Yeah with cancer you could die after having a breast amputated or if you get colon cancer you could go from working to living in a nursing home with a little bag on your abdomen which collects your feces. You could have a hysterectomy which permanently messes up your hormones and gives you an array of diseases, perhaps you might feel like less of a woman because of this.
Aside from cancer, you could have a stroke and end up with severe brain damage and no longer be able to support yourself or even do basic things like speaking.
Yes a Cure is coming in our lifetime i can feel it!!
I reckon by 2030 if there is no cure atleast we will be able to prevent it with Crispr and complement c4 drugs.
The news has been abbit slow for new progress latly but dont loose hope scientists are working out how to help us.
I didnāt have a stroke and I canāt support myself or do certain things now that I used to either. In fact, Iām more disabled than the lady I see every day at the park jogging with her right arm that dangles by her side from having a stroke.
I think our disease can mimic a brain injury like a stroke. I have a very difficult time speaking from negative symptoms, people with strokes have the same issue (aphasia, I have alogia) yet some of them are better off than me. Yeah there are definitely stroke sufferers who are better off than schizophrenics.
Now Alzheimers, thatās a different story, but at least with that it happens at the end of your life. Some people on this forum actually use alzheimers meds to treat sz.
When I first got diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder my parents were concerned that I would develope early onset Alzheimerās disease. The doctor reassured them that this would not happen.
When I was in my teens they said I had bipolar 2 and treated me with lithium but the good news they said was that I showed no signs of schizophrenia or psychosis. Now 15 years after my diagnosis of a psychotic disorder my cognition is in the shitter. I guess the doctors really have no idea what they are talking about because I feel at times like Iām inches away from snapping permanently and having to be put in a nursing home.
From the way you write your cognition seems pretty good, idk maybe its just the effects of the meds which are making you dysfunctional. I read that antipsychotics work by stopping us from being able to attach significance to events, basically taking away an integral part of our thinking and reasoning. If you can learn to think around that you should be fine. You really worry me because you describe a progressive decline in cognition, Iām worried that my cognition will get even worse over time. For me it was terrible for almost a year out of the hospital but after that it was better, not what it was before psychosis but generally better. Maybe it gets worse as you have more episodes.
What I really think it is, that a persons self esteem is intricately linked to their ability to think and express them self especially after a major trauma like a psychotic episode. I have literally been so psychotic that I could not speak and then recovered to the point of being a normal functioning person in a lot of respects. They say that sz is a progressive illness but they also say that about bipolar disorder. I donāt know for sure but I think it has more to do with the actual toll the episodes have on you emotionally and mentally then actual decline in IQ. Iāve given this a lot of thought because I canāt tell if the cognitive stuff is a result of taking lamictal and latuda. Both of which can interfere with cognition. I have intrusive thoughts and disorganized thinking that makes me avoid social situations. But I can talk to my family and my therapist just fine. I wouldnāt worry too much, soon theyāll have meds for cognition that work and weāll all be a lot better off. But definitely the fewer episodes you have the better for your mind in my experience.
There is actually cognitive impairment in bipolar disorder it is just more transient than that seen in sz and tends to be present in a smaller population. Bipolar people are generally much better off than szs. You describe being able to communicate with your family and tdoc, I canāt even do that. I guess thatās one way in which we are different.
Being unable to express myself is definitely a hit to my self esteem, even my 13 year old kid brother can carry on a more fluent conversation than I can.
Well Iām technically bipolar and yea there is a more transient nature to the cognitive symptoms but Iām really only fluent verbally when Iām complaining about how bad I have it or talking about meds. Otherwise Iām in the same boat as you. A two year old speaks better and with more conviction than I do
I guess cognitive symptoms run a different course for everyone. Iām going to start treating it less like something I have gotten over and more like something which is a contstant struggle. When I had really severe negative symptoms I couldnāt do basic arithmetic, now the cognitive symptoms have gotten better for some time.
Am I remembering correctly if I say you went back to college and earned a degree after a psychosis? What happened since then, is your cognition still at that same level, were you medicated? Has it gotten worse?
Yea I think so too. Generally sz cognitive symptoms are worse than the others. I know there are meds like stimulants that they sometimes use to help improve cognitive symptoms. This has been mentioned for me but i would need to take other drugs to protect me from mania and psychosis.
I did return to college after my psychotic break. I graduated with a 3.5 gpa which I was proud of considering how bad my episode was. I do think that I was much more resilient in my 20ās than I am now though. At 35 I tried to go back for a masters degree in social work and I got sick again. It feels like my mind just canāt keep up with the demands that I try to put on it. Iām hoping that this is untreated depression which is what my doctor says it is but Iām skeptical.
I donāt have a tolerance for anything anymore when it comes to using my brain. Itās like I just canāt focus.
I hope this doesnāt deter you. I would still go back and pursue your degree. I went from living on campus at a major state university to commuting to a small university while living with my parents. It was not like it used to be and although I did struggle I was able to produce good work on my assignments.
Is it more important to help people who have got to a good age before developing a serious/terminal illness, or does having a mental illness from your late teens/20s that is not terminal but severely affects you trump that?
I would say itā s a highly debatable point. Both though deserve adequate funding and resources. In that sense funding for mental illness lags far behind .
My thought processing speed is too slowā¦!!! !i have problem remembering the things Means my short term memory and long term memory are assā¦!!! Wass up Sir level Very good morning to Uā¦!!!
but dont loose hope scientists are working out how to help us.