I like stuff sometimes I talk too

It would be funny if you didn't know that the person was suffering internally. Scared. Panicked. Worried. Confused. All the while trying to complete a task of the utmost importance.

I've known of schizophrenics who would stand outside of gated communities with a camera collecting evidence for the government looking for people who were illegally in the country. Ironically enough, this was the polar opposite of what you'd expect given her political alignment.

Another schizophrenic who definitely wasn't me thought he was on a mission to take down the largest retail grocery chain in his state. He kept calling a major law firm every night with new evidence. Each time they told him that they weren't taking his case, he read in between the lines to receive instructions for the next piece of evidence they needed. That grocery store really needed to go.

The stories are endless and impossible to fully capture with words. There are too many contradictory narratives for a clear beginning to end story to be told.

It usually won't happen from a few days of hearing voices. It takes an episode in which all or most symptoms present extremely. Hallucinations of every sense. Word salad. Delusions so deep that you've lost so far out of touch with reality such that you've forgotten what reality even is.

The people in your life won't know what to do with you. They no longer recognize you. You frighten them in all likelihood. The only person more frightened than your loved ones is yourself. In breaks of this level, you're awake in a living nightmare.

It's not forever, fortunately. Not the episode, anyway. What does stick with you is the damage done. You'll never be the same again. You'll feel as though you're brain damaged. You'll lose skills you once were adept at. You'll feel a thick fog surrounding your head that slows you down at all you endeavor.

psychosis takes many forms, admittedly, but in general if someone is having a hardcore break with reality they will be showing outward signs of not being in good shape holistically speaking; they’ll neglect their hygeine and possibly stop eating, they may self harm or pick their skin/pull their hair, it could be very easy to mistake them for someone under the influence of drugs. personally, my psychotic episodes feel like waking dreams or fever-induced delirium and involve both insomnia and borderline narcolepsy.

And sometime they don’t even make sense to me. Either my thoughts or my words - sometimes both - are jumbled. The meaning is in there somewhere. I know it is, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t figure it out and it keeps getting further away.

I’ve read countless posts from people that absolutely hate their medication(s). They say it makes them feel like a zombie. They say it’s made them gain weight. They say it’s giving them hot flashes. The list goes on and on.

Many patients bring up these side effects to their doctor and, often times, get told that they have to stay on the medication and tough out the side effects. This doesn’t have to be the case.

I’ve heard from some psychiatrists that the best AP a schizo can be prescribed is the medication that the schizo is willing to take. In my opinion, this couldn’t be more true.

If a psychotic person is prescribed a medication that gives them side effects so severe that they won’t take the medication, then that patient might as well not be being treated. They’re not taking their meds anyway.

You don’t need to be afraid to tell your doctor that you simply can’t deal with the side effects of the meds they prescribed. They’re there to help you. If they see that their options are switching your medication or having you go unmedicated, they’ll choose to switch your medication.

I was given the loading dose of Invega one time. My experience with it was so bad that I refused to let my doctor inject me with any more of that crap. He didn’t discharge me, he just switched me to Zyprexa pills.