And to be honest there are only 3 family members I can currently call, no friends to call, and 1 family member I can write too. If those 4 people die I will be nearly all alone in the World except for a few people to talk too at this group home who fade in and out from the World, some doctors and nurses who will only see me when they get paid, and some staff members who generally prefer to be somewhere else than here.
@anon99082702 it’s kind of both. They don’t talk to me when I’m around them and I’m not invited to go over there.
Also they all friended all of my siblings on fb except for me.
I lost every friend and my family condescends me
The only people I have in the world are my wife, sister (who works 18 hours a day, 7 nights a week), brother (who also works long hours and lives in another state), and a niece (who just had a baby and also lives out of state). All 4 of them tend to avoid and shun me.
My wife has sza, like I do, but she tends to have a lot of physical, somatic symptoms every single day and night. Really! And she uses those symptoms as excuses to retire to bed and sleep at all hours of the day and evening everyday.
i pushed my friends away when i was acutely ill and it lasted a very long time.
however now when i’d like some new friends, it ain’t happening anywhere but on the internet.
i mean here on this forum.
have courage pedro. (and then come back and tell us how you did it – a friendship.)
judy 
Odd thing - my friends stuck by me while I was psychotic. When I wasn’t any longer, I pushed them away. Still feel bad about that. My list of current friends is a short one for sure. But I’ve still got my wife and her family’s support, of which I’m grateful. I’d be down and out with nobody. It’s weird because my personality disorder lends to me not being around people. Guess we all need somebody, no matter how much of a hermit we may be.
My family has always been very supportive, but they quit inviting me to family events when I became intolerable a couple of times.
SZ taught me that forget friends, family will stick by your side. My immediate family is very supportive of my illness
Some old friends stopped contacting me, but I don’t care. After SZ I made loads of new friends who didn’t treat me differently due to my diagnosis