Posts by Carol Hall7

Karen Adams2 said:I’ve heard it said that we all have this potential buried deep inside us, though it usually takes some sort of intense 'trigger' to finally set it in motion... I personally encountered three such individuals, and what truly captivates me about them is their unique way of processing the world—a perspective that a "standard" (if I may say, rather pedestrian)😁genius mind simply cannot grasp. What fascinates me most, though, is their sheer intellectual capacity; they possessed such incredible IQs... they were absolute geniuses!
One of those three was actually my landlord a few years back; he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but for the most part, he was a peaceful man and I never had a single issue with him. My clearest memory involves the time I was buying laminate flooring and carpeting for the apartment. My then-boyfriend and I were sitting there, crunching numbers—calculating square footage, the area for the rug, multiplying that by the cost, then doing the same for the laminate🙄... and while my boyfriend was calling out the figures and I was tapping away on the calculator, before I could even hit the equals sign, this man just blurted out the exact total. My boyfriend and I just stared at him, the way people stare at someone who's lost their grip on reality😂... and then I finally pressed equals, and honestly, I nearly fell right out of my chair. It was spot on, perfectly calculated😲
The second was a painter, an academy graduate who worked as a professor and everything. Once, he was out walking with his little niece when she darted out toward a car, and he blamed himself entirely. That was his trigger—that moment where he just broke. But his paintings after that? They were breathtaking; whenever I looked at them, I felt actual chills running down my spine. When they pushed him into therapy, they completely wiped him out with all those heavy medication cocktails; he turned into a shell of himself, just staring blankly into space now, and even his art has lost that magic touch🤷The spark, that true brilliance, is just gone from him now...
Then there was a colleague of my aunt's, who didn't experience this until she was after thirty, following the collapse of a long-term relationship that she had poured her entire soul into.
Aside from that, I remember her as being exceptionally sharp and brilliant, possessing an incredible sense of perception; her mind was always racing at three hundred miles per hour...
In short, they were all extraordinary in their own ways, possessing that certain "something"... a quality that an average person just can't wrap their head around.
Perhaps they are the ones who are crazy, or perhaps we "normal" people are actually just too dull to comprehend the complexity of what is happening inside their minds...

I don't know if I buy that. The meds just slow down the decline, but
it's the disease itself that turns people into shells. Honestly, the sooner they burn bright like a shooting star, the more beautiful—and heartbreaking—it is.

Luckily, I'm not exactly "special" like that, so I guess I'll probably be glowing for a lot longer.

Larry Howard8 said:In my family, nobody deals with anything
mental-related,
it's always just physical stuff.

Is that kind of thing genetic, or can it just hit anyone?

🤷

There are tons of theories out there—everything from genetics to some weird theory about cat viruses jumping to humans.

Basically, direct descendants of patients carry a much higher genetic load,
whereas kids of patients who didn't develop it aren't significantly more at risk than the rest of the population (around 10%).

People also believe certain toxins can trigger schizophrenia, along with medications, drugs, brain injuries, meningitis, encephalitis, epilepsy... you name it.

Then there’s the theory that overbearing mothers might play a role in triggering it in kids who are already genetically predisposed.

It’s worth noting that twin studies show
twins separated at birth have a really high rate where
both end up with schizophrenia.

That cat thing sounds totally bizarre to me, but then again, when I think about
those crazy cat outbreaks (like those famous ones in O'Hara), I start wondering.

The condition, like a lot of things, can be treated, but unfortunately, for most people, it's chronic and lifelong.

Nothing to lose sleep over, though. We all pick up some kind of s*** sooner or later; we weren't built to last forever anyway.

Harold Anderson3 said:So, you're fully convinced this is all happening, which just isn't the reality. That's where the delusion kicks in.
I actually went through a phase where I thought everything from that specific "Day D" was being filmed and broadcast on national TV, but it wasn't even mentioned on the local news, haha.😂

Something like that. Thank god I dodged that bullet. Or maybe my meds are just doing their job.

I know plenty of people dealing with schizophrenia—including my own little episodes—so I think I get where they're coming from.

In my book, you can't just watch a documentary about a genius mind and suddenly claim you understand what it's like to be schizophrenic.

You nailed it, though—you know it isn't true, and your brain knows it too,
trying its best to fix things so you don't see random girls or phantom roommates,
but then some dark shadow creeps up behind you, and suddenly you're believing in things that aren't there. Throw in a bit of mania or a manic high, and boom—you're spending the summer at a facility in Los Angeles.

For a few months, at least.

And if you're lucky enough to catch the right cocktail of chemicals, your whole
world of glitches disappears.

And you're left with raw reality: just the boring, pointless grind of life.

That’s just my take on it.
For those who aren't clued in, my f-score is a solid 25.0 on the schizoaffective scale.
Basically, I’m a little bit of everything.
When I’m high and feeling like I could sell ice to an Eskimo, everyone suddenly thinks I'm the greatest thing ever.
People are smiling at me—hell, just yesterday some guy I barely even know handed me a book.

That’s the high talking; that elevated mood where you feel like you’re walking through a field of flowers.
It’s a little bit unhealthy, honestly—just way too much life optimism packed into one dose.

Then there’s the part where I get this urge to mess with people, which is where the "schizo" part kicks in.
And don't forget:
someone is following me
someone is trying to poison me
someone is eavesdropping on my thoughts
there are articles about me in the newspapers
if a red car drives by and then a yellow one follows, it means something terrible is about to happen
I can make you climax without even touching you
and so on.

James Myers39 said:I have a sister who has been battling schizophrenia and bipolar disorder for five years now. Living with someone in that state is an absolute nightmare, and I found myself nodding along to everything Darak 7 and Sad-gril were saying... These individuals often possess such massive egos—which is precisely why they fall ill in the first place—because they demand to be the center of the universe at all times. No matter what you sacrifice or attempt to do for them, it is never enough, primarily because they simply refuse to engage in the recovery process. I have poured so much of my time, my finances, my strength, and my very soul into trying to help her that I am now starting to experience my own mental health struggles, yet I haven't even managed to help her... That is why your mother, Sad-gril, is absolutely right; you have to live your own life and refuse to let anyone drag you down into the abyss, regardless of whether it is a father, a brother, or a sister. For me, the atmosphere in my house became utterly unbearable, which forced me to move out, and I can finally say I feel better now that I have escaped that crushing psychological pressure... It is especially devastating when you realize that you are powerless to save someone who does not want to be saved.

Look, I personally know at least a dozen people with schizophrenia who aren't like that at all. Some of them are actually incredibly sweet people.
Do your homework and learn as much as you can about the condition. If things are constantly exploding at home, it usually just means there's a massive amount of
miscommunication happening. Don't just cut your sister out of your life, but don't
let her pull you down with her either.

ruggedharbor said:Greetings... I have a brother who struggles with schizophrenia. As difficult as things are for him, it is equally painful for us to watch him suffer while feeling completely powerless to help him.
The hardest part is that we can't ensure he stays consistent with his medication. When he follows his prescription, everything remains stable, but the moment he stops, the hallucinations take over—he starts believing he’s being followed, watched, or something along those lines...
He is currently in one of those volatile phases... He took the car and left the house without telling anyone where he was headed, and he isn't answering his phone...

Look, you've gotta find a way to get him to stay on his treatment, whatever it takes. If you have to mention the hospital or call 911, do it. Just because you call for help doesn't mean he's automatically getting locked up.
Someone mentioned earlier that there are long-acting depot versions of the meds too—basically one shot every six months and you're set.