Schizophrenia - General Discussion

There was a lot going on back then (during my psychotic episode).

Jose Ward4 said:The absolute craziest thing I ever did while I was going through a psychotic break was actually checking myself into the hospital 😁 (the local psychiatric ward)

Man, if only I were half as wild as that...🤣

they wouldn't have kept me locked up for six whole months.

But hey, that's just how life goes, I guess...☕

Harold Anderson3 said:What’s the absolute craziest, most nonsensical thing you’ve ever done during a psychotic episode?
For me, I decided I was just going to walk from Washington, D.C., all the way to the coast, wearing nothing but a T-shirt and shorts.
I genuinely thought to myself, "Hey, I'll be at the beach in maybe three days tops."
The girl I was doing all this for, well, she turned me down, naturally. ☕
I'm being completely honest about everything I wrote here.

Last year, this guy decided to hike all the way from a small town in the Midwest toward Italy. They eventually found him in Greece.
He was perfectly fine until a year ago when a car accident triggered everything, and ever since then he's been a completely different person—dealing with these bizarre delusions and totally letting himself and his apartment go to hell. His therapist said the illness had been lying dormant inside him until he hit his late thirties, and then that crash just flipped the switch on everything.

Harold Anderson3 said:What’s the absolute craziest, most nonsensical thing you’ve ever done during a psychotic episode?
For me, I decided I was just going to walk from Washington, D.C., all the way to the coast, wearing nothing but a T-shirt and shorts.
I genuinely thought to myself, "Hey, I'll be at the beach in maybe three days tops."
The girl I was doing all this for, well, she turned me down, naturally. ☕
I'm being completely honest about everything I wrote here.

My first episode back in '99: I actually walked up to a police officer, snatched the hat right off his head, and told him, "You're fired from the Department of Justice effective immediately." Naturally, as the invincible master of the universe, I ended up getting absolutely wrecked by the rest of the officers. As for the guy I "fired," he was pretty shaken up.

Robin Lopez2 said:My first episode back in '99: I actually walked up to a police officer, snatched the hat right off his head, and told him, "You're fired from the Department of Justice effective immediately." Naturally, as the invincible master of the universe, I ended up getting absolutely wrecked by the rest of the officers. As for the guy I "fired," he was pretty shaken up.

I've heard that story before. 🤣🤣 So you're actually that legendary Pokemon!! 🙂 🤣

ruggedmarlin18 said:Last year, this guy decided to hike all the way from a small town in the Midwest toward Italy. They eventually found him in Greece.
He was perfectly fine until a year ago when a car accident triggered everything, and ever since then he's been a completely different person—dealing with these bizarre delusions and totally letting himself and his apartment go to hell. His therapist said the illness had been lying dormant inside him until he hit his late thirties, and then that crash just flipped the switch on everything.

Man, that sounds a lot like my situation, though I wasn't exactly trying to cross any borders. Did this guy miss a flight or something?🤔 😉
E: Oh, I see now that he was on foot. Still, I'm a little confused by the geography... starting in Poland, heading to Italy... and ending up in Greece? 😁

Harold Anderson3 said:I've heard that story before. 🤣🤣 So you're actually that legendary Pokemon!! 🙂 🤣

Well, I ended up confessing everything in court later on, and they declared me incompetent. 😁

There was this one stretch where I kept seeing ghosts. I’d go out of my way to avoid wherever they might be, practically jumping around like a fool because every time one appeared, I’d either bolt or just stare at it in total panic...
During one psychiatric evaluation, there was actually a ghost right there in the exam room. My eyes were darting everywhere—I had pure terror written all over my face. The psychiatrist noticed immediately, but I lied and told him I was just looking at the furniture.

The worst part, though, is the catatonic episodes. Some of them hit incredibly hard. You just freeze up completely, totally lifeless, with absolutely zero strength to move an inch.
I’m terrified of those episodes because I can’t seem to break out of them. Has anyone else dealt with this?

Rebecca Rivera3 said:There was this one stretch where I kept seeing ghosts. I’d go out of my way to avoid wherever they might be, practically jumping around like a fool because every time one appeared, I’d either bolt or just stare at it in total panic...
During one psychiatric evaluation, there was actually a ghost right there in the exam room. My eyes were darting everywhere—I had pure terror written all over my face. The psychiatrist noticed immediately, but I lied and told him I was just looking at the furniture.

The worst part, though, is the catatonic episodes. Some of them hit incredibly hard. You just freeze up completely, totally lifeless, with absolutely zero strength to move an inch.
I’m terrified of those episodes because I can’t seem to break out of them. Has anyone else dealt with this?

I've actually never heard of the catatonic state before.😕

So, you mean that feeling where you're just physically unable to move? If I remember correctly, that's a symptom of catatonic schizophrenia.😕

I've been through quite a lot in my life, but I've never experienced anything quite like that.

Harold Anderson3 said:I've actually never heard of the catatonic state before.😕

So, you mean that feeling where you're just physically unable to move? If I remember correctly, that's a symptom of catatonic schizophrenia.😕

I've been through quite a lot in my life, but I've never experienced anything quite like that.

That’s true... it started manifesting during one particularly stressful period.

I also had intense episodes of twitching and muscle tremors, uncontrolled head shaking, jaw spasms, and then I would just end up stuck in some incredibly unnatural, rigid position, especially with my arms twisted in ways that made no sense. And I'd stay like that for hours...
It actually subsided about a month and a half ago.

Harold Anderson3 said:Man, that sounds a lot like my situation, though I wasn't exactly trying to cross any borders. Did this guy miss a flight or something?🤔 😉
E: Oh, I see now that he was on foot. Still, I'm a little confused by the geography... starting in Poland, heading to Italy... and ending up in Greece? 😁

They spent months hunting him down, and now he’s stuck in a hospital bed. His family is hurting, sure, but honestly, the people who actually give a damn are those folks who kept telling me all about him. He caused them nothing but massive headaches, but they still care about him deep down (even if they aren't blood relatives).
I have no clue how he managed to travel all over the place; we didn't hear from him directly about being back in Poland, we only found out through his kids.
Everyone keeps saying what a great guy he was :-(

Jose Ward4 said:Well, if you're busy washing dishes, you've got it easy! As for me, I've been taking Vaira for three months straight since I was discharged from the hospital, and honestly, it’s helping. I get hit with this wave of sleepiness in the middle of the day sometimes, though it isn't a daily thing. I can't tell if it's the medication or if it's just the weather acting up. Still, the medicine suits me; it has this calming effect. The tricky part is the risk of developing diabetes within a year, so I'll eventually have to switch things up. Back when I was in the hospital, I was on Apurin for about 20 days.

I haven't been around here for a bit—my PC has been acting up, so I missed all the notifications.

Not much going on with me, Jose Ward4. Honestly? Nothing. I’m just coasting, and I know it—people call me a leech, and yeah, maybe they're right. Most of my days are spent sleeping for like 12 hours at a stretch, and the rest of the time I’m just glued to the computer or the TV because it keeps my mind quiet. Keeps the thoughts from swarming so much. It’s just a shame half my gear doesn't work right and I don't really have the setup to do anything more productive, so I spend most of my time just idling away on the internet.

In reality, I’m basically doing nothing. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, but it adds up to zero.

Hopefully things get better for us—or at least don't get any worse. A guy can dream.

Rebecca Rivera3 said:Steve Jobs, were you hospitalized over the holidays?
Taking Apaurin for 20 days isn't exactly a crisis... unfortunately, I've been taking my Xanax daily for years now.
I'm glad they finally found a medication that works for you. It might make you feel pretty drowsy, though. My own treatment makes me incredibly sleepy; I end up napping almost every single afternoon, which I'd love to avoid, but it is what it is. As long as I'm relatively functional despite the insomnia, that's what matters. Most importantly, I feel much better since starting this new regimen—emotionally stable and mentally clearer.
The only downside is that I've put on some weight, so I'll be starting a diet soon.

Jose Ward4 was around, but honestly, I felt like absolute crap too. It came pretty close to me trying to end it all for the New Year.

I don't know if the med fits me, though—I don't have hallucinations and never have, but it doesn't matter because nobody believes me except my family. They wrote it down that they're discharging me and my folks because I caused a scene at the hospital and they wouldn't believe me—long story. They're treating me with the wrong therapy because they think I have bipolar disorder. Meanwhile, the meds work fine for Jose Ward4.

It's good that it's working for you and you're feeling better. As for the weight gain, I haven't a clue what you should try.

As for me, I eat less—volume-wise, anyway. I skip a meal here and there, cut back on bread, and just grab some fruit when I'm hungry. Usually a banana. But I'm thin—always have been, actually, I'm probably a pound underweight. I could probably use another quarter pound to be at a "normal" weight for my height, and I'm not sure how much that's actually good for my health, because as you can see, things are just getting worse even though I've never really been well. That's just how I handle it.

My health issues probably spiraled when I took some supplement meant for gaining weight. I bulked up fast from it, but then everything tanked, and maybe that's why my physical health deteriorated even further. Then again, other health problems started creeping in too, but I didn't seek treatment for various reasons.

I hope you feel better, Rebecca Rivera3. That's what matters most.

🎉

I think I was in some kind of manic state—some kind of delusion, I guess. I stepped out right in front of a car; they slammed on the brakes and missed me. Then, I turned around and just... stepped out again, and this time they hit me. Honestly, I didn't even see it coming, didn't feel a thing—nothing. It was just the paramedics picking me up later and rushing me to the hospital. This wasn't even the first time, either. The first time, I was causing all this unexplainable chaos in the ER.

Those idiots that Rebecca Rivera3 is talking about. Does that include things like head twitching or hitting yourself in the head with your hand?

Rebecca Rivera3 said:That’s true... it started manifesting during one particularly stressful period.

I also had intense episodes of twitching and muscle tremors, uncontrolled head shaking, jaw spasms, and then I would just end up stuck in some incredibly unnatural, rigid position, especially with my arms twisted in ways that made no sense. And I'd stay like that for hours...
It actually subsided about a month and a half ago.

I remember lying in a psych ward about ten years ago. During rounds, I sat on the bed talking to the doctors when suddenly my left leg just went wild. It was shaking so hard it was practically bouncing off the floor, and I couldn't make it stop. I tried using my hands to steady it, but nothing worked. The doctors didn't say anything at the time. But when rounds came around the next day, I was sitting on that same bed, and the head doctor looks at me and says, "Alright, show us that trick with your leg again." I just stared at him. I told him it wasn't a trick; it just happened out of nowhere. I tried to shake my leg on purpose, but it wouldn't happen like it did yesterday. You simply can't force it to happen like that. It never happened again, and it had never happened before either.

Yeah... you can't just stop shaking or trembling on command...
My psychologist explained that this is happening because I haven't been releasing all the emotional stress I've been bottling up.

Robin Lopez2... it’s similar to what you described with your leg, except for me, it’s my entire body. It feels completely out of control, like something has taken over and won't let go. Sometimes I manage to get a moment of relief, but then it starts back up a minute later, and it keeps going like that indefinitely until I take a pill and pass out. After that, I’m exhausted for three days straight, feeling almost comatose, and my whole body aches—my jaw, my head, my muscles... everything. That’s what scares me most. But I think I know the trigger, and as long as I stay away from it, things should settle down.
I wasn't hitting my head or anything like that; it was just muscle spasms, tremors, teeth grinding, jaw clenching, etc. And then the paralysis kicks in...

Today, I’m making a really tough call about whether or not to drop out of college. Mentally, it's just too much. On top of the schizophrenia, I've fallen into a psychotic depression and I feel everything so intensely... I can't keep going like this. I can't keep up with my responsibilities, and the therapy meds have me sleeping constantly. I just woke up a little while ago...

Hey there, my fellow enthusiasts, how are we all doing on the weight front?
I have to admit... I’m not exactly having my best moment here.
Right now, I’m sitting somewhere between 185 and 195 pounds, standing about 5'11".
I've definitely had phases where I was much leaner, though I’ve also seen higher numbers—if I recall correctly, my personal "not-so-proud" record was around 210 pounds.
I tend to drink quite a lot of coffee (usually with milk) and sweetened tea, which I'm sure isn't helping me stay light on my feet.
On top of that, one of those pesky side effects from taking certain antipsychotics is significant weight gain.
The official word is that they just boost your appetite, but if you ask me, it feels more like they slow down your entire metabolism.
Plus, when you're dealing with depression, it seems like you end up reaching for food much more often than someone experiencing mania or psychosis might.

I’m really struggling with my weight right now. Honestly, I’m not even overweight—my BMI is sitting at 19—but compared to how I was before starting this medication, I’ve gained about 10 pounds. Even though I know I’m not actually heavy, I just feel bloated and out of shape. I’m definitely going on a diet; I feel much better when I’m leaner, and this extra weight is really weighing on me mentally.

@Rebecca Rivera3, look, when it comes to gaining weight, you really need to start dating guys who actually have some substance to them, you know? 🙂

I mean, at least it’s good for recreation. You know, keeping the heart healthy and all that sort of thing. 😁

Weight isn't really an issue for me. I'm sitting around 155 pounds or so, and I'm nearly 6'6". Honestly, I don't even know my exact weight anymore. Last time I stepped on the scale I was about 170, but I might have dropped a bit—mostly because I tend to skip meals when I'm sleeping through half the day. I usually just make up for it later with something else, which is nothing new, but sometimes—especially when I'm getting into it with my family—I just won't eat at all. 😢