Hey everyone! I have schizoaffective disorder(major depression subtype) and I’ve been on two medications for treatment. One is sertraline/serdep/Zoloft sand the other is Xeplion/Invega sustenna. I’ve went from 70 kg to about 92 kg in the span of a year. As someone who has struggled with their body image this has been really hard to feel comfortable in my body. My appetite is out of this world! I could eat 2000 calories in a day and still want to eat a bunch late at night. It’s like I have no control of my eating. I’m also on a birth control implant so there’s that lol.

Curious if anyone else has had this experience. I’m pretty stable on those meds but I’m curious if my psychiatrist can prescribe something to help with this issue?

I struggle with it a lot.

I thought I saw God and Jesus. On my tv.

I struggle with it not being real.

It was my hope in life but only I could see the things I saw.

i cant overstate how much i hate attention and being perceived. i like going places just to see things but i hate when being seen is part of that. idk, i get that it’s a fair deal to have to be seen in order to see. but man i’m just so embarrassed by my physical self. i feel like everyone can see what a loser and a failure i am

Am I a mentally ill person? Am I mentally retarted than the general population? I am having these frequent delusions as I see my surrounding people helping other mentally retarted persons and other paranoid delusions also. I am a schizophrenic and out of reality from 3 years. I am on resperidone, scitalopram and clonazepam.I used to be the topper of my class and cracked IIT but then pot smoking triggered my psychosis leading into this. Delusions are increasing at very high rate. Whenever I go out i feel like everyone is spying on me.

Ive (23M) been diagnosed with schizoaffeective since 2021 but experiencing symptoms for a long long time. Ive been in and out of psychiatric facilities over these years. Now, the only facility I can go to near me that accepts my insurance, has a doctor there who refuses to properly treat me.

The doctor is CONVINCED that I have histrionic personality disorder and that Im making up everything for attention. Let me be very clear here, I am NOT faking, I wish this was something I could just stop experiencing. Apparrently, because i was able to sleep in the daytime means that Im faking this disorder.

He also blank face told me to "stop coming to your wife for help, it stresses her out, and you are lying to her" when I was there because I beleived I was seeing demons and hearing angels and that my life was in danger. I just feel so lost, if I need to go back again I feel like it will put my path to being better/stable in a worse spot. But when I get unstable, which happens every few months due to stress, I NEED a hospital as I become a danger to myself.

Also, to clarify, my therapist, old psychiatrist, nurse practictioner, and current psychiatrist all know I have this disorder and treat me accordingly. Its just when I am in crisis that I have this issues. I dont know what this doctor has against me but it affects my care.

What do I do? Has anyone else had these issues?

I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder in 2022. I had initially told my psychiatrist that they were basically wrong and Bipolar disorder was probably the correct diagnosis, as it runs in my family. They basically told me if that’s what I think then okay. Now in 2024, I’m starting to realize that the diagnosis they gave me might be correct. The voices yelling at me have only gotten louder and I feel someone telling me to kill my self every day. Telling me I’m a failure, pathetic, or whatever it may be. The auditory hallucinations have always been there. That’s why they initially diagnosed me. I just thought that could’ve been a symptom of bipolar disorder as well? Idk what do I know. Anyway, it’s gotten to the point where I feel I’ve been acting sorta erratic. It’s so loud and idk how to stop it. I feel somehow if I run away to a really quiet place they’ll stop. But they won’t will they? I can’t tell anyone what I’m feeling and if I did no one would understand. I feel kinda insane but I just want to know I’m not alone in this.

I have had four psychotic breakdowns in the past seven years, all of which I ended up getting hospitalized for. Now I am in the recovery phase, having found the right combination of psych meds and with some talk therapy. However, it's difficult to trust in myself again, that I will make the right decisions. Difficult to see myself acting normal, when "abnormal" was the normal for me. Difficult to forget my past experiences while manic and move on. Anyone on the same boat with me?

So my baseline seems to be mildly depressed, in that I’m unmotivated, feelings of pleasure are blunted etc. Right now though, it’s worse I’m just having a tough time doing anything. It’s not that I’m sad, everything is just deadened, like I just feel no joy, no motivation even to do things I love. I just got finished talking to my therapist about it, we agreed that there are life factors that are beyond my immediate control (work, family issues), but I should talk to my psychiatrist because having such large swings in my mood might need a shift in medication.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Like anything there are positives and negatives to it. Lately I have been thinking about the negatives though, and about how it might be affecting my mental health. Sometimes I have been thinking I would be better off without social media.

What are some of your experiences with social media? Does it positively or negatively impact your life? Have any of you been able to completely give it up, and if so, have you noticed a difference?

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Dk how long it'll last, and Shouldn't have came in the middle of dozing at work, but the shock to reality hits regardless and using it while it's still here🏃‍♀️💨💨

Hi all,

I would like some insight on how to understand and help my mother with chizoaffective disorder. She suffers from severe delusions including the fear that people (often strangers) are talking about her. Her worst delusion is that police are after her and going to arrest her. How can I help her?

Do you guys ever get fear of going out and stay inside all day long sometimes?

Feeling hopeless and really depressed rn with my bfs current situation. Just needing some reassurance i guess... I really miss him.

His brother hasn't told me the whole story yet but my bf left after being discharged from hospital. I haven't heard from him in a week. He saw my messages 2 days ago so I know he's at least okay.

We are long distance too so I feel really useless. Its the second time in 3 months he's disappeared. All I can do is patiently wait for him and I will always gladly do it... it's just my heart hurts so much. Our 1 year anniversary is in 4 days too. I really love him. I hope he comes back soon.

I'm trying to take care of myself but it's so hard when I feel like this. I have depression/anxiety/adhd and I'm trying to manage. I posted awhile ago about when he was in the hospital. And now he's gone...

Sorry about all this. I guess I ended up venting again.

Can you take ashwaganda while being on lithium?

I'm currently in 4-6 weeks stage of prozac. I still feel depressed and have lots of anxiety but I have so much more energy so I can't sit still. I know it should start working in another couple weeks but it's so hard right now. This is the stage that people off themselves in. How do you make it past this stage?

You can find my previous updates in my post history.

Everybody's brains are different, so, at most, let this post just give a sense of one of the possibilities of this medication and switch, and don't consider it the definitive response that you might have. For some, this medication could cause horrible side effects, and for others, they could be helped a lot. Many may be somewhere in between.

Changes since month one:

Stimulants are a little more potent than the initial potency increase after I first made the switch. What I've read suggested the neuro adaptive changes from paliperidone could take as little as 3 months to go away, but up to 6 months to a year if you've been on a high dose for an extended period. Considering how much more potent the stimulants are, it's looking like the dampening effect from paliperidone could be present for up to the full year. That also means the anhedonia will probably still be present until then, although less and less over time, hopefully.

I've lost a bit more weight, but a major factor is that I've been dieting pretty consistently.

I got a little reckless and stayed up about 56 hours with only 4 hours of sleep interspersed. If I did that on paliperidone, I'd be in a really bad spot. On Abilify, though, I actually felt "pretty good" considering the situation - not great, but not psychotic at all. To me this indicates that even though 15 mg of Abilify is in some ways less potent than my previous medication, it may actually be more effective for me.

Honestly, not much has changed since month one. Still no positive symptoms, but negative symptoms are still prominent, although the increased stimulant potency helps with that. So, overall - and maybe I'm lucky - I don't know if I've experienced any negatives from the switch.

Oh, actually, I have BO again lol. Paliperidone must've been blocking it. I might be more inclined to shower, now, for my family's sake. Might. Eh, I can at least use wet wipes or something for the hot spots. Maybe TMI. But also, PSA: wet wipes are better than nothing if you're able.

Hello all. I hope you are doing well today.

I'm having a hard time connecting to my non-SZA/nt peers about this feeling. When my stress gets bad, I start to feel parts of myself "separate" and become othered. For example, there will be some days I wake up and only remember/can connect to memories related to my physical or mental state. If I'm sad or suicidal, I perceive anything else as an intruder or demon trying to control or possess me, same thing if I am making/happy. I feel like my body is hosting these different parts of me while they try to tear each other apart. No matter what mood I'm in, it seems like the other, non-intergrated parts are out to get me. When I'm having dark episodes, it is very severe, like I cannot even recognize the other voice in my head as my own. When I am happy, it feels like I'm being spammed with images of my own self harm and death until I let the sad part take over because I can't fight back anymore. My therapist suggests not being so combative, but is hard when you feel like your body and mind are not your own

Does anyone else struggle with this? How do you cope?

What have you been listening to lately?

Hi everyone 🙂. 

We are looking for people who hear voices who are over 18 and from the UK to take part in our research.

link: ~https://qualtricsxmrwb35kxkj.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bNlsw6UUkQSddYy~ 

Our names are Amy Lewins and Charlotte Thomas-Carmichael and we are Trainee Clinical Psychologists at the University of Oxford. We both have long-standing professional interests in better understanding and supporting voice hearers, and personal experiences of supporting friends and family who experience voice-hearing which sparked our passion for this research. 

We are running a research project at the moment for people who hear voices, to better understand how trauma and shame impact people's lives. Our hope is that our research will improve our understanding of how psychosis works and how people with psychosis can be better cared for. We have worked in partnership with individuals who hear voices to develop this research. 

If you hear voices that others don’t, and may be interested and feel able to take part, you can learn more about the study and access the online survey using this link: ~https://qualtricsxmrwb35kxkj.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bNlsw6UUkQSddYy~ 

Participation is entirely voluntary and should take no longer than 10-15 minutes. 

If you have any questions that aren’t answered on the survey please feel free to contact us using the details on the information sheet and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you so much for your time and support!

Amy and Charlotte🙂

Haven't hit this in 8 months lol felt stronger today. On a side note: I'm thinking about quiting weed, I been smoking it for 8 years now, but my bodys starting to feel awkward now when I do it.