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skitsophrenia (sorry about the spelling)
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I was diagnosed with skitsophrenia about 5 years ago and was happy to take medication at 1st. Over the last 5years my understanding of the illness has grew and I have been coping with the illness unmedicated for over 3 years. Does any one have any understanding about this 'illness' other than from a doctors point of view or text book knowledge.. Please no taking this pis comments. Would really appreciate peoples serious points of view thanks
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I have known quite a few folk with varying mental health issues. My part has been as an occupational therapist (now retired) helping them with physical disabilities. Two things I learned were common to all those folk. The first is that if the symptoms aren't causing risk to others or risk or distress to the sufferer, then there is usually no good reason to medicate. The second (and sadly) is that often one of the first signs that medication is ceasing to work is a failure of self knowledge of the sufferer,leading them to believe that they no longer need medication and precipitating a crisis.
I am very sorry to know that you suffer from schizophrenia Sacha & I know from bitter experience just how difficult it is to get information about the illness.
My husband has been a sufferer for 26 years now & although he has had many long spells in hospital in the past, now copes pretty well on Clozapine (Clozaril). For the first 3 years I could get no information from anyone as I was told that 'we don't like to put labels on people'. Well that may be ok for the medical profession but it's not ok for the sufferer & his/her family. Things have got a lot better in that department but there's still room for improvement.
Although depression is one of the many symptoms of Schizophrenia, there are many others, including paranoia, confusion, memory problems, audio, visual & olifactory hallucinations etc. etc. & you have to exhibit all or most of them over a period of time before you get properly diagnosed. It also takes time to find the right medication to treat a particular patient, & then of course there are all the very unpleasant side effects. That usually means yet another medication to deal with them & on & on......
The very best advice I can give you is to take the medication that you psychiatrist has prescribed as this is your best chance of staying well. It is very hard for a sufferer to take on board, that if you stop taking medication you will almost certainly gradually slip back into an 'episode' again at some point, especially if you get too stressed. It's not like taking a headache pill, you can't stop when you feel better. You have to come to understand that without permanent medication you will get ill sooner or later.
This may not be the answer you are looking for but it is born of long experience. Do try & join a support group as you do need to socialise as much as you can.
All the very best & do post again if you need to talk.
My husband has been a sufferer for 26 years now & although he has had many long spells in hospital in the past, now copes pretty well on Clozapine (Clozaril). For the first 3 years I could get no information from anyone as I was told that 'we don't like to put labels on people'. Well that may be ok for the medical profession but it's not ok for the sufferer & his/her family. Things have got a lot better in that department but there's still room for improvement.
Although depression is one of the many symptoms of Schizophrenia, there are many others, including paranoia, confusion, memory problems, audio, visual & olifactory hallucinations etc. etc. & you have to exhibit all or most of them over a period of time before you get properly diagnosed. It also takes time to find the right medication to treat a particular patient, & then of course there are all the very unpleasant side effects. That usually means yet another medication to deal with them & on & on......
The very best advice I can give you is to take the medication that you psychiatrist has prescribed as this is your best chance of staying well. It is very hard for a sufferer to take on board, that if you stop taking medication you will almost certainly gradually slip back into an 'episode' again at some point, especially if you get too stressed. It's not like taking a headache pill, you can't stop when you feel better. You have to come to understand that without permanent medication you will get ill sooner or later.
This may not be the answer you are looking for but it is born of long experience. Do try & join a support group as you do need to socialise as much as you can.
All the very best & do post again if you need to talk.
Hi Sacha. I understand exactly.
As I posted in another thread a few minutes ago I used to be an advocate and I met and dealt with many MH patients. I met many people who were diagnosed with schizophrenia - only to be told later they had been mis-diagnosed and suffered from another condition. Then they would be told that had been mis-diagnosed and they had another condition! Quite obviously, that's why their 'meds' weren't working! Many actually have deep-seated pyschological conditions that need a lot of help - not psychiatric illnesses! However, the MH system doesn't have the funding or the time.
There's an old saying - 'Put 3 psychiatrists in a room and you'll get 5 diagnoses!' How do you know you are schizophrenic? Because they tell you? You could ask for another diagnosis from another doctor but psychiatrists stick together and don't like saying the first was wrong (they play golf together etc).
Psychiatrists always have to give you a label. If they aren't sure then you get thrown in the general box with what is the latest label at the time. Several years ago it was 'paranoid schizophrenia', then it was manic depression, then severe clinical depression, then bipolar disorder. Now it's 'severe personality disorder'. What the system doesn't accept is that everyone is unique and different. If they don't like the way you think or act they have to give you a label and say you have an 'illness'.
I would strongly advise you not to take the highly toxic poisons they dish out like sweets. If you are coping by yourself then continue to do so. As you probably know, no MH patient lives much beyond middle age. I know people who died from the 'medications' aged 26, 28, 32, 34. Their inquests stated they died from side-effects of nasty poisons like Olanzapine which induce heart attacks - or they just go to sleep and never wake up.
As I posted in another thread a few minutes ago I used to be an advocate and I met and dealt with many MH patients. I met many people who were diagnosed with schizophrenia - only to be told later they had been mis-diagnosed and suffered from another condition. Then they would be told that had been mis-diagnosed and they had another condition! Quite obviously, that's why their 'meds' weren't working! Many actually have deep-seated pyschological conditions that need a lot of help - not psychiatric illnesses! However, the MH system doesn't have the funding or the time.
There's an old saying - 'Put 3 psychiatrists in a room and you'll get 5 diagnoses!' How do you know you are schizophrenic? Because they tell you? You could ask for another diagnosis from another doctor but psychiatrists stick together and don't like saying the first was wrong (they play golf together etc).
Psychiatrists always have to give you a label. If they aren't sure then you get thrown in the general box with what is the latest label at the time. Several years ago it was 'paranoid schizophrenia', then it was manic depression, then severe clinical depression, then bipolar disorder. Now it's 'severe personality disorder'. What the system doesn't accept is that everyone is unique and different. If they don't like the way you think or act they have to give you a label and say you have an 'illness'.
I would strongly advise you not to take the highly toxic poisons they dish out like sweets. If you are coping by yourself then continue to do so. As you probably know, no MH patient lives much beyond middle age. I know people who died from the 'medications' aged 26, 28, 32, 34. Their inquests stated they died from side-effects of nasty poisons like Olanzapine which induce heart attacks - or they just go to sleep and never wake up.
Chocolate Chip -
I can tell you that I met many people who supposedly heard voices. Yet when I pressed them and asked a few basic questions they admitted they had never heard voices - they just said they did as the psychiatrists and staff would then leave them alone and not bully them to leave hospital, do things etc.
The problem with many staff is that they read these things in text books and those all say "Schizophrenics hear voices" which students then take as red and include in their dissertations. You've just repeated it! Having been in the system myself and spent several years 'on the other side of the fence' I can tell you I never met anyone who did actually hear voices - although I met many who initially said they did.
To prove my point I would urge you to ask one or two basic questions the next time someone tells you they hear voices. Ask the person to describe the voice! They will reply that it tells them to hurt themselves or someone else etc. But then say "No. Describe the voice itself. Is it a woman, is it a man? What accent does this voice speak with? Is it a Geordie voice, a southerner, a cultured voice, a Scouser?" I guarantee you Chocolate that you will completely stump that person and they won't answer. Whenever I asked that question no one ever answered and they then admitted on the quiet that they had never heard a voices - they just say it when it suits.
I'm astonished that no psychiatrists ever ask that simple question. Yet they all insist that schizophrenics hear voices - because it says so in the books!
I can tell you that I met many people who supposedly heard voices. Yet when I pressed them and asked a few basic questions they admitted they had never heard voices - they just said they did as the psychiatrists and staff would then leave them alone and not bully them to leave hospital, do things etc.
The problem with many staff is that they read these things in text books and those all say "Schizophrenics hear voices" which students then take as red and include in their dissertations. You've just repeated it! Having been in the system myself and spent several years 'on the other side of the fence' I can tell you I never met anyone who did actually hear voices - although I met many who initially said they did.
To prove my point I would urge you to ask one or two basic questions the next time someone tells you they hear voices. Ask the person to describe the voice! They will reply that it tells them to hurt themselves or someone else etc. But then say "No. Describe the voice itself. Is it a woman, is it a man? What accent does this voice speak with? Is it a Geordie voice, a southerner, a cultured voice, a Scouser?" I guarantee you Chocolate that you will completely stump that person and they won't answer. Whenever I asked that question no one ever answered and they then admitted on the quiet that they had never heard a voices - they just say it when it suits.
I'm astonished that no psychiatrists ever ask that simple question. Yet they all insist that schizophrenics hear voices - because it says so in the books!
In support of psychiatrists - They all have a very difficult job to do in diagnosing mental disorders. Some people are pre-disposed to a condition that other family members suffer from, some are drug/cannabis induced, some are the result of a major shock or long term stress. There is usually a trigger of some sort.
I'm sorry to diagree with you about the hearing of voices. I can assure you that sufferers of schizophrenia DO HEAR VOICES, that is one reason why so many of them have to listen to loud music or tv in order to drown them out. If you had someone banging on in your ear incessantly, day in & day out, you'd probably do the same.
Of course every person is an individual & exhibits differing symptoms at any one time, but over a long period, people suffering from this illness WILL exhibit most if not all of them, and that is the reason Doctors initially give a blanket diagnosis. & treat with similar drugs. As the patient settles down, their treatment may need a change or refinement of the medication & a different diagnosis, but this takes time.
All psychiatrists have their own ideas & some are a lot better than others, some you'll like, some you won't, but they are the best chance you have to get better.
As an awful lot of tablets we take every day are capable of killing us & have sometimes profound side effects, but until Medicine can find the answers or come up with a magic cure for everything, most people would opt for something that will relieve the worst of their symptoms & allow them to live in some sort of normality.
You can have all the experience you like as a professional, but until you've had to live with the illness every day & every night for 26 years, you only view scizophrenia as an outsider. Medication to control Seratonin & receptors in the brain is the only treatment available at present, but that must be backed up by support for living as normal a life
as possible in the
I'm sorry to diagree with you about the hearing of voices. I can assure you that sufferers of schizophrenia DO HEAR VOICES, that is one reason why so many of them have to listen to loud music or tv in order to drown them out. If you had someone banging on in your ear incessantly, day in & day out, you'd probably do the same.
Of course every person is an individual & exhibits differing symptoms at any one time, but over a long period, people suffering from this illness WILL exhibit most if not all of them, and that is the reason Doctors initially give a blanket diagnosis. & treat with similar drugs. As the patient settles down, their treatment may need a change or refinement of the medication & a different diagnosis, but this takes time.
All psychiatrists have their own ideas & some are a lot better than others, some you'll like, some you won't, but they are the best chance you have to get better.
As an awful lot of tablets we take every day are capable of killing us & have sometimes profound side effects, but until Medicine can find the answers or come up with a magic cure for everything, most people would opt for something that will relieve the worst of their symptoms & allow them to live in some sort of normality.
You can have all the experience you like as a professional, but until you've had to live with the illness every day & every night for 26 years, you only view scizophrenia as an outsider. Medication to control Seratonin & receptors in the brain is the only treatment available at present, but that must be backed up by support for living as normal a life
as possible in the
I also must admit I disagree with you Andyvon. Even when I'm thinking in my head as I type this, I can't describe the voice that I hear. I just hear it.
Psychology is built up on many decades of research, and I seriously doubt that no one has ever questioned that Schizophrenics hear voices. There is many pieces of research on this. Some will disagree as to what is accepted as a 'norm'. But the norms are there because of the build up of research that say that SOME schizophrenics here voices.
Admittedly, as I spoke about previously, every experience is completely different for mental health, and this is why it is so difficult to diagnose.
But psychology is built up on evidence of research, so I can't believe your opinion on that 'because text books say so'.
I also disagree with your opinions on medications, as someone who has been on them myself. Where I admit they are dished out like sweets. There are people and disorders which must be maintained through medication.
Schizophrenia in my opinion is one of these illnesses that should be regularly maintain through drugs and therapy. Due to the genetic basis it is built on.
Psychology is built up on many decades of research, and I seriously doubt that no one has ever questioned that Schizophrenics hear voices. There is many pieces of research on this. Some will disagree as to what is accepted as a 'norm'. But the norms are there because of the build up of research that say that SOME schizophrenics here voices.
Admittedly, as I spoke about previously, every experience is completely different for mental health, and this is why it is so difficult to diagnose.
But psychology is built up on evidence of research, so I can't believe your opinion on that 'because text books say so'.
I also disagree with your opinions on medications, as someone who has been on them myself. Where I admit they are dished out like sweets. There are people and disorders which must be maintained through medication.
Schizophrenia in my opinion is one of these illnesses that should be regularly maintain through drugs and therapy. Due to the genetic basis it is built on.
Sorry I need more time to think, to reply to every one in the correct way that i want to but thanks for all your comments. When I used to be asked if I could hear voices I would get confused and not b sure.. Its because it is so normal to that person, they dont understand that it is (a voice or voices) more than their own thoughts and more than what other people hear.. Ive had all sorts of voices but didnt understand at first that it wasn't what everybody else was experiencing. I'm at the stage of thinking that I see my path more clearly and conscious than others and I think that voices are negatively or popsively trying to guide me.. At my worst i've seen the devil as clear as you or me in my face. So real its image was better and more detailed than any special effects. I could feel the heat of its breath! Ive believed that I was being possessed by the devil as my body twitched and went into spasm. I could hear a voice telling the evil to be gone from out of my body. It seems so crazy but it is real to me. Even if it was for example my imagination running away its still happening. When im nice a have the biggest heart of gold and you could get better. but when im bad I am literally verbally an evil witch :-S
Andyvon you are dead on about the medication. If you want blured vision or a dead soul then by all means take medication. I always cry to my partner telling him that im not going to live past middle age and prepare him to look after himself and our son for when I am gone. I have never heard that mental health patients die young but have always thought it because I know that God wouldn't put me through this for much longer
Hi sorry about my little rant last week. Was having a bit of a hard time with it all.. I always think the same way its just that when im not well I struggle at the fact I havent got all the answers but when im feeling ok I can leave it there and accept that the answers aren't going to b easy to find as quickly as i'd like. Any way thanks for all your comments they all gave me something positive to think about.. I'm sure i'll never go back on medication but just need to remind myself its not the end of the world if I haven't got all the answers. Thanks again all :-)
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