Schizophrenia - General Discussion

Of course you realize the gravity of things once the fog finally lifts.
Once the hallucinations subside, you’re left staring at a reality that feels fundamentally altered.

From where I’m sitting, the trajectory looks like this: you lose your grip, end up in a psychiatric ward, crawl back home, and spend your days swallowing a mountain of pills until, eventually, you taper down and stabilize. Your perception settles, and the hallucinations stop.

But here’s the kicker—life is never going to feel quite the same again, regardless of how long you stay in remission.

At that point, you just have to accept that most people are going to carry certain prejudices against those they label as "crazy." Fair enough.

Then there's the medication cycle: you have to take an antipsychotic that often triggers depression, which then necessitates an antidepressant... It's a total circus. 🙂☕

Larry Lewis said:I honestly can't tell if I'm losing my grip on reality or if you're just being intentionally cryptic, but I am completely lost as to what you're trying to say here.

I'll admit, I didn't phrase that very well. What I meant was this: if I'm in a psychotic state and believe I am Jesus, then in that moment, that is my reality. If I think I'm an alien, then I am an alien. If I think I'm a monkey, or even the Queen of England, that’s my truth. No one can convince me otherwise until my medication brings me out of the psychosis and allows me to think clearly again—to realize I was wrong and that my perception was off.

Noah Garcia4 said:Of course you realize the gravity of things once the fog finally lifts.
Once the hallucinations subside, you’re left staring at a reality that feels fundamentally altered.

From where I’m sitting, the trajectory looks like this: you lose your grip, end up in a psychiatric ward, crawl back home, and spend your days swallowing a mountain of pills until, eventually, you taper down and stabilize. Your perception settles, and the hallucinations stop.

But here’s the kicker—life is never going to feel quite the same again, regardless of how long you stay in remission.

At that point, you just have to accept that most people are going to carry certain prejudices against those they label as "crazy." Fair enough.

Then there's the medication cycle: you have to take an antipsychotic that often triggers depression, which then necessitates an antidepressant... It's a total circus. 🙂☕

Fair point, you're right. But look, someone with high blood pressure takes medication, someone with diabetes uses insulin, and so on. We just got a bad hand dealt to us. The bottom line is being able to function normally. If it weren't for effective medicine, everyone would be stuck in an asylum forever.

Robin Lopez2 said:Fair point, you're right. But look, someone with high blood pressure takes medication, someone with diabetes uses insulin, and so on. We just got a bad hand dealt to us. The bottom line is being able to function normally. If it weren't for effective medicine, everyone would be stuck in an asylum forever.

Right, because clearly, we’d all just be chained to stone walls like people were 300 years ago. I get it.

🤦I keep running into people who claim they've "healed" themselves while still popping daily meds.

What can I say? Even my antidepressants barely touch the surface, yet this condition is chronic and stays with me for good. 🙂

Noah Garcia4 said:Right, because clearly, we’d all just be chained to stone walls like people were 300 years ago. I get it.

🤦I keep running into people who claim they've "healed" themselves while still popping daily meds.

What can I say? Even my antidepressants barely touch the surface, yet this condition is chronic and stays with me for good. 🙂

Look, sure, a clean, organized life is supposed to be the "cure," but how is that even possible when you've got millions of people out of work and everyone else is drowning in massive mortgage debt just to keep a roof over their heads? It's a joke—nothing actually helps. 😢

David Vaughn75 said:Look, sure, a clean, organized life is supposed to be the "cure," but how is that even possible when you've got millions of people out of work and everyone else is drowning in massive mortgage debt just to keep a roof over their heads? It's a joke—nothing actually helps. 😢

Look, the state of society isn't really our responsibility, but when the economy hits the fan, we unfortunately end up being part of the wreckage too. 😬

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/02/he...brain-research

Can someone please dig up some actual substance 🙂 🙂 instead of just scrolling through this

My apologies, I haven't been keeping up with the news 😉☕

Noah Garcia4 said:Look, the state of society isn't really our responsibility, but when the economy hits the fan, we unfortunately end up being part of the wreckage too. 😬

Exactly. It’s like, sure, you can try to distance yourself, but when everyone around you is absolutely screwed, you're gonna feel the burn too.🙂

David Vaughn75 said:Exactly. It’s like, sure, you can try to distance yourself, but when everyone around you is absolutely screwed, you're gonna feel the burn too.🙂

I can’t decide which scenario feels more bleak: whether there’s absolutely no hope left for us when you find yourself stuck in a room full of people acting like total clowns, or if the sheer weight of constant negativity from everyone around you just starts to erode your sanity. It’s a toss-up between being surrounded by pure, unadulterated stupidity and simply being drained by a relentless wave of pessimism.

Noah Garcia4 said:I can’t decide which scenario feels more bleak: whether there’s absolutely no hope left for us when you find yourself stuck in a room full of people acting like total clowns, or if the sheer weight of constant negativity from everyone around you just starts to erode your sanity. It’s a toss-up between being surrounded by pure, unadulterated stupidity and simply being drained by a relentless wave of pessimism.

Definitely the second one.

When everyone around you is in a foul mood, it drags you right down into the gutter with them.

David Vaughn75 said:Definitely the second one.

When everyone around you is in a foul mood, it drags you right down into the gutter with them.

I was just curious 😬 if it’s actually possible for us to have feelings at all 😈

you know, like that total emotional numbness you see in people with schizophrenia or whatever.🥳

Noah Garcia4 said:I was just curious 😬 if it’s actually possible for us to have feelings at all 😈

you know, like that total emotional numbness you see in people with schizophrenia or whatever.🥳

you just let everyone else's opinion get under your skin too much

honestly, I gave up a long time ago on trying to make sense of how backwards this whole society is 🥳

David Vaughn75 said:you just let everyone else's opinion get under your skin too much

honestly, I gave up a long time ago on trying to make sense of how backwards this whole society is 🥳

🙂 Sure, I get that, but I don't think anyone outside of America has any more empathy for people struggling with mental health than we do; at least, that's my take on it.

And then there’s the way they write about the experience—reading these descriptions of how someone with schizophrenia feels when they're spiraling, it’s like they're describing life on a completely different planet. 😂😕

So, it's all about being in an alien, unfamiliar environment, right? Well, that's exactly how it works even during remission; a hallucination isn't just some isolated event disconnected from reality. 😂☕

we really went overboard with the 🙂

David Vaughn75 said:we really went overboard with the 🙂

🙂 let's stick to the topic at hand😵

How many Jesuses are in here 🥳
I always like to tell people I’m in remission, mostly just so I can pass for somewhat normal in public, but my psychiatrist actually told me today that I’m definitely not.
Anyway, who am I to argue? Not my business, really.

Personally, I feel pretty great 🥳

And Noah Garcia4, go clear out your inbox.

Cleaned up 🥳

So, what exactly did you say to her that made her totally freeze you out? 😕 I mean, obviously, it’s your business if you want to keep it quiet.
It just seems like there's this massive weight of expectation placed on your shoulders. 🤷☕

Jessica Fowler4 said:http://www.acnp.org/g4/gn401000116/ch114.html

Could you give me a quick rundown of what this research is actually getting at? I can see you have a pretty solid handle on brain chemistry, but honestly, I feel like I could read this thing ten times over and still miss the forest for the trees.☕

Noah Garcia4 said:Could you give me a quick rundown of what this research is actually getting at? I can see you have a pretty solid handle on brain chemistry, but honestly, I feel like I could read this thing ten times over and still miss the forest for the trees.☕

Oh, never mind, I think I get it now... it's about another way to approach schizophrenia... focusing on how it affects NMDA receptors...

So, the whole logic kind of stems from ketamine—which, by the way, is a general anesthetic used in humans sometimes, but mostly on animals—it basically shuts down those NMDA receptors and triggers symptoms that look a lot like schizophrenia... and since ketamine actually makes schizophrenia symptoms worse, specifically the positive ones, researchers figured maybe people with schizophrenia have issues with their NMDA receptors, so they started there... they actually saw some pretty good results with about a third of patients being treated with glycine (which you find in things like soy, for instance) because it helps those NMDA receptors work better... so now, future studies are looking into developing NMDA agonists or other ways to boost that NMDA signaling...

In one specific study, ketamine made the symptoms worse for chronic schizophrenic patients who were active... but then, there was this one case with a chronic catatonic patient where ketamine actually pulled them out of the catatonia and the person recovered...

Anyway, just hang in there... maybe you could even show this text to your doctor and see about trying some glycine supplements just to see if it helps anything at all...