What is schizophenia like?

Post Reply New Topic

What are the real world issues that it cause for you?
What would it be like if you could not be treated for it?

I do have a personal reason for asking.
I might becoming schizophrenic and wont be treatable.

in my case, it is being paranoid to the point of hiding inside all the time. and it is not often knowing the difference between reality and illusion.

I hear voices for many hours a day. I see Spies outside my house and one the streets and They really frighten me at times. I can stay in my bedroom for days and days with the curtains shut because I am so scared of Mindreading and Spying.

At my worst points in my illness, I have had to be sectioned by the police because I was convinced that I was going to become God if I carried out a "Mission", which always involved me dying. I went to Wimbledon Common several times and twice tried to set myself on fire when the police found me (I've been sectioned 7 times by the police).

At my "best", I hear voices a lot still, and I find it hard to go out. But I do try to exercise, eat healthily etc so that I stand a chance of counteracting the symptoms.

1) Why won't it be treatable?

2) Most ppl at high risk for psychosis - even most ppl with schizotypal PD - don't develop schizophrenia, eventhough they have a higher propability of course.

Schizophrenia is not a problem I suffer from, but I am curious about it. Is schizophrenia like autism in that it is something that is with its sufferers from earliest childhood? Or is its onset later? And if so, does it peak at a certain age and then decline?

Just curious.

I have two nephews that have it,I think it usually presents in early twenties.At least it did with them.They showed no symptoms during childhood to my knowledge.

From: Schizophrenia Facts and Statistics
http://www.schizophrenia.com/szfacts.htm#

Thank you.

If you've just got some symptoms then fine. Bad, is when you have got all the array of symptoms you cannot comprehend or understand and become a danger to yourself and others.
That's all I know, and say this also because my nans sister lives with her grandson who is 35 and she is 83. with dementia.
Medication is the only way to control severe symptoms of this kind of illness.

Last edited by glow on 19 Oct 2013, 10:57 am, edited 1 time in total.

Late onset because it will be caused by other brain issue not the normal abnormal brain chemistry. That is also why it wont be treatable there is damage to certain key areas in the brain causing it to start hence not treatable directly.

okay, I understood that so far, but damage to certain brainareas is common, but that it causes schizophrenia is rare.
Why do they/you think, you might develop schizophrenia because of that?

Medication can still help, but wouldn't be that effective in that case. Also in "normal" cases of schizophrenia you can find differences in the brainstructure.

And in cases like this it is even much more difficult to predict wich symptoms you are gonna develop (or if they are necesserely schizophrenic in any way) or how you are gonna react to meds and so on.

Last edited by Raziel on 19 Oct 2013, 11:00 am, edited 1 time in total.

Raziel, what prompted my question is that I was recently reading about Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett, a story I'm sure many of you are familiar with. Was his schizophrenia caused by the toxic assault of LSD and other drugs? Or was his predisposition toward these drugs caused by an innate, incipient schizophrenia?

I'm not familiar with that story.
But besides that, there is a high connection between substance abuse and schizophrenia.
You can read it up here for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_ ... stance_use

"The relationship between schizophrenia and drug use is complex, meaning that a clear causal connection between drug use and schizophrenia has been difficult to tease apart. There is strong evidence that using certain drugs can trigger either the onset or relapse of schizophrenia in some people. It may also be the case, however, that people with schizophrenia use drugs to overcome negative feelings associated with both the commonly prescribed antipsychotic medication and the condition itself, where negative emotion, paranoia and anhedonia are all considered to be core features.
The rate of substance use is known to be particularly high in this group. In a recent study, 60% of people with schizophrenia were found to use substances and 37% would be diagnosable with a substance use disorder."

Have you ever heard of the rock band Pink Floyd? Barrett was the talent behind that spacy, psychedelic sound. He was an extremely talented musician--at least until he was overtaken by his schizophrenia. After that, he spent the rest of his life living in his mother's basement:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syd_Barrett

I have schizoaffective disorder along with severe anxiety and depression. of course autism as well. Luckily I haven't been hearing much voices lately but all other symptoms of ALL my disorders are very severe. I'm sitting here crying, extremely depressed and anxious. Dad told me today that expect a LOT more stress in the near future. This year already was hell for us as was last year. This year I ended up in the mental hospital for a psychotic break. I was seeing and hearing things like crazy. It got to the point that I also had micro episodes WITHIN the main episode. Its where I would suddenly hear extremely loud voices and see people surrounding me, and I would yell and scream and hide behind the bed. I am under stress. Severe stress. I'm scared of my mind being read all the time because of thought broadcasting. I also get thought insertion. There is perfection in the world right now and it scares me. Nothing bad is happening in the world and all the bad is happening right here. Next year the Dow will hit at least 17,000 and Google stock at 1,500. The economy will go at a record pace. Everything will be great in the world. Very few disasters next year. Very few negative stories. All just right here in my life. Its like God is laughing at us with his giant finger going ha ha ha. This beautiful house will be gone next year. Money will be a thing of the distant past. I am a dark storm cloud. I produce thunder and lightning on my planet. Even though there will be world peace next year, it won't last forever. A war with China will also come and I still need to complete my mission. I don't know why I was sent here. A lot of things are the same like my family but sometimes it gets so bad that I don't recognize them or even myself. Actually right now when I look in the mirror I don't recognize myself and I look distorted and almost alien. right now the slightest unexpected noise makes me jump up and then make me scream and break down. At the doctor today someone dropped something and it made a loud noise and I thought it was gunfire and I made a scream.

^
You are a heroine