Schizophrenia Sucks

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I can't do anything right anymore, it's like I'm slowly going ret*d or something. Can't concentrate or focus on anything much. I feel really restless and can't sleep.

Does anybody else have schizophrenia? What's the worst thing about it?

Are you getting negative symptoms?

I'm schizoaffective, and I'm lucky enough that on the scz side, I've basically have just gotten the positive symptoms. Still, they're a pain in the ass when they flare up. I hate being paranoid when I'm symptomatic and not being able to completely distinguish between reality and non-reality. I get times when I would be delusional yet still maintain some modicum of insight, which confuses the hell out of me.

Yeah, apparently I have type II paranoid schizophrenia. I have all the negative symptoms and very few of the positive ones. My delusions are mild, I just really have a problem with planning and carrying things through. I can't sleep well. my motivation is almost completely nonexistant.

My doctor says I have disorganized thinking, which sucks because I can't recognize it. I just know I can't read much more than a page or paragraph. People can't understand me when I'm talking to them alot of the times or they don't see how what I'm saying is relevant to their conversation.

I go through periods of restlessness where nothing really makes any sense, I am completely aimless and confused. I can't even watch TV for long before I can't stand it. I have to constantly change what I am doing all the time so I never get anything done.

The medications don't help me with this, they just make me tired.

I'm sorry to hear you're struggling wcoltd.

I have paranoid schizophrenia and I struggle too. What medication(s) are you on? Because some antipsychotics can actually aggravate negative symptoms. Have you tried medication specifically for negative symptoms?

I mainly get positive symptoms, but I do go through phases where I can't get out of bed and I can't do anything.

I am taking citalopram 20mg and abilify 5mg. I was taking zyprexa, but I have a condition which makes me susceptable to tardiv dysconesia.

My understanding is there are no antipsychotic medications that can really treat negative symptoms, all the antipsychotics treat the positive symptoms. I know there are no medications that can deal with cognitive declines as I have experienced. (inability to concentrate on things for very long and working memory loss). It's very frustrating especially when I look back at all the things I used to do well, like mathematics and tutoring, and now I have trouble with basic arithmetic.

I think negative symptoms are the hardest to treat when you are dealing with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder.

You could probably raise the Abilify quite a bit - 5mg of Abilify is fairly low, IMO. I've read in a few places that risperidone can also be helpful for negative symptoms. I've also read that using stimulants may also help - there's been some promising research showing that stimulants reduce negative symptoms.

I've tried citalopram but it really messed up my IBS so I had to come off it. That really sucks that you're susceptible to tardive dyskinesia, because Abilify 5mg is a low dose, does it hep you?

You're right - I only know one person from the hospital (I'm still in contact with him - unlike the rest of the people that got my mobile number from the psych ward - I had to block them on my phone) who has gone into 100% remission after treatment with antipsychotics.

That must be very troubling - that you have lost a lot of your cognitive skills. Negative skills are harder to deal with - and treat - with antipsychotics, definitely. Sorry if I came across as otherwise.

I am very fortunate in that my cognitive and athletic (I am a cross-country runner) skills have been relatively preserved (although due to multiple involuntary stays in hospital with little exercise, my stamina is a bit reduced). But when I have relapsed in the recent past, it's been police, handcuffs and a section 136 room with a double-bolted door.....

What medications have you tried in the whole time of your illness?

I've taken, lorazapam, paxil, and zyprexa in addition before switching to abilify and citalopram.

Fortunately I don't have really too much trouble with hearing voices or seeing things, or having bad delusions (when I am sleeping alright) so I could probably do fairly well off medications.

I think that you should have a chat with your doctor about your medications if you feel you'd be better off without them. Do you find the mixture of aripiprazole and citalopram too activating in any way?

I don't know what you mean by activating. I find I am less active on these medications, I am sleeping alot, or staying in bed, also I don't feel very refreshed when I wake up in the morning.

Oops I forgot that you do. I was thinking purely in pharmacological terms and not in realistic terms. I really don't think your medication is helping much though. But then mine don't help as much as I want them to either.

I just switched to Seroquel 300 mg.

I've been thinking that I might have something on the schiz spectrum. I'll see what my doctor says.

It could be really severe depression with paranoia, I dunno. It does suck, though.

If you don't mind me asking, what made you accept that you have paranoid schizophrenia? My mother gets very angry if I try to suggest that the people she thinks are roaming around the house are not real. There's no way she would agree to try any medication at this point.

my schizophrenia symptom asre as follows... delusions hallucinations of auditory nature, troulbe speaking during episodes and coordination problems, including fingers and toes. sometimes im fine and others times i am all over the place running around hearing music and voices and losing vocal control. i also have terrible word salad problems if you know what that is which during episodes cripples me socially. i am on no medication but used to be on adderall which made my isolation worse

I have schizoaffective disorder bipolar type and it does suck. My main symptom is the so called "delusions" which I don't like calling them that when I believe it so strongly. There are times where I don't sleep but more often I sleep too much. Without my sleeping pills I wouldn't sleep at all. If I go a week without sleep due to insomnia that is the trigger for my psychotic breaks. Stress also causes it. Like babybuggy32 I have word salad when I am in psychotic breaks but I have the weirdness of it being during the worst part of the day for me. My psychotic symptoms during the day fluctuates meaning some parts of the day I am better than others. I know this is weird and not normal. The worst times are in the middle of the day and when I get up. During the evening it calms down significantly thankfully. Sadly I have written posts while in word salad and it was embarrassing for me. My auditory hallucinations are very minor thankfully. I did have an episode in May that I did hear voices but it became worse after I got out of the hospital instead of during the hospital. Right now I am getting thought insertion and that hasn't totally gone away since May. Some days i don't get it though. I haven't heard actual voices in awhile though. I have been getting a small amount of visual hallucinations though. Sometimes I see people disappear right in front of me or things constantly running across the road. With me I get more visual hallucinations rather than voices. The thought insertion isn't audible. Its just very powerful thoughts from the outside forces. I have had weird experiences with that though. Sometimes they tell me about technologies that they have and other people tell me they are not real and then I read it on the news a few months later that they are working on this exact technology!