Schizophrenia

[Eri-d]

Hi, my names Erika And the doctors think I have Schizophrenia and depression. I feel lost and alone. I hear voices and see things that are not really there. I don't have any friends and have no one to talk to. Last year things got bad and I tried to kill myself and got put in hospital. Any one feel to talk to me as I'd love to hear from you. Thanks. Erika. 

[Chris_B]

Hi Erika,

Welcome to the forums.  Sorry to hear that things got bad for you last year, and that you're feeling lost and alone at the moment.  You can talk here about anything that's on your mind, and if things are getting particularly stressful and you'd like support you can ring our support line on 1300 22 46 36, or use our web chat service between 4pm and 10pm:  http://www.beyondblue.org.au/get-support/get-immediate-support

I have experience with depression, as do many others who post on here.  I have not heard voices though, but have met many people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and while it's not easy, it is something that you can learn to manage over time.

You might want to check out this story on the Reach Out website about someone who learnt to cope with hearing voices:  http://au.reachout.com/Unwelcome-voices

How are things with your family?  Are you in touch with a doctor or psychiatrist to have some ongoing treatment?

Hope to hear from you soon.

best
CB

___________________________________________________________________
Online Community Manager

[littlegalaxies]

Hi Erika

I'm sorry to hear about how you're feeling. My boyfriend was diagnosed with schizophrenia just a few months ago, so I know a little of what it can be like. We would be in a public place and he would be able to hear people around us talking about him when they weren't. It's been hard, but he's doing a lot better now, with some medication. He also moved out of the sharehouse he was in at the time. It might not be easy, but removing any small causes of stress seems to help a lot. 

After my boyfriend was diagnosed I did a mental health first aid course, which covered schizophrenia. One of the exercises we did involved holding a funnel to someone's ear and talking through it, while the person was trying to speak to someone else, which we were told is similar to how schizophrenia feels. I didn't have anyone speaking to me through the funnels, but everyone who did experience it stated how distressing and confusing it is. From what I know, medications can do a lot to get rid of the sounds and voices. 

 It's really great that you're getting help, I wish you all the best 🙂

[Ragnarok]

Hello Erika,

Like Christopher said, Welcome to the forums! I'm fairly new here myself.

It's good you've got a name to put to how your mind works, but it is not the be-all and end-all, nor should those labels define you (plus the doctors may not have all the facts or be accurate in their diagnosis). Like Christopher, I've experienced depression but not schizophrenia (well, sorta), however, like you, I've also got no friends and nobody to talk to, which has been my current state of affairs for about 3-4 years now. Humans are social creatures; we need social interaction, and especially someone to talk that we can share our thoughts and feelings with. It's not easy when there's nobody around to listen to you or that understands. But it's also not the end of the world (don't you hate it when someone says that?).

Many years ago I too got put into the hospital, not for trying to kill myself, but because I had a nasty reaction to an overdose of psychiatric drugs (antipsychotics mainly) which caused me to hallucinate, which ironically they gave me antipsychotics to treat my antipsychotic induced hallucinations. I've also had other experiences of seeing things that were not physically there, however those would have been closer to a 'vision' (not the right description but the closest I can come up with). So I've had both hallucinations (drug-induced) and had perceptual experiences of things not physically there but were real all the same (I was conscious when they happened). Oh, I should also mention I study psychology, so I've got personal experiences and I've also got research and study materials.

With regards to the depression, socialization and activity are the most effective. Socializing, however, can be difficult if you have no friends (my biggest problem). So you should try for some activity/exercise. You don't need to go to the gym, but exercise does help. Even if you just do some pushups or situps at home, it still helps. To begin with you may not be bothered, but push yourself a little bit and you should feel a difference.

As for the hearing voices and seeing things that aren't there, well, there could be a number of reasons for that, and it's not a 'disease' or 'chemical imbalance'. It depends on what the voices say, and when they say it. And it depends on what you see. You weren't overly descriptive in your introduction so I can only guess at possible explanations. Did something happen to you? In childhood or in your teen/adult years? Seeing or hearing things that "aren't there" can be linked to trauma or abuse. I've read an article by a psychologist who herself was abused as a child, and her voices take on several persona's, including that of her abusers, a protector/mother figure, and even herself during certain age periods. Another article mentioned many religious figures who heard voices, such as Moses and Jesus. It really depends on what the voices are saying, why, and when. They are clues to help you understand why you experience what you experience.

You've got the first clues into understanding your own mind, and you've made the first steps. Do not worry about what anyone else thinks of you. It's your mind, your experiences, and you need to understand why you see/hear what you see/hear. And by extension, do not accept a label as the reason why you experience what you experience. Imagine feeling pain and being labeled with a 'pain disorder'. Pain may be what you experience, but it is not why you experience it. There could be any number of reasons, such as a headache, broken bone, burn, laceration, etc. A label such as depression or schizophrenia is useful to describe what you are feeling, but it does not define why you are feeling it, and it does not define you.

Hope this helps.

Ragnarok

[Fractured_mind]

Hey my name is Ben I'm 28 years old and I have schizophrenia i was diagnosed about five years ago give or take lately my paranoia and hallucinations are starting to get to me I'm thinking of getting my medication dose increased but i really feel depressed and isolated I don't know any one who has schizophrenia I don't wanto feel alone any more

[Sophie_M]

Hi Ben, welcome to the forums.  While we have quite a large community here, we don't have many active members with experience of schizophrenia (this thread is about four years old).

We can highly recommend the SANE forums if you haven't checked them out already:

https://saneforums.org/

[Jaibigrone907]

I'm in a rarer circumstance with apparent Schizophrenia myself. I feel my position is worse than credibly having genuine Schizophrenia. I've been wrongly diagnosed in 2013, since 2012 until 2014 I was going through a really immature phase for a few reasons, mostly because I was going stupid over a random infatuation, amongst other things that I wished was different about my life, even back then. Since eight years later in 2021, for the last four years, I've been abused with spiritual unrelated constant bothering. I get told so much, it's the shrinks that internally tell me about that I'm medicated, if their experts or professionals, I get them speaking about median wages and that they earn six figures, they say it's economics and that I'm middle class. Their frequently laughing about me, demeaning my intelligence and saying that I'm different. I get told that I'm the victim, not only since of the mistaken diagnoses I've had, but because of how the detrimental drugs ruined me in certain ways permanently. I always can have strong feelings and a indisputable awareness that their in linked with my consciousness or like in the back of my mind. It can happen through technology in diverse ways with what I say is spirituality and not Schizophrenia. Even through interaction when someone speaks to me, wither it's a reflection of them or the therapist's, how they come through and sort of overlap the exchange with brief snippet responses. It's always about the diagnosis and how just by thinking about anyone or if I get angry, I feel the doctors are connected inside me and trying to restrain me, approach me with caution or think about putting me back into a psychiatric ward. I get told numerous things that are correlated to my life directly. On the way to the shrink the last time, I saw two vehicle number plates called INS4NE and Im Maad and there's many Schizophrenics, two that walk around my area occasionally and there was another one that my family saw in a different area, I don't take anything as coincidence because I know it's all diverted to me, in a way that secular people or physics wouldn't be in agreement with. It's evident to me and it's always reframing me from my own thinking, it's like being oppressed by their bias narcissism. Otherwise I get what's seemingly American's with their cultured derogatory insults, their saying and asserting wither I'm a political democrat, other things if I'm desperate, or a hipster, awkward. Since my therapist's were Eastern Ethnic doctors, I've had them also come through saying about my Westernism and they otherwise are saying if I'm Whiter or about being White. It's such a terrible experience that's sabotaging my life, knowing that I can't prove this to anyone and get off the meds, or undiagnosed. I've been mistakenly diagnosed since 2012 and medicated, only since I made poor choices, that wasn't motivated through a lack of sanity or psychosis, I had full clarity to my behavioural stupidity back then, it only started in 2021, but it's worse in 2024. I know no one outside the rare American would believe any of this as not being actually Schizophrenia. I don't want other people of Schizophrenia though to think that everyone is spiritual, because most Schizophrenic's do have their illness, but I'm only speaking for my situation.

[Earth Girl]

Hi Erika,

I have schizophrenia and I also experienced depression for a long time. It sounds to me as well that you might have schizophrenia because you are hearing voices and seeing things that are not really there. If you don't have any friends or anyone to talk to, that can make you more likely to become schizophrenic. I'm sorry that it got so bad last year that you didn't want to live anymore. Unbearable stress for a long time can also make you more prone to schizophrenia. I suggest talking more to your doctors about it and let them know that you would like them to see if you have it (even if you aren't sure yourself) because if you do have it and you don't start taking medication soon, you can have a psychotic episode which are an extremely hard thing to experience and if you have one, you may not even know that you're having one which could make it harder for people to help you.

The good news is, most people with schizophrenia find medications that work really well for them and that do not have many side effects. I am on prescribed medication and it's great because I can live a normal, happy life and it doesn't have any side affects for me personally (it might for some other people). You may have to try a few different medications to find one that works well.

It's also important to keep taking your medication and not just suddenly stop it for a long time because then you can become unwell again. If you keep taking it though, you will feel a lot better and will probably continue to feel well.

Can I ask how your sleep is? It's important to get enough sleep if you have schizophrenia.

Things do get a lot better even if it they don't feel like they can. My life is so much better now than it was when I became schizophrenic when I was 18. Life can get really rough, but there is a lot of light at the end of the tunnel.