My therapist always says i’m one of the lucky ones cuz i dont hear voices. I usually tell her i’d rather hear voices than have extreme anhedonia. And she kinda laughs it off. She thinks voices are so tragic i guess, and she has other sz patients so maybe she knows. But she doesn’t have any sz patients with anhedonia as bad is mine (yes i’ve inquired her about it).
So if u have both:
if u could get rid of one, which would it be; the voices or the anhedonia?
I don’t hear voices or see things either. So better the devil you know maybe. I think people with only positive symptoms (no negative symptoms) can lead more fulfilling lives. But I could be wrong.
I agree, if not fufilling, by definition (of anhedonia) more enjoyable
Plus there’s a good chance an AP might take care of the positive symptoms.
My primary positive symptom is paranoia.
I can get delusional very quickly too.
I don’t have either. I’d rather have anhedonia than positive symptoms though. I used to have anhedonia and it wasn’t so bad to have no emotions. I’d rather have the ability to work and go to school than be happy but useless like I am now.
Voices are worse in my opinion.
Voices ate worse in my opinion too. They break you down in a way that is difficult to describe. Some people rise above it but maybe theres different severity of voices?
Useless cuz of voices?
I usually read that it’s the negative symptoms that have a bigger impact on functionality than positive ones.
Maybe it’s hard not to get caught up in their game, have u tried meditation? It helps me and helped cure my ocd.
For me, anhedonia has to be worse. I don’t have voices but since I suffer 24/7 because of anhedonia, a comparable suffering with voices would be if they were constant non-stop and you would be totally non-functional because of them… I’d take occasional or even frequent voices anyday over anhedonia…
Here’s some hope for anhedonia
And of course, I think anyone with negative symptoms, or anhedonia, should give a shot to sarcosine+n-acetyl-cysteine
anhedonia is a bitch, that’s for sure, i dont think i will ever regain my desire to live. No other disability by definition takes the pleasure and interest out of life. I’ve tried vraylar, nac, and sarcosine. I am skeptical about mirapex. Have u tried it? Those anti-parkinsons drugs are supposed to be addictive.
I have pretty exclusively positive symptoms,
And I don’t really have a lot of the problems that some people on the board do.
I get out just fine, I’m motivated to work, I don’t even really have any social phobias,
But, I’m a weirdo and I perceive an entirely different reality, its distracting at best and all consuming if you let it run wild.
I’m paranoid, terrified of everything, and if things get even slightly outside of my routine, I crumble.
At least once a year I have to be hospitalized for trying to dig out my own eyeball, because my eyes are not symmetrical, I’ve been convinced its a tracking device/camera for the past 15 years.
I am very grateful for not having anhedonia,
But sometimes I would trade just for SILENCE.
The grass is always greener, right?
Vraylar didn’t do anything? did you try the max dose? Mirapex/pramipexole does appear to work for a lot of anhedonic people (Dr. Jan Fawcett, from the link above, has had anhedonic patients six years on it without relapse). I haven’t encountered anyone suffering from schizophrenia with anhedonia using it though. But it has been used successfully to treat anhedonia in depressed patients, bipolar patients, and parkinsons patients. So I think it has the possibility to work for people like us too. I haven’t tried it, yet. If I do, and I probably will at some point in the future, I will let everyone know how it went.
It’s the voices Because I know it’s my brain trying to tell me something .
I hear ringing non-stop due to nerve damage. SILENCE indeed.
Anhedonia. Voices for me come and go, and if I am doing emotionally well I can ignore them or laugh them off. Anhedonia when it comes seems to go on and on with no way to end it or cope. It’s just miserable, to have a wonderful life with no ability to enjoy it, it’s like a curse.
I don’t think there is any point in trying to argue about who has it worse. It all depends on the individual and the severity of their symptoms. For me, the anhedonia was more distressing than the voices for a while, but then the anhedonia got better and the voices got worse. Now, thankfully, both are under control. But at various points in my life, I would have given every possible answer to this question.
That was what i was thinking, if u are functioning well u can live with the voices. If u have anhedonia u cant really live.
@Ninjastar Curious about after how long it got better for you? Did you do anything specific to help your anhedonia recovery?