Hello

Hey there, good to have you here.

How's it been having schizophrenia.

What type are you? Hallucinations? Just voices? Disorganized?

Tell us a bit about your experience with schizophrenia.

What was your psychosis like? Did you stay in the hospital for awhile?

Whatever you would like to talk about.

Before I was on medication it was an awful experience.I had visual and auditory hallucinations.

The doctor never told me what type I had but my guess would be paranoid schizophrenia.

I was in a mental health centre for 3 months getting regulated on my medication.

If you don't mind me asking?. What did you see and hear.

I had visual and auditory hallucinations as well.

Over the years i've also had tactile, and I think one time during my first episode my tea tasted like somekind of really bad oil, like I was drinking a big cup of putrid think oil, I had to put it down.

I remember one strange occurrence where I was In a video game/pizza shop and this crazy game would shock you and then laugh really loud, I was all the way across the room, but when it laughed it sounded as if it was right next to my head, like I was directly next to it, not a hallucination, don't really know what caused that, Ill just call it sound jumping.

The first auditory hallucination I had was a voice telling me not to go to school on the day of my final exam. The first visual hallucination I had was a ghost-like image shooting out of a womens face.

I am the administrator of schizophreniaforums.com so if you want to read more about my experiences with mental health problems you can go there if you want. Before I was diagnosed with schizophrenia I had problems with anxiety and depression too.

I am currently on Zyprexa and Effexor and that combination has worked out well for me so far.

Are you on medication? Does your medication help?

Welcome to the forum, MrJC99!

It's a pleasure to meet you.

*********If you're looking for sound, unbiased advice, I suggest posting your questions under the ASK A DOCTOR category.

Aside from that... When you read our comments, keep in mind we schizophrenics are all living on our own little fantasy islands, no matter how logical we may come across. Some are here to ask genuine questions or to vent. Some offer up well-meaning, caring advice based on their own experience.

And then there are others you need to be aware of -- those who camp out in here, trying their best to actually emulate schizophrenia voices and even hallucinations in their posts. I kid you not. I know, it's very difficult to believe someone could be so cruel to us suffering schizophrenics, attempting to cast a shadow between us and the light at the end of the tunnel. After you've read a few posts, you'll see what I mean. You'll be able to spot those posters and take what they say with a grain of salt or completely ignore them altogether.

As for me and what I get out of this forum... It's a chance for me to talk about ME! Yes, I admit it -- it's the one place I can yap about myself all I want and offer up *my* opinions, such as they are. It's a FORUM for crying out loud, filled with a bunch of vain people who enjoy seeing their thoughts in print. Not that it's a bad thing. I'm just SAYing.

Yes, we schizophrenics are a selfish lot. Everything is about us. Me me me. Which is fine to a certain extent. But! The world does not revolve around us, a fact I'm concentrating on right now in the real world.

See? Did you see how I just turned your nice little welcome post into a conversation about myself? Ever since I became schizophrenic, that seems to be my tendency. By posting about myself and all my schizophrenia issues in this forum, I am releasing it all, which enables me to concentrate on what others are going through in the outside world. When my family has get-togethers, I want the event to be more about *them*. It's time for me to take a step down off my pedestal and let my family have their own 10 minutes of fame. After all the attention they've showered on me these past few years, they deserve it.

That is what this forum means to me -- a sense of release. I hope you are able to find some sort of use for it as well.

I don't consider myself selfish. I talk to some people about my schizophrenia but I usually just have normal conversations with people.

One of the reasons I started my own website was so I could socialize with others who have schizophrenia. No one I know in real life has this condition so they don't really understand what it is like.

I just found eHealthForums from Google and I think it is a great site for people like me who want to converse with other people experiencing this problem.

As a schizophrenic, it seems everything is turned inward for me -- almost as if I've become some sort of introvert. Everything is going on *inside*, and I am fully aware of myself and my own consciousness, hence the selfishness. I've been working on projecting my thoughts outward when other people are around and not giving myself so much attention. I'm currently working as a customer service representative, which is a great exercise toward achieving my goal. This process has been a *great* help in tossing the voices into the background. Now, they are like a TV playing in the background. I tune in whenever I feel like it, but they fade into the background when I need to concentrate on other things.

I guess you could say my problem is every time someone starts a conversation, I manage to turn it around to my own experiences (aside from the schizophrenia). I'm too dang conscious of my own self. I am *really* trying to get out of that habit. This is their moment, and they just want me to listen and offer words of encouragement. Their moment has nothing to do with me. I should treat it as such.

As far as my schizophrenia goes, only a few people know of my illness -- a few relatives I have told and a few doctors way on the other side of the map. Prior to posting in the forums, I would talk about my illness with my sisters. It's really not fair to them that every time we have a get-together, the topic eventually turns around to me and my illness (mostly my own doing). I really shouldn't be stealing their thunder, etc. This forum is great for getting rid of my thoughts, so I can concentrate on other more *pleasant* things when I'm with my family.

Good point, though. No one I know in real life has schizophrenia as well. The few people who know of my own condition have read up a great deal on the subject, but it really isn't the same as interacting with people who have experienced it themselves. This forum does provide a bit of support that way as well.

Is the medication helping, it seems to help alot, but I'm not sure if it is really.

maybe I should've just tried and face it I think, the pills destroy you over time. And all that they are doing is turning you off in certain ways. Which hasn't even been proven to do anything at all.

I think that if I had had the correct support I would've been much better off not taking them. But we don't get that here.

I needed time to learn, and support, and I should've been honest the whole time about what was happening to me, maybe something could've been done, but they kept scaring me quiet.

Do you know what is wrong with you?

Before I was on medication I had no control over my symptoms. The medication has been really beneficial for me. I don't experience hallucinations anymore.

I'm glad the meds are available even though they have some side effects. I have gained about 30 pounds and have been trying to lose it for some time now.

I didn't have symptoms, i did hallucinate and was made delusional in different ways, but I wouldn't call them symptoms.

How long have you taken them? Mine are making me stupid and giving me diabetes, and I'm not even thirty yet.

I've "hallucinated" on pills before, so it would seem that they can still show up on your meds, makes me wonder if they are doing anything at all. This was a different hallucination though, this one was painful, that's why I hate referring to it as an hallucination, because it wasn't.

I agree with your voices on that one, people shouldn't go to school anymore, at least not until it isn't a complete rip off, a boycott then, No one has the cajones though.

My voices told me that the origin of everything is nowhere and nothing, that the first thing to happen happened completely without cause and for no reason, and then stephen hawking came on the television and said that it was possible. It makes perfect sense though, there cannot be an infinite amount of causes, all of a sudden it was there, whatever it was, hard to say really what nothing looks like, I suppose that you can't look at nothing.

I didn't have symptoms, did I mention that, it was just a spirit, and a mean one at that, horribly smart though, I guess we are kind've the odd couple, if that show was a horror.

I've been taking my medication for about 7 years now. How long have you been on yours?

You've been on them that long?

Are you noticing anything negative besides the weight gain?

And I would also like to hear what your voices say to you.

Or do the meds completely get rid of them?

Meds get rid of the voices.

hey MRJC99

Just wanted to say welcome to the forums I'm Christy.

Hi Christy