Schizophrenia - General Discussion

I was originally sticking to a daily dose of 1 mg of Risperdal, but I ended up hunting down a little extra for some weekend festivities. Anyway, moving away from the medical talk for a moment—it's actually my birthday today.🙂🎉😒☕

God forbid I ever end up dealing with schizophrenia.
Seriously, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy—hopefully, we all stay healthy and sound.
But man, everything just feels like it's falling apart right now.
I’m getting these intrusive, nasty thoughts... it’s like demons are possessing me and forcing them straight into my mind.
My eyes ache every single day, and my head is throbbing on and off, too.
At this point, I don't even know which specialist to turn to anymore.
Most of the doctors around here are a total disaster, with maybe a couple of exceptions.

And this guy was an absolute mastermind! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!🙂🍿☕🙏🙏🙏: s

🎉😒🤔😉☕🤣🙏

🙏☕

Does anyone else deal with issues in the bedroom? 🤣🎉🍿😉☕

🤣😒☕

☕ I ended up seeing Dr. Bear, and I made sure to give her a polite little thank you—mostly because BAT Kol managed to pull off an A in psychiatry under her supervision 😛😛😛 though apparently, she has absolutely zero recollection of my existence. Does she really not remember me from MOA? It’s almost impressive how quickly one can be erased from a professor's memory 🤣🎉☕

I think I'm officially done with antidepressants 🙂🥱☕🙏🤦🙄😁

Noah Garcia4 said:I think I'm officially done with antidepressants 🙂🥱☕🙏🤦🙄😁

doesn't sound depressed to me 😁

I’m feeling a little manic myself, but honestly, what am I supposed to do about it? 😒☕

Nicole Barrett76 said:Where have you all disappeared to, you little rascals?!?!?! Has the spring sunshine finally "chased" you out of your homes and hospitals and onto the streets, leaving you far too distracted to write?!?!?!

Does anyone happen to know what became of our fellow forum member Tome46, the one who was supposedly "obligated" to implant microchips into animals and such...

................................................

Oops, I think I might be having a heart attack! A strange bit of synchronicity just occurred. I was looking at my total post count when suddenly... 11,222 posts.

what?

Joshua Lewis9 said:Hey everyone! I’m back in action and ready to share what I’ve learned about managing "soul splitting"—or psychosis, if you want to use that uncomfortable label we call schizophrenia. Sending a huge shout-out to my wonderful psychologists and the doctors who treated me at the clinic on recommendation; may they stay blessed. My doctor actually believes in my perspective now and told me I can come back whenever I need—just one call away! It’s so important for everyone struggling to realize that this is just a medical condition like any other. Unfortunately, nobody is untouchable. Even Hildegard of Bingen used herbal remedies to treat these issues, but today we have a massive toolkit of both old-school and modern medications. If one doesn't work, you have to switch things up; if one isn't hitting the mark, another one will help stabilize you.
I've gathered a lot of life experience since dealing with this illness and PTSD. As a veteran, I’ve heard heartbreaking statistics about how many soldiers struggle with suicide, and whether you served in the military or not, we are all facing the same dark era. WHEN MEDICATIONS FAIL YOU, CAUSE WEIGHT GAIN, OR TRIGGER UNKNOWN SIDE EFFECTS, SEEK OUT A PSYCHIATRIST VOLUNTARILY. Get your referral ready so you can react immediately to adjust your meds and stay consistent with check-ups. If you're hitting an acute psychotic episode, act fast! Beyond medicine, if you're looking for spiritual comfort, I highly recommend reading *The Sacraments* by Anselm Grün for some peace and tenderness. May the angels watch over our doctors. For those with faith, balance is key: lean into your medicine and your spirituality, but try to stay grounded rather than falling into fanaticism. I've been navigating this treatment journey for years now...

we all carry our own versions of PTSD🧐

I should have just gone to my checkup and told them that John was actually being hunted by aliens and communists, then spent the whole time begging Jessica for some help from Freud 👏👏👏:🤣🍿☕

So, I decided to tell my dad he was acting like a total hardline Communist, and he shot back by claiming he was actually a die-hard ultra-nationalist, which led me to counter that I’m basically a militant insurgent, at which point he just looked at me and said I’m more of a seasonal skier. 🤣🤣☕

I’ve gone so completely off the deep end that I’m basically just spinning my wheels in circles ☕ after I finish my morning coffee 🧐

Noah Garcia4 said:I’ve gone so completely off the deep end that I’m basically just spinning my wheels in circles ☕ after I finish my morning coffee 🧐

Then you will be a truly, truly, truly great little girl. 🤣

Nicole Barrett76 said:Then you will be a truly, truly, truly great little girl. 🤣

I’ve already scaled myself down ☕😛😛 enough as it is, yet I still find myself stuck scrolling through endless garbage about Auschwitz all day; by that logic, I suppose I could just spend every single year lecturing people or maybe churning out three or four books specifically about Wounded Knee. ☕ Right? 🙂🍿🤣☕

Hey everyone,

I have a few questions if anyone happens to know more about this..
First off.. my dad and his sister both have F20. I’ve spent a long time wondering if I was on their side of the family tree, but it turns out the people around me were just in incredibly unstable relationships, so it wasn't me.. I seem to have escaped that fate.
What’s weighing on me right now—mostly because of the current mess with my aunt, my dad's sister—is what the chances are that I'll pass those genes down to my own child. My dad's entire side of the family has been traumatized by this, and I know two or three close relatives have F20 or something similar. On my mom's side, there's nothing.

Now, for the thing that's actually eating at me.. My aunt lives alone in another city and doesn't have anyone left besides me and my old man, and now she’s gotten really sick; she might need chemotherapy.. it's a total nightmare. So now I'm frantically looking for a nursing home near Washington, D.C. or the surrounding area that would take her. We don't have the money for some expensive private facility.. she thought we could sell her condo, but she doesn't realize that won't happen in two months.. I still have to explain that to her.
If she starts chemo, there's no way she can be alone; she'll be feeling terrible constantly. My dad can't help much because, well.. the two of them can't be in the same room for more than half an hour before he ends up having another heart attack and she's back in a Small town facility.
I'm planning to call social services to see where she could be placed quickly if she does start chemo, and also just to figure out how everything works for later.

Have you heard of any nursing homes that accept seniors with schizophrenia? Or maybe a group home? And how does that process even work? How much does it cost? And do they perform those competency assessments? That wouldn't be good at all..

I'm not working right now, and physically I can't take care of her due to my own health issues, but for now, I want to help her as much as I can so this transition to a facility isn't too painful. That's all I can do, unfortunately.
She applied to one already, but the waitlist is two or three years long. I just hope they weren't lying when they said they'd take her.. she was all alone with them. Apparently, she's been in remission for 20 years. At least, that's what her medical report says.

I realized about two weeks ago that she is in worse shape mentally than my old man. They both take medication, but I'm not sure how consistent she is with hers; he stays social, she doesn't, and he's actually calmed down quite a bit compared to his younger days.
As for her, I really don't know how living with someone else in a room and being surrounded by a bunch of people in a facility will sit with her.. I actually snapped for the first time two weeks ago because I bought two oversized lemons, smeared two pots while I was cooking for her, and grabbed a pot that was too big.. luckily, she didn't blame me for her whole life.. she can still blame my dad for that, even though he isn't to blame. The man has his own crosses to bear. I made it clear to her that I won't tolerate that kind of behavior, but I'll help her however I can. I don't know if this is because of other illnesses or if she's always been this way.
She's terrified they'll stick her in a psychiatric ward or somewhere like that and tie her down and never let her go. She's not quite in that state.. at least I don't get the impression she's completely out of control; she's actually quite sharp, and I think it would be worse for her to be placed somewhere with people who are much more severely mentally ill. She's mostly just timid and depressed now because her health is complicating things. And yeah.. I told her that I won't tolerate those outbursts and complaints like the one I had, and she told me it wasn't intentional, blah blah blah, that she'll adjust.. I honestly don't know how it'll go..

So please, tell me.. is blaming others for everything in life specific to schizophrenia, or is it just character? My dad is the same way, but he stopped blaming me; he's started taking responsibility for some things... I'm just constantly wondering and trying to enjoy the current peace.. 🙂
And I only noticed this trait in my aunt two weeks ago, but it's at a level ten for her.

Got a question for you guys. My son was diagnosed with schizophrenia about a year and a half ago. He's been on antipsychotics regularly for a little over a year now. It's been rough—he's put on a ton of weight (like 120 pounds in just over a year), his sex drive is totally gone, and he's still hearing voices. His doctor just keeps him on the exact same meds without changing anything. I'm wondering if we should probably get a second opinion from someone else? It feels like he should've improved by now, or at least stopped hearing those voices...

Thanks for the help

Olivia Bishop8 said:Got a question for you guys. My son was diagnosed with schizophrenia about a year and a half ago. He's been on antipsychotics regularly for a little over a year now. It's been rough—he's put on a ton of weight (like 120 pounds in just over a year), his sex drive is totally gone, and he's still hearing voices. His doctor just keeps him on the exact same meds without changing anything. I'm wondering if we should probably get a second opinion from someone else? It feels like he should've improved by now, or at least stopped hearing those voices...

Thanks for the help

Well, clearly that doctor isn't doing much for him. Maybe try talking to him about changing the meds altogether—or just go find a second opinion and look into other options. You definitely need to do something... because if he's taking pills and the symptoms are still there (plus all these side effects), that isn't really "treatment" at all...