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blitzkrieg
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03 Mar 2022, 10:33 pm

Good article explaining why, when women reach menopause and their estrogen levels drop - they are at risk for schizophrenia.

Estrogen protects against Schizoprehnia from developing. Interestingly, anti-psychotic medication raises estrogen levels, regardless of its dopamine modulating effect.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/202106/why-some-women-in-midlife-may-develop-psychosis?fbclid=IwAR0jZJmOizL0wz33Xd9ecmFELa33xp4PSxuhqAkF0RZWHyL4G8X_Nm4thQs



autisticelders
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05 Mar 2022, 8:02 am

well that is interesting!! ! thanks!


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firemonkey
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05 Mar 2022, 8:58 am

Professor Cyndi Shannon Weickert has done quite a lot of research about this.



blitzkrieg
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05 Mar 2022, 12:56 pm

firemonkey wrote:
Professor Cyndi Shannon Weickert has done quite a lot of research about this.


Excellent! I did not know this.

*notes down the name*



firemonkey
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lostonearth35
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05 Mar 2022, 3:00 pm

Great, another thing to look forward to when the Big M gets me. If the world is still around by that time. :(



blitzkrieg
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05 Mar 2022, 6:14 pm

firemonkey wrote:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=%28%28weickert%29+AND+%28estrogen%29%29+AND+%28schizophrenia%29&sort=


Thank you Firemonkey. :)



blitzkrieg
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05 Mar 2022, 6:15 pm

lostonearth35 wrote:
Great, another thing to look forward to when the Big M gets me. If the world is still around by that time. :(


Oh well, in a nuclear wasteland, the psychosis of untreated Schizophrenia might actually be a survival advantage, if anything is left of the Earth...



Dillogic
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06 Mar 2022, 1:41 am

Schizophrenia isn't that bad. The stereotypical symptoms don't last that long (they tend to come in attacks and go away on their own regardless of medication or not), and the predominant negative symptoms are functionally the same as autism, so if you have both, you don't notice anything different (I don't). It's quite rare for it to be diagnosed in people over 40, so this would be more of a factor in those with a hormone imbalance or early menopause, and even then, it'd still be rare. Females tend to develop it in their late 20s/early 30s. Males earlier. Stressful life events tend to precede it, and it can be something as simple as a breakup to life or death situations. Though, I might not be the best person to listen to when I say something isn't that bad (I may just be pathologically optimistic). :|

I'm quite certain the world will be around for a very long time. :)



lostonearth35
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06 Mar 2022, 1:56 am

Schizophrenia IS bad, especially when it's untreated. I spent most of my 20s living in several different homes where most of the residents had chronic schizophrenia. Even when they took about 50 pills a day they'd still have severe symptoms. I knew one guy who would just like in his room cursing and yelling at his hallucinations constantly. One time I happened to walk by and I heard him say "f**kin' lesbian" and was horrified because I thought that he had said that to me. Nearly all of them were heavy smokers which the staff practically encouraged because nicotine supposedly relieves schizophrenia symptoms, so I was exposed to second hand smoke constantly. The staff had a smoking room but we all know now that the smoke poisons virtually everything and everyone indoors.

The mental health care where I live is stuck in the 1940s and getting worse all the time. It's a wonder they aren't still lobotomizing people at the hospital. Maybe they are but they sure as heck aren't going to tell the public about it.



Dillogic
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06 Mar 2022, 2:26 am

I might be a little too optimistic. :) Yeah, that sounds like Schizophrenia to me. I've only been in mental hospitals, and there was usually a handful of those with Schizophrenia at any given time. Sad to hear about those living arrangements there (I'm not a fan of group homes). I've always had a home. Yes, nicotine helps and smoking is very common in those with such. Smoke permeates the halls of mental hospitals all the same. The staff of hospitals love to smoke too, usually in courtyards and the smoke rises to the patient windows.

I have Schizophrenia (never smoked, so I never made any connection for symptomatic improvement), and yeah, I've wanted the voices to stop (I don't yell, so I never yelled), as they're not nice, but I ended up getting used to them and they've only been there for a few months at a time during a couple of exacerbations. I mostly have visual hallucinations of somewhat disturbing things when it comes to hallucinations, but I learnt to ignore them; I always take a second look because that's natural. I was actually untreated for years because no one asked the right questions. :? Medication has helped a lot. Delusions, I'm not too bad, well, I don't think I am. I do have paranoia and think people are out to harm me, but it's hard to tell if it's from Schizophrenia or PTSD.

I couldn't really say if Autism or Schizophrenia is worse, and I don't think the combo will make it any harder than just having one of them, at least in my case.

I guess it's not too bad here for mental health stuff, at least private. Albeit, I think nurses and doctors should be a little better trained than what they are.



blitzkrieg
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06 Mar 2022, 6:05 pm

lostonearth35 wrote:
Schizophrenia IS bad, especially when it's untreated. I spent most of my 20s living in several different homes where most of the residents had chronic schizophrenia. Even when they took about 50 pills a day they'd still have severe symptoms. I knew one guy who would just like in his room cursing and yelling at his hallucinations constantly. One time I happened to walk by and I heard him say "f**kin' lesbian" and was horrified because I thought that he had said that to me. Nearly all of them were heavy smokers which the staff practically encouraged because nicotine supposedly relieves schizophrenia symptoms, so I was exposed to second hand smoke constantly. The staff had a smoking room but we all know now that the smoke poisons virtually everything and everyone indoors.

The mental health care where I live is stuck in the 1940s and getting worse all the time. It's a wonder they aren't still lobotomizing people at the hospital. Maybe they are but they sure as heck aren't going to tell the public about it.


Yep, this is what Schizophrenia presents like. I have come into contact with two deeply dangerous individuals in my life who have been Schizophrenic.

These people can be terrifying.

This is not to stigmatise mental health persons with Schizophrenia or to patronise them - merely to point out their warped minds' and the damage it can cause both socially & even physically, in the event that a person with Schizophrenia loses control of themselves.



Dillogic
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06 Mar 2022, 7:52 pm

Individuals in this sample were at least 14 times more likely to be victims of a violent crime than to be arrested for one. In general, the risk associated with being in the community was higher than the risk these individuals posed to the community

Risks for individuals with schizophrenia who are living in the community

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11585953/



blitzkrieg
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06 Mar 2022, 7:53 pm

Dillogic wrote:
Individuals in this sample were at least 14 times more likely to be victims of a violent crime than to be arrested for one. In general, the risk associated with being in the community was higher than the risk these individuals posed to the community

Risks for individuals with schizophrenia who are living in the community

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11585953/


You are correct.

I have met probably hundreds of Schizophrenic individuals online. Only two of them have posed a real threat.



firemonkey
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07 Mar 2022, 5:58 am

I have schizophrenia and ASD. I've used a well known schizophrenia forum for over 2 decades. I've had heated disagreements occasionally, but never been threatened.



kraftiekortie
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07 Mar 2022, 8:15 am

Somehow....I can't see Firemonkey threatening anybody :P