Posts by David Vaughn75

Arthur Scott5 said:Yes, I did ask for it, and now we’ll just have to see how things unfold. I’m hoping for the best. I’ve been there for two weeks now, and for the most part, everything seems to be settling down quite nicely. Still, I suppose those lingering thoughts about microchipping and a few other matters haven't entirely vanished from my mind, though I am hopeful that those concerns will eventually stabilize as well. I really do appreciate you all being there for me. 😁

Look, meds can handle the psychosis part, but they don't really do much once it morphs into neurosis. You're at that stage where you actually have enough headspace to use some self-suggestion to push those intrusive thoughts aside.

Eric Mitchell55 said:Can people diagnosed with schizophrenia enroll in driving school?

Yeah, they can.

And honestly, they aren't even allowed to grill you about whether you've got mental health issues or anything like that.

Honestly, the absolute best move you can make is to just stop touching any kind of stimulants altogether. It’s a total trap—every single one of those things hits you with this massive wave of exhaustion once they wear off, leaving you feeling way more wiped out than if you hadn't taken them in the first place. Just cut it all out and try to squeeze in at least two hours of sleep a day

Honestly, if you’ve got a paranoid or psychotic brain, pretty much anything meant for entertainment can be twisted into some kind of genocide. I mean, seriously—should we just label the blues as American cultural genocide next? For fuck's sake, maybe I should just ban all music since it's clearly out here committing mass atrocities.

What’s the point of some wise little nugget of advice? It’s not gonna fix your problems, trust me.

You basically have to cultivate this specific headspace where you look at the absolute cesspool we’re all wading through and somehow convince yourself it looks beautiful.
It’s a total delusion, obviously—but hey, it makes dealing with the daily grind a hell of a lot easier to stomach.

Larry Lewis said:Ugh, the dentist... honestly, I’m just sitting here, counting down the days until I inevitably have to go in and have them yank the nerves out of a few of my lower front teeth. Just waiting for the inevitable.

Honestly, I’m feeling a bit off lately—and I don't mean that in a poetic way—but it's mostly because my treatment plan keeps getting shuffled around due to all this endless bureaucratic nonsense. It feels like every time I get settled into a routine, some administrator at the insurance company or a clerk at the clinic decides to move the goalposts just for the sake of it. It’s exhausting, really. I’d love to be more present, but what can you actually do when you're caught in the gears of a system that seems designed to be as inefficient as possible? It’s enough to make anyone feel a bit unmoored.

So, that’s how I’m getting through the day—just pushing along, one foot in front of the other. At least I’m not spiraling into full-blown psychotic thoughts right now, though—well, I did have this moment where I was absolutely certain I heard a voice, just a fleeting thing—but let’s just call it what it was: a trick of the mind. Let's just leave it at "I thought I heard something" and move on before things get complicated.🙂

Just the usual depression and low spirits... dragging me down again.

Man, this depression thing is such a trip... like, sure, everyone tells you it’s just "brain chemistry," but what about the rest of it? What about being stuck without a job in this economy, or having zero real friends to lean on? Or the fact that most girls aren't exactly looking to date someone dealing with schizoaffective disorder? Not to mention my family situation is an absolute dumpster fire... but hey, nobody wants to hear that. Is there some magic little pill that fixes all those real-world problems too?

Larry Lewis said:So, everyone—how am I doing? Am I holding up alright?

Chicago
Honestly, my dentist has basically become one of my best friends at this point.
In just six months, he’s already had to fix five of my teeth—and god knows, we've still got two more to go. 😢

Look, forgiveness only actually works if the person who screwed you over genuinely feels like garbage about it and finally realizes they were dead wrong.

But let’s be real—that almost never happens in the real world, so why even bother wasting your energy on forgiving them? ☕

Donna Newman82 said:It’s honestly overwhelming—sad, terrifying, and surreal all at once. Sometimes it feels like I'm watching a movie; one part of me is fully present, while the other feels like I'm just drifting through a dream. I'll admit, I'm a little scared that this might become her permanent reality. It’s not even just about schizophrenia; seeing how deeply this illness can tear someone apart is eye-opening. The mind is such a fragile thing, especially when everything descends into chaos. It’s hard on us, sure, but I can't help but wonder what she's actually going through. It feels strange that she's experiencing this now. We never imagined things would reach this point. We thought maybe Alzheimer's, since she had those brief lapses in memory before, but this is different. Her whole life has been an uphill battle, even just being at peace with herself. I find myself wondering why things didn't break like this sooner, especially since these issues don't typically surface so heavily after age 30 or 40. Honestly, I think I might need to find a therapist myself; I can't just sit here typing forever xD, but I really feel the need to talk things through.

Just please, don't write her off immediately. Recovering from any kind of psychosis is a marathon, not a sprint. It took me about six months just to stop acting completely out of my mind—and even then, I wasn't exactly "normal," just stable enough to function in daily life.

ironrider11 said:I tried "experimenting" this morning and took 6 or 7... Nothing.
Just felt sweaty and half-conscious from about 3 AM to 7 AM. Guess it doesn't work for me.
The cause was just being unable to pull my thoughts together for hours... total mental meltdown.
I haven't touched Adderall in a week, but this one conversation I had with someone triggered a massive downward spiral.
I hate how my brain just goes rogue like this...
I remember back in the day, Lexapro felt almost instant.
Normabel feels like a glorified placebo or some candy. Honestly, I doubt it's even doing anything for my liver or stomach...

Try some Lunesta. That’d probably put an elephant to sleep.

Larry Lewis said:The one thing I just can’t wrap my head around regarding this girl's mother is why she hasn't snapped out of that psychotic state yet—because, in my experience, coming back to reality is actually the easiest part of the whole ordeal. It’s what happens afterward that really guts you... I’m talking about the crushing stigma, the way friends and acquaintances suddenly vanish from your life, and even doctors who look at you like you’re some sort of walking disaster zone just waiting to lose control. Then you’ve got the depression, the crippling anxiety, and all that other misery that follows once the dust settles.🤷

Look, let's be real—if you’re dealing with a psychotic break and it’s just a quick, short-lived episode, it's actually pretty easy to get back on track. It's not like you're stuck in some permanent fog forever; if it's brief, you can usually shake it off and get things sorted before it turns into a whole lifestyle. Of course, "easy" is a relative term when your brain is basically glitching out, but compared to the long-term stuff? Yeah, it's manageable.

Look, I’m telling you—if you just let something like this fester for years without actually doing anything about it, you're basically asking for trouble. You can try to play it cool and act like it doesn't bother you, but eventually, it’s gonna catch up to you. If you don't deal with it now, you're just setting yourself up to get absolutely wrecked later on. It's not worth the gamble, trust me.

Donna Newman82 said:I truly believe stress plays a part. She's been under constant pressure her whole life, and going through menopause right now definitely adds another heavy layer to it all...

How do you all deal with this, or how have you handled family members facing this? When they start with the delusions and paranoia, I understand intellectually that it's just her mind misfiring, but sometimes her comments genuinely shake me or leave me feeling confused and even a bit scared. Like yesterday, I was scrolling through YouTube and the video skipped ahead when I wasn't even touching the playlist. She gave me this intense look and asked, "Huh? Why do you think that happened?" Honestly, I didn't know how else to react besides using sarcasm—it's basically my defense mechanism. xD But in all seriousness, I found myself wondering if the video actually did skip on its own. I know it's not what she claims, but then again, what if it was? I feel like I should be the stable one, but instead, I end up spiraling right along with her.

That’s just how a psychotic brain works—it’s constantly manufacturing an explanation for every little thing that happens.

And honestly, we’re always going to be doing that, even when we're on meds. The whole point of treatment is really just learning to recognize when you're losing it—realizing that what you're thinking is just a psychotic episode, a hallucination, or plain old nonsense—so you can shake it off and just keep moving with your life.

Donna Newman82 said:If we're talking about genetics... does that mean schizophrenia is triggered by high levels of stress?

Look, stress and all the general crap life throws at you definitely bump up the odds of someone breaking, but it’s not a guarantee. You could be carrying a gene for psychosis your whole life and never experience a single episode because, hey, maybe your life is actually going smoothly for once.

Hmm... so you guys are basically functioning normally once you're on meds? What's it like when you aren't taking them—when the hallucinations start kicking in and all that? Are you even aware that what you're seeing isn't actually real?

The whole debate over what's "real" versus "unreal" isn't really the business of psychiatric science. I mean, seriously—try telling a devout Muslim that Muhammad didn't receive the Quran from an angel, or go tell some Christians that Jesus didn't walk on water or turn water into wine, or tell Buddhists that reincarnation is total bunk. It doesn't work like that.

The core issue with psychosis is that people experiencing it simply *cannot* stop obsessing over their delusions. They can't just pivot their focus or redirect their thoughts to something else—it’s physically impossible. That's why antipsychotics are actually about mental freedom. They give a patient the ability to finally occupy themselves with normal, everyday activities again, and honestly, it would be a massive win if they also started questioning the absolute nonsense their brain is feeding them.

Donna Newman82 said:My mom was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia. Based on everything she’s been experiencing, it seems pretty definitive. She’s only seen a psychiatrist once so far, so I need to check when her next appointment is scheduled. Looking back at the diagnosis, it’s clear she wasn't being entirely truthful about her symptoms during that first visit—she was essentially lying about parts of it. Now that I'm researching the symptoms online, it all lines up perfectly. My dad is planning to take her to see the specialist again soon to give them the full story so they can get her started on the right medication. Honestly, this is hitting me incredibly hard. I’ve been reading that these issues typically surface in people between the ages of 15 and 25. My mom is 46, which is older than the typical onset, but I also read that if you have a family member with schizophrenia, your own risk increases. I’m 23 right now, which puts me right in that window. It’s terrifying. I have a young son, and more than anything, I just want to be a stable mother for him. I mean, who wouldn't want that? xD Mom is at home right now, and my sister is mostly staying by her side because this whole situation feels so overwhelming to me. It's frustrating not knowing exactly why this happens or how we're supposed to navigate this new reality. Has anyone else here dealt with a situation where someone else in the family ended up developing the condition too?

That's a new one for me... I mean, mental illnesses aren't contagious, after all. 🤷

It probably just means schizophrenia has a genetic component, so people living in the same house might carry the gene (which might stay dormant, but then gets triggered by extreme stress)

Dana Martin87 said:It’s impossible to get through to him because he’s always been on his own wavelength; my parents never really knew how to handle him. He was one of those gifted kids—honestly, you wouldn't believe how early he was reading and writing. His teachers were practically begging my parents to let him skip grades, and they used to have him sit with the older kids to tutor them. He was a chess champion, art professors saw a future master painter in him, an American literary legend in the making, a math prodigy... he was so talented that he was the authority in our house, not the other way around.

At one point, he actually trusted this psychiatrist, but then the guy said a few things that made my brother start feeling like he was just some kind of idiot—the doctor was a religious zealot, and after that, my brother decided he was done with him. Now, he hasn't been to therapy in ages and he’s completely off his meds. I’m terrified they’ll try to force him into a psychiatric ward again. He refuses to take the pills because he says they just numb his brain. I don't know... I have my own life to live, but I feel for my parents. I feel for him too, but damn, it drives me crazy how he messes around with his medication when there's absolutely no way to make him understand why he needs it.

Look, he can always just find a new doctor.
And if the side effects are trash, he can switch up the medication too.

The real trick is getting him to accept that he’s actually sick, and that he isn't being hunted down by some paranoid conspiracy involving Americans. If you can get him to swallow that, you're halfway to winning the battle against the illness.

Dana Martin87 said:My family has been dealing with my brother’s schizophrenia since 2008. I feel so incredibly bad for my parents. My mom is seriously ill, but she refuses surgery because she’s terrified of leaving my brother alone. My dad tries to cope by staying out of the house as much as possible. My brother has his good days, but the bad ones definitely outweigh them. Now he’s off his medication again, sending me messages claiming that big-time American groups are out to get him and that he’s going to take them all down. It's just heartbreaking. :-(:-(:-(
I don't think there's a harder battle than schizophrenia. Even though I know some people manage to handle this illness well, I’m losing hope that my brother will ever be one of them. 😢

He has to take the medication. Period.
Back in the day, I was playing the "tough guy" act, thinking I didn't need the pills—and my mom gave me an ultimatum: either take the meds or get out of the house. Since I had nowhere else to go and was still figuring my life out, I stayed put and swallowed the damn things. Looking back now, I just want to shake my younger self and say, "You idiot, you're lucky you listened, not because you were smart, but because you had no other choice."

And it shouldn't just be about the meds, either—he needs to get into some kind of outpatient program where he can do occupational therapy and actually socialize with people.

Psychosis isn't even some unsolvable medical mystery in this day and age; the real struggle is just convincing the patient that they actually need help.

fadedlynx96 said:So, I’m here to brag, though it’s more about offering a bit of hope to anyone who feels like their entire universe just collapsed, much like mine did exactly twenty years ago.

We are approaching the twenty-year mark since my initial diagnosis from the School—various types of Sch. Based on the medical literature from that era, which is now completely obsolete and largely discredited, if a similar episode doesn't recur within twenty years, then everything is fine and that first episode wasn't actually Sch.

So, I’m just counting down the days, waiting for this final stretch to pass so I can confirm I am perfectly sane. Well, perhaps I'm not entirely sane, but I am certainly far from having my world fall apart.

In these past twenty years, I have achieved all my dreams and actually accomplished more than I ever dared to imagine. I know the next twenty years will be incredible because I intend to make them so, and no one is going to stop me—absolutely no one. The only catch is that I am no longer twenty-one; I am forty-one now. My best twenty years are behind me, so I suppose I’ll have to work much harder to ensure the next two decades turn out exactly how I want them to.

I am going to celebrate this milestone with some ice wine. It isn't wine served with ice, but rather wine made from frozen grapes; it is incredibly potent and sweet, perfect for an occasion like this. It isn't red, and I won't tell everyone else to go grab a glass... actually, forget that, grab a glass and drink up, because I truly don't give a damn about any of those 295 diagnoses.

Truth be told, my situation today is quite similar to how things were twenty years ago. A girl broke my heart and left me in a state of total despair (there is even a specific thread for that kind of thing on Reddit). The only difference is that I learned from that old heartbreak that you should always have another girl in the wings, because grieving is much easier when someone is there to comfort you. So, at least today I have someone to hold me while I mourn the one who left and broke my heart.

And in the end, absolutely nothing from my diagnosis came true—Sch Hebefrenija (295.x—I can't recall if x equals 1 or 5 or what).

Therefore, I am raising a glass of ice wine to everyone currently facing a Sch diagnosis and believing it is the end of the road. It isn't; anything is possible.

So you were dealing with acute psychosis back then, huh?

Psychiatrists love handing out fancy labels, but usually, they just slap "acute psychosis" on your file the first time you walk through the door—even when they haven't got a clue what's actually going on. Then, if the psychosis flares up again down the road, they just pivot and write down F20.0 (paranoid schizophrenia) and call it a day.

Larry Lewis, why've you gotta be so brutally honest all the time? Honestly, having a little bit of diplomacy is a damn important life skill 😬

Michelle Evans said:I really don't understand how people can underestimate how hard it is to spot someone in psychosis. Honestly, if you've dealt with someone in that state before, recognizing it isn't exactly rocket science... 🤷 As long as they have some experience with it.
Professionals probably find it even easier...

But to be perfectly blunt, sometimes that’s the only way, and I'm glad it worked out that way.

Well, then I still don't quite get why you jumped in when I asked vividorca9 about emergency care, only to follow up with comments about the "only" solution. To me, taking action is the only real answer, rather than waiting for things to resolve themselves or for the situation to stabilize. Because it won't... Not to mention the humanitarian aspect.
If you think there are other ways, you could have shared them instead of just using a coffee emoji—it might have actually helped someone. You still have the chance... 🤷

All I was trying to point out is that these forensic evaluations are basically just a rubber stamp. It’s a total joke—the evaluator isn't even really "evaluating" anything; they just ask the psychiatrist, "Hey, what number should I write down?" I'm not saying the process is useless, but it's ridiculous how someone can have a 60-second chat and suddenly decide a patient needs 30 or 90 days of treatment.

Okay, then I still don't get why you jumped down my throat when I asked vividorca9 about calling 911 and then made that little side comment about there being "only one" solution. For me, that *is* the only way—you can't just sit around waiting for things to fix themselves or for the crisis to pass. Because let's be real, it won't. And don't even get me started on the humanity of it all.

I don't know what you saw as me "jumping" at you, but I was just laying out how the law actually works here. Just because someone is psychotic doesn't mean they get hauled off to the hospital against their will—it only happens if they're a danger to themselves or others (self-harm, suicide attempts, smashing stuff, getting aggressive, etc.). In my experience, things almost always escalate to that level 99% of the time, which is why I told vividorca9 to call 911 once it hits that point. In this specific situation, I truly believe forced hospitalization is the only move left.

Michelle Evans said:Of course, those aren't the same thing.
Ultimately, a judge decides on involuntary commitment after reviewing an evaluation from a court-appointed expert who isn't employed by the facility where the patient is being admitted. It’s a formal process, and it doesn't happen nearly as often as people think...

Go ask the staff at a major metropolitan hospital like Bellevue how they handle alcoholics brought in by paramedics and police against their will. (Hint: they let them go as soon as they sober up.) Even if the family is pushing hard to have them held...

If a judge wasn't involved, you weren't under involuntary commitment. If a judge was involved, then you were, but that has nothing to do with how you arrived at the psychiatric ward—whether via an ambulance (like what was suggested to vividorca9 regarding her partner) or through a follow-up with a psychiatrist who noticed symptoms worsening...

I’d suggest doing a little research on this. There’s plenty of info in the PDF here regarding commitment institutions, and you can find the Privacy Act online. I’m saying this with good intentions; I think anyone struggling should know exactly what legal rights they have...
Or don't, if you prefer.
But if you choose not to, please don't spread misinformation claiming an ER visit is the same as forced commitment. It just fuels existing stigmas against psychiatry and makes people afraid to seek professional help. I see this mistake in the PDF all the time...

That whole court-appointed expert thing is a total joke. They just ask doctors to testify, and everyone ends up backing up whatever my doctor says even if they don't know a damn thing about me—some of them haven't even laid eyes on me!

And then the court expert asks the patient two quick questions and suddenly everything is crystal clear. 🙄

But look, to be totally blunt, sometimes it’s the only way to handle things, and I’m actually glad it worked out that way.