Posts by David Vaughn75

graniteorca62 said:Hey everyone, I'm new here... just wanted to see if anyone else is on Zyprexa and what kind of side effects you're dealing with. Right now, I'm taking 6.5 mg and honestly? I feel totally spaced out—like I'm just drifting through life unable to actually engage with the real world... does anyone else get that feeling? That's about it.

I'm on Zyprexa myself, and honestly, my only real complaint is the weight gain—I've put on some serious pounds. But look, you've gotta distinguish between what's actually a side effect from the meds and what's just a symptom of the underlying disorder itself. Besides, 6.5 mg is a pretty tiny dose. I used to be up at 20 mg for a while.

For me, the best part about being on Zyprexa is that I can still enjoy a few 🤣 🤣

Mark Nelson said:Is xanax actually more effective than Lorazepam when you're dealing with panic attacks?

Look, I’ve been on Lorazepam before and honestly? It hits hard—it definitely does the job.

The real kicker, though, is how insanely addictive it gets. Trying to get off the stuff was four straight days of absolute, unadulterated hell for me.
Between the insomnia and those waves of pure terror hitting me every hour on the hour... man, it was brutal.

Charles Patel said:I drop in on this thread every now and then to learn from these "real-life examples," since I work in the medical field. 😉

Quick question: for anyone here who used marijuana or other drugs that likely acted as a trigger for your condition—do you actually regret doing it now?

The weed itself isn't the issue; it's the damn reason why people start smoking it in the first place. 😉

Jason Sullivan87 said:So, what you're saying is you think you might have dodged the diagnosis if you hadn't smoked? Out of curiosity, how old were you when they actually gave you the diagnosis?

Look, the absolute worst thing is hitting the weed hard during your teen years—and yeah, I’m guilty as charged there. That’s when your brain is basically under construction, and being high while it's trying to wire itself... it just messes everything up. It develops all wrong. For me, the diagnosis hit right at the worst possible moment, right around age twenty, just when I was supposed to be finally getting my life together and building a future.

Jason Sullivan87 said:Greetings, everyone. It is truly a privilege that the internet exists today—allowing people facing various struggles to offer one another genuine support. I have a relative dealing with schizophrenia, and it’s been suggested that his condition was triggered by drug use—I am assuming something synthetic, perhaps ecstasy or some other "party" drug. I am curious if anyone else here has experienced something similar? Has anyone else dealt with a situation where a specific experience seemed to trigger a sudden mental storm? Specifically, do you believe he might have navigated life without schizophrenia had the drugs never entered the picture?

Look, science hasn't pinned down a single definitive cause for schizophrenia yet, but we do know that certain triggers—like drug use—can definitely crank up the odds of it manifesting. Think of it like this: a virus causes a cold, sure, but if your immune system is totally trashed, you're way more likely to catch it. Some people smoke weed or hit the clubs for decades and stay perfectly fine, which tells you there’s gotta be a genetic component at play too. But personally? I’ve always had this theory that I ended up with my own diagnosis because I smoked way too much weed back in the day.

Larry Lewis said:He probably just stopped taking his meds.

Classic move.

Honestly, 90% of patients getting readmitted to the hospital are there because they got it into their heads that they're "cured" and just don't need the pills anymore. It never occurs to them—duh—that the only reason they actually feel good is *because* of the medication. 🙄 I knew this one guy who thought he was a genius and tried tapering himself off six different times over two years, and every single time, he ended up back in the Sparrow ward. 🤣

The real kicker is when we start trying to feed that massive ego of ours.

It’s a total losing game—honestly, a fool's errand—because the ego is never satisfied; it just keeps clawing for more and more, no matter how much you give it.

Blue Jays, how did things shake out with that schizoaffective acquaintance of yours?

So, here’s the play-by-play on what went down today: our buddy who was working the unit with us started spiraling—full-on hallucinations, paranoid conspiracy theories, the whole nine yards. Then it got dark; he started threatening to take his own life, so the guys and I had to call 911, and they ended up hauling him off to a psych ward in Seattle. He made it pretty clear that we don't exist to him anymore because we blew the whistle, but honestly? If I could go back in time, I’d do the exact same thing. Look, if he actually goes through with it, I don't want that weight on my shoulders for the rest of my life thinking I could've stepped up but didn't. How this all plays out is out of my hands now, but I did what I could, and my conscience is clean.

Kevin Nguyen3 said:I stated quite clearly that he is a friend of mine.
And when it comes to friends, one doesn't simply say, "What do I care?"
The truth of the matter is, nobody is forcing me to maintain these connections, but I choose to. I want to. We have been close for a long time; we navigated a significant chapter of our lives together.
I cannot just toss all of that aside and forget it exists.
I never claimed he needed three types of medication immediately; I am merely concerned about his well-being. He is married and living relatively well—it isn't a total crisis.
He works, and he is respected in his industry.
Of course, I cannot offer him concrete assistance—I am not some clairvoyant like Milan—but I can certainly tell him what I think based on my own experiences.
From my small circle of actual friends, and even my larger circle of acquaintances, no one has any particular desire to provoke him, yet he possesses this unquenchable urge to stir the pot with everyone around him.
And it often leads to arguments that occasionally border on physical altercations. He has been in a physical fight more than once.
I have given this a great deal of thought; I am not the kind of man who would just leave our lives to be dictated by random circumstances. Especially not mine.

Your intentions are good and they're honest, and if things end up going south despite your best efforts, that's not on you.

Kevin Nguyen3 said:🤔

I had intended to start a thread, but I decided against it. If you happen to see a new topic appearing under my name, please believe me when I say it wasn't me. 🤣
Anyway... I am currently in contact with someone dealing with a very specific psychological disorder.
It looks something like this—a cocktail of schizoaffective disorder and paranoid schizophrenia.
The catch? The illness hasn't been identified, nor is any kind of diagnosis even being considered; in fact, bringing up such a thing is completely off the table. Not even a conversation about it.
There are persecutory delusions, delusions of grandeur, or perhaps a combination of both, often punctuated by bouts of extreme aggression—truly violent outbursts.
And then there are those irrational ideas stemming from the aforementioned issues (essentially projecting one's own perceived importance onto society).
What is fascinating is that their intelligence remains intact, as does their affect and speech patterns.
Regarding the schizoaffective aspect, I can't quite pin down anything extraordinary, aside from perhaps some disorganized thinking or paranoia bleeding into delusional thoughts.
No hallucinations. Mood swings? Hmm... I suspect they exist, though I cannot say for certain.
The issue is that the phases of depression and euphoria don't alternate in the typical way; it isn't bipolar.

All of this is, admittedly, in a very early stage, yet the framework of the entire situation is starting to take shape.
I see what is happening, but I remain silent. I have absolutely no intention of trying to convince anyone that exactly what I am describing is taking place.
What should be done?
Do I simply turn away and let time eventually confirm the illness, or do I speak up and risk a total severance of our connection?
It is simple, really... I just don't know what to do.

Look, in 99% of cases, people dealing with psychosis don't think they're psychotic—they think everyone else is just an idiot who hasn't caught on yet. You can try to talk sense into them, but honestly, you're just whistling in the wind☕ . And hey, look, you *can* try, because when it comes to psychosis, the rule is usually that the earlier the treatment starts, the better the shot at recovery. If you let it drag on too long, the personality fractures so deeply there’s no coming back. Now, if the person isn't having full-blown hallucinations and their cognitive skills aren't tanking, it might be a milder version, but those "mild" types are the ones who will never, ever admit they're sick.

The biggest mistake you can make is trying to prove they're wrong. They always have "proof." Like, if they see a neighbor sitting at a Starbucks, that's "proof" that the neighbor is bugging them. There's just no winning that argument, because they physically cannot stop thinking the thoughts they're thinking, even if they wanted to.

When people hit a psychotic break, they lose that adult maturity and revert to being incredibly childish, so that old-school reward/punishment system always works perfectly.😉

ruggedtinker9 said:I have been two years without any bouts of psychosis now... I am currently on 5mg of olanzapine, though I barely even feel the effects of the medication itself... Perhaps it calms me down slightly in the evening, which I suppose is fine. I have managed to find a job, I am in a relationship, I live on my own, and I handle all my responsibilities; I have also started taking certain supplements that seem to assist me by providing great energy, focus, and a sense of rejuvenation, or so it feels to me. I am not experiencing depression or any cognitive issues—essentially, there are no positive or negative symptoms. A great deal can change in the span of two years, and I believe the worst thing one can do is fail to try or lose faith that things can actually improve. More devastating than anything else is the treatment process for that crisis state known as psychosis. Even the psychosis itself isn't the most terrifying part; rather, it is the way people treat those who are in such a state. I hope I won't experience psychosis again, as my doctor wants to taper me off my medication, but I don't feel quite ready for that step yet. Furthermore, I suspect that the entire "mental illness" sector is somewhat exaggerated; I still maintain the view that mental illnesses aren't true diseases, but rather specific mechanisms for coping with life itself.

Two whole years? Man, when I was in the middle of an acute psychotic episode, my doctors told me it would take at least eight years before they'd even consider tapering me off the medication.

Nicole Barrett76 said:Suppose we find ourselves in a small American town where two individuals living with schizophrenia both know each other's diagnosis—perhaps they even attended the same group therapy sessions together.

Now, imagine one of them suffers an acute psychotic episode; his family calls 911 immediately, but in this scenario, neither the paramedics nor the police can arrive in time. In that desperate moment, all they have left is the option to ask the other individual—who is currently stable—to share his antipsychotic medication to help calm the situation.

The complication, however, is that both men are prescribed entirely different types of antipsychotics for their specific needs.

In such a dire crisis, is it more prudent to wait for the emergency responders to arrive with the correct prescription, or is there any wisdom in reaching for the medication held by the other person?

Look, every psychotic episode is its own beast, so you can't just assume the meds are interchangeable.

Larry Lewis said:Honestly, that’s just my take—the guy is aggressive, totally unhinged, and we all know what the diagnosis is going to be... schizophrenia or some other flavor of that.

I mean, look at me—when a damn moth flies into my room, I’ll actually go through the trouble of catching it and letting it back outside so it doesn't die in there—and I’ve got schizophrenia myself.

So, I was reading this study earlier—and honestly, it’s one of those things that makes you realize how much we all just buy into whatever scary headline pops up on our feeds—and get this: people with schizophrenia are actually only about 3% more violent on average than everyone else. Just 3%. Like, barely a rounding error. It really goes to show how much the media loves to lean into those tired old tropes, right? They paint this picture of someone being a ticking time bomb, when in reality, the math says they're basically no different from the guy sitting next to you on the subway or the dude cutting you off in traffic in Chicago. It’s wild how much fear-mongering goes into shaping what we think "dangerous" looks like, when the actual data is so incredibly close to the baseline. Typical.

James Murphy3 said:Asking yourself a question doesn't make you a philosopher; finding the answer does. Anyone can ask a question, but not everyone can actually find the answer. 😉

Philosophy is all about speculation—it’s not built to hand you easy answers on a silver platter.

At its core, philosophy is really just about asking the questions.

Bertrand Russell, "Western wisdom". Honestly, this might be the single best book out there if you’re just trying to wrap your head around philosophy without falling into a total coma.

Old-school antipsychotics like Modiodol are usually thrown at people who are just totally all over the place emotionally—you know, those folks who are constantly spiraling or just super agitated

Arthur Scott5 said:Well, I suppose I shall follow your advice then. I intend to commit myself to my treatment so that I might actually feel better. For these past few days, the voices have subsided somewhat, and I’ve been prescribed some new medications—I believe they are helping, as I find myself engaging with people much more frequently now.

Is this your first time checking into a hospital?

Look, the doctors aren't just looking at your charts—they're watching how you carry yourself. They want to see if you're keeping things tidy, if you're actually interacting with other patients, and if you're showing up and participating in group therapy sessions. Just do exactly what I told you before and they'll cut you loose sooner. And for heaven's sake, be honest with them—just tell the doctors everything that's going on in your head.

Larry Lewis said:I honestly can't tell anymore—it seems like everyone is just broadcasting their own ailments these days, even the ones who claim they're perfectly healthy🤷

Honestly, it’s just people desperate for some attention and a little sympathy. Let's face it, nobody gives you much of either anymore, so they resort to these kinds of tactics just to feel seen.

Larry Lewis said:So, I have to wonder—is it actually permissible for someone dealing with schizophrenia to take some twisted pleasure in their own illness, using it as an excuse to just act like a total jerk to everyone around them, all while expecting people to still keep loving them?

Let’s have a little sing-along: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAqZb52sgpU

Sure he can, but let me tell you, it never ends well.

Arthur Scott5 said:I am going to start making a fuss about being discharged from the hospital; I intend to pretend I am perfectly healthy because I simply cannot endure staying there any longer. My own mind keeps whispering to me that I am harming these patients—that I am performing some sort of unspeakable, vile acts—and frankly, I would much rather be back in my own home than stay here just to be medicated into a state of compliance. Whatever happens after that, well, that is for the universe to decide, I suppose. Does anyone happen to have a contact number for an exceptionally good psychiatrist? Ideally, someone who might offer services without a massive bill, though I realize that may be asking too much. Please, if anyone can help, let me know.

Look, if you start acting like you're ready to walk out that door, they’re just gonna call in a court-appointed evaluator who’ll happily sign off on a three-month involuntary hold.

At the end of the day, the location doesn't matter nearly as much as actually getting your head right.