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Mental Health schizophrenia without positive symptoms possible?

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UncookMyBrain

Bluelighter
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Messages
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Has anyone here been diagnosed with schizophrenia with only the negative symptoms(which is pretty much same as depression) and positive symptoms only occurring with drug use?

Positive symptoms:
Hallucinations (auditory, visual, or feeling things on your skin, smelling or tasting things)
Delusions (paranoia you cant be talked out of, false beliefs either persecutory or grandiose that aren't part of a herd mentality)
Thought disorder (losing train of thought, jumping topics abruptly, saying things that others find confusing or odd)

Negative symptoms:
Not socialising much
Anhedonia
Apathy
Lack of self care


I am not sure if I have schizophrenia, I have never hallucinated although I experience delusions and a thought disorder when on drugs.
The negative symptoms I have had for a while but to me this just seems like depression?
 
I'm not sure, but I think if you schizophrenia is diagnosed by symptoms of both positive and negative. If you are experiencing only positive or negative effects then my guess would be that there is a different diagnosis, since you are only having half of the symptoms.

I'm no expert beyond dealing with my own share of mental illness/health problems, but the list of negative symptoms would be much more characteristic of severe depression, or really just depression in general.

I think it is possible to cause momentary schizophrenia through drug use that will fade with the drug. What drugs are you using? I would suggest tapering off if you are experiencing these "highs" and "lows", it can very easily get much much more worse. Many people, myself included, try to masks their symptoms of depression and what not with recreational drug use. The problem with this is that recreational drug use isn't a cure and often times it makes things worse and adds to the list of symptoms.

It is possible to start experiencing hallucinations and delusions while sober if you keep using. The mind is a delicate thing ime, it must be taken care of and cared for just like any other part of the body if not more so.
 
Well I used a lot of amphetamines and havent been 100% since, this was years ago, but exercise and CBT seem to be putting me on the path to recovery.
I did some steroids which put me in to Psychotic depression and I snapped out of it.

So yea I only take prescription drugs now, codeine here and there and temazapam. I know opiates can cause psychosis so I limit my use and try get my endorphins from exercise.

I have a mind that is prone to psychosis it seems but I dont see myself as schizophrenic but then again 35-50% of schizophrenics dont acknowledge they have an illness.... so its hard for me to know.
 
research Schizoaffective
it is a mix of various positive or negative symptoms of schizophrenia, with features of Bipolar 1 as well
positive symptoms are not necessary for schizoaffective

but to be fair, many of the negative features of schizophrenia can actually be depression or autistic features as well, so schizophrenia is not necessarily the right diagnosis.
 
I defiantly dont have bipolar 1 or autism.

I read that 30-45% of people become psychotic with heavy amphetamine use and that it subsides however they can go psychotic again if they use again so I think I am just drug fucked but with amphetamines having been around for decades I must meet the criteria for something, I was not like this before using drugs.


I know how personality disorders work and I am on the dramatic spectrum not the odd spectrum, I am certainly not schizoid, I know something is wrong with me and I want to socialize more but I get bored easily, I more meet the criteria for NPD/BPD, moreso BPD.
Its like my mind is stuck as a teenager but my body is getting old and there is a constant struggle with myself between how I feel in the moment and what I should be doing to better myself or how I used to be which was very energetic and social.


I will look in to schizoaffective.
 
The symptoms of schizoaffective disorder can include:
  • Psychotic symptoms - losing touch with reality, hallucinations, delusions, disorganised thoughts, chaotic speech and behaviour, anxiety, apathy, blank facial expression, inability to move.
  • Manic symptoms - increased social, sexual and work activity, rapid thoughts and speech, exaggerated self-esteem, reduced need for sleep, risky behaviours, impulsive behaviours such as spending sprees, quick changes between mood states such as happiness to anger.
  • Depressive symptoms - loss of motivation and interest, fatigue, concentration difficulties, physical complaints such as headache or stomach ache, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, loss of appetite, insomnia.


I dont have psychotic symptoms, I dont meet the criteria for mania only hypomania but I do meet the criteria for depressive symptoms at times.


  • Onset is typically during the years of early adulthood
  • Watching a moving object is usually difficult for a person with schizoaffective disorder
  • Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep usually occurs abnormally early
  • Women are more susceptible than men.

I dont think I am schizoaffective.


My psychiatrist is just shit I am on Risperidone for no reason.
The closest thing I meet the criteria for is BP2 and BPD.
 
UncookMyBrain said:
Has anyone here been diagnosed with schizophrenia with only the negative symptoms(which is pretty much same as depression) and positive symptoms only occurring with drug use?

Positive symptoms:
Hallucinations (auditory, visual, or feeling things on your skin, smelling or tasting things)
Delusions (paranoia you cant be talked out of, false beliefs either persecutory or grandiose that aren't part of a herd mentality)
Thought disorder (losing train of thought, jumping topics abruptly, saying things that others find confusing or odd)

Negative symptoms:
Not socialising much
Anhedonia
Apathy
Lack of self care


I am not sure if I have schizophrenia, I have never hallucinated although I experience delusions and a thought disorder when on drugs.
The negative symptoms I have had for a while but to me this just seems like depression?
Click to expand...

i have it, but i only experience the negative symptoms. people without much knowledge on the subject could think its just depression but how would that explain the psychosis i experience? i dont believe things that arent true or see or hear things that arent there, instead i feel detached and have disorganized thoughts.

once when i had done alot of amphetamine that gave me alot of paranoia too, i thought there were hidden cameras in the vents in my house and a doomed feeling as if death was imminent, crazy shit. but once i stopped that the paranoia and fear went away.
 
I'm sorry to hijack this thread momentarily... Sam05 I'm curious to know Do you take medication for your diagnosis? (if so what and doses) Obviously everyone is different but because you have described mostly what my life is like except for 2 of the "positive symptoms" If you can call them that. I have disrupted thoughts often and sometimes paranoia but have rarely ever to the point of thinking my life is in danger but I have had those thoughts before but only on two occasions. Generally it's mild but it has become quite often (although still mild) lately. I've never had visual hallucinations but I have heard things that aren't there and have my inner voice always saying negative and terrible things and am sick of. It's just like I can't get control of what I want to think about etc it's becoming too difficult to deal with. I must admit, I'm a tad scared to start the merry-go-round of finding the right med/s to take because I tried Seroquel and it make me Way too tired and like I was drunk... Horrible. I could only manage it for a few days and then just had to stop and thought I've try again without meds and just eat healthily and exercise a lot but it just never seemed to work. Exercising would momentarily work but always within 24 hrs or less I would be back to my same old self, occasionally 48hrs. I just want move forward as I'm 31 and am having trouble lately holding down work and relationships and want to put this all behind me. Arrrgh if you could shed any extra light that would be much appreciated. Sorry uncookmybrain lol
 
A lot of people get paranoia from amphetamine, are you sure you arnt schizotypal and not schizophrenic?
I know someone who is schizotypal and he does lots of drugs, he hallucinates when he smokes weed he even went to a psych ward once for a psychotic break but he definitely is not schizophrenic.

If you do the enneagram test you can find out, type 5 is schizotypal.

People of this personality type essentially fear that they don't have enough inner strength to face life, so they tend to withdraw, to retreat into the safety and security of the mind where they can mentally prepare for their emergence into the world. Fives feel comfortable and at home in the realm of thought. They are generally intelligent, well read and thoughtful and they frequently become experts in the areas that capture their interest.
Click to expand...
 
schizophrenia's negative symptoms are caused by APs. Are you on neuroleptics? They are guaranteed to induce negative symptoms of schizophrenia even in people with no depression or schizophrenia.
 
Yea I am on risperidone but I have had negative symptoms since my amphetamine use, I did some CBT which helped.

Can risperidone cause akithisia? I am on .5mg and am reducing the dose by a quarter every 2 weeks to get off it.
 
Psychotic depression is a thing, although it's rarely diagnosed. It's basically what it says on the box: depressive illness with delusional or psychotic features.

None of us can diagnose you online, though.
 
UncookMyBrain said:
Yea I am on risperidone but I have had negative symptoms since my amphetamine use, I did some CBT which helped.

Can risperidone cause akithisia? I am on .5mg and am reducing the dose by a quarter every 2 weeks to get off it.
Click to expand...
One of the main effects of risperidone is akithisia. Get off it as soon as possible.

Learn to seek peace when you are confused. the meds are chemical restraints - not treatments.

The DSM is a fraud. A bunch of people with ties to the pharma industry get together and vote on what should be called incurable brain disease. You don't have an incurable brain disease. It has never been proven for a reason - mental illness is not an incurable brain disease. It is often a result of a spirit of confusion. Everything is spiritual, and things dealing with the psyche are only biological when it can be shown on a brain scan such as TBI
 
Man I appreciate you trying to help but I have been to a psych ward and seen people go in unwell and come out much better due to anti psychotics, they also saved my life and my psychiatrist at the time treated me in the best possible way apart from raising my risperidone from 2 to 3mg for showing signs of agitation.

There was a guy in there who tried to kill himself because the voices in his head never stopped. The DSM isnt perfect but I have found it to be good enough, besides the psychiatrists here know to treat symptoms not whole disorders because they arnt all the same in everyone. There were mistakes but they were down to human error.

I am coming off the risperidone but not ASAP you should always taper and thats what I am doing, I learnt I had a psychotic depression and I should of stayed on my anti depressant longer so I have started it now and I am going to see how I go.
 
I have seen a lot of people pretend their symptoms were gone to get out of the psych ward. I have never seen someone actually better though. Anti-depressants can not do anything for depression is you are on risperadone. look at the pharmacology of risperadone and look at the pharmacology of an anti-depressant. You don't know if you have psychotic depression if you are on risperadone because risperidone induces extreme depression.
 
NOtoInvega said:
I have seen a lot of people pretend their symptoms were gone to get out of the psych ward. I have never seen someone actually better though. Anti-depressants can not do anything for depression is you are on risperadone. look at the pharmacology of risperadone and look at the pharmacology of an anti-depressant. You don't know if you have psychotic depression if you are on risperadone because risperidone induces extreme depression.
Click to expand...

Funny how literally everyone but you says they are at least aware of people whose symptoms have improved on psych meds, isn't it?
 
peter_010 said:
I'm sorry to hijack this thread momentarily... Sam05 I'm curious to know Do you take medication for your diagnosis? (if so what and doses) Obviously everyone is different but because you have described mostly what my life is like except for 2 of the "positive symptoms" If you can call them that. I have disrupted thoughts often and sometimes paranoia but have rarely ever to the point of thinking my life is in danger but I have had those thoughts before but only on two occasions. Generally it's mild but it has become quite often (although still mild) lately. I've never had visual hallucinations but I have heard things that aren't there and have my inner voice always saying negative and terrible things and am sick of. It's just like I can't get control of what I want to think about etc it's becoming too difficult to deal with. I must admit, I'm a tad scared to start the merry-go-round of finding the right med/s to take because I tried Seroquel and it make me Way too tired and like I was drunk... Horrible. I could only manage it for a few days and then just had to stop and thought I've try again without meds and just eat healthily and exercise a lot but it just never seemed to work. Exercising would momentarily work but always within 24 hrs or less I would be back to my same old self, occasionally 48hrs. I just want move forward as I'm 31 and am having trouble lately holding down work and relationships and want to put this all behind me. Arrrgh if you could shed any extra light that would be much appreciated. Sorry uncookmybrain lol
Click to expand...

go see a shrink, no one can help you on the internet.
 
There is a somewhat controversial schizophrenia diagnosis that is no longer used in the USA but I guess is still technically a legit diagnosis in EU, schizophrenia simplex: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple-type_schizophrenia

Unfortunately I don't really have anything more useful for you other than I guess to say you're not the only one in a similar situation?

I've entertained the possibility that it's responsible for my own situation, but not really sure. It wouldn't be a big stretch I guess, my mother is schizophrenic. I've never had any kind of positive psychotic symptoms, with or without drugs. Schizoid personality disorder is also very descriptive, though I don't have much of a "rich internal fantasy life" although I guess I did daydream and fantasize quite a bit years ago but not recently. Psychiatry is such a crapshoot. There's too much overlap between severe depression, negative schizophrenic symptoms, and schizoid PD. If I'm just depressed, it's a depression that lacks a mood component because I don't feel sadness or (more than occasionally) low mood. And certainly not some things that are supposed to be common with depression, like feelings of guilt. The thing that strikes me about "schizophrenia simplex" and my own history is the description of a slow and insidious degeneration, starting at an early age.
 
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