I have been diagnosed with schizophrenia

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I have been "hearing things" for a few years, but within the last few weeks they have really ramped up. I finally was diagnosed with schizophrenia yesterday. I am picking up my meds this afternoon, and am taking niacin as well. I am 37. Late onset schizophrenia seems to run in my family, and I've long been classified as schizoaffective. The voices have already gotten softer and less irrational since I've accepted this diagnosis. Any advice is welcome.

Well really.. Don't listen to them. Also I hope thou have a good life now that you can deal with what is bothering you.

Sorry to hear that. It's weird being diagnosed at something at first, it doesn't sink in, then you just get used to it and you have a reason for what's wrong in your life.

I hope things get easier with the medication.

But what if ones mental state is not what's wrong and society is what's wrong? just something I cannot help considering after reading that.

You have misinterpreted what I said. I said what's wrong in YOUR life, meaning OP's life. Clearly this disorder, disorders her life wrong. Just like mine.

I knew that, that is just what I thought of when I read that...not that its true for everyone.

Auditory hallucinations are a prominent symptom of schizophrenia. And auditory hallucinations are also a prominent symptom of being bipolar.

From this following book written by a medical student, he said the evolving treatment in the 1980s (obviously a long time ago!) was to stabilize the patient with anti-schizophrenic medication, establish a therapeutic dose of lithium over several weeks or more, as the doctor was also tapering off the anti-schizophrenic medication, this to see if the lithium works by itself. The thinking was that lithium has a smaller percentage of serious side-effects, which can be monitored and prevented by regular checks of blood cells.
schizophrenia or bipolar? (Melvin Konner, 1987)
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt177714.html

And the following is a 2010 CNN health column by a psychiatrist basically saying that schizophrenia and bipolar have a lot of overlap and some of the same medications work for both.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/expert.q ... index.html

I guess the most important thing is to have a doctor you can halfway talk with and who's willing to tinker with the medication as needed. Doctors tend not to be great listeners, but hopefully you have a doctor who's at least a so-so listener

Last edited by AardvarkGoodSwimmer on 11 Jul 2012, 3:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I hope you have a good therapist, and that the medication helps you.

Sending ((hugs)) to you. I know it can seem scary but you are getting the help that you need, and that is a very good thing. You will be ok - you know what your diagnosis is and you took steps in order to better yourself (by seeking help for the problem).

Actually, auditory hallucinations aren't all that prominent in mania, which is what defines bipolar disorder. Delusions, particularly grandiose delusions, are the most common psychotic symptom in those who experience psychosis during their manic episodes. A smaller percentage of psychotic manic patients have hallucinations, and in those who do, visual hallucinations are as frequent as auditory hallucinations. In psychotic depression, auditory hallucinations are the norm, but not everyone who has psychotic mania has psychotic depressive episodes, and vice versa. In fact, there are patients who have unipolar psychotic depression. The overlap between psychotic bipolar disorder and schizophrenia is still very unclear, because there is clearly a link (or schizoaffective disorder wouldn't exist), but there also tends to be substantial differences in how the psychosis represents itself in each disorder.
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pezar, I hope that you feel better soon. Schizoaffective disorder can be tricky to treat, so if your first medication combo doesn't work, try not to get discouraged. Just keep working with your doctor to find what's right for you. I wish you good luck with accepting your diagnosis.

I can't imagine hearing or seeing things that aren't there - or that others can't see.
I suppose dreaming is as close as I get to that! What is it like? Is it like dreaming but you're awake?

I will try and research specifically on the topic of auditory hallucinations. Following is Dr. Charles Raison on the overlap in general between schizophrenia and bipolar.

There is the theory that schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and autism are more or less the same disorder and that they just manifest each other differently in the brain.
I would make sence if you think about schizoaffective disorder and McDD or the fact that more autistic people also have bipolar disorder.

You could try LSD.

Here's a source which says auditory hallucinations occur in approximately 75% of persons with schizophrenia and in 20-50% of persons with bipolar.

Last edited by AardvarkGoodSwimmer on 11 Jul 2012, 8:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Interesting you should bring this up! The following is from Lancet:



And yes, at this point, the idea is tentative, findings "indicate," that sort of thing.

I like this approach very much. And probably the case for schizophrenia itself. I've read this is also the case with treating depression, and probably a number of other conditions as well. Just that everyone's biochem tends to be a little different.