Mental Health Living with voices

[DonLearnsWhy]

Hello my schizo friends!

I am here to discuss the facts and feelings people may have relating to hearing voices or perhaps feeling strong emotions that aren't true to reality.

I heard voices for the first time when I was young, about 10. I remember it was Thanksgiving, I was sitting on a couch at my cousins house, when I clearly heard my grandpa, who passed early that year, call out to me.

I went to therapy for a while over this. I now feel that hearing him was a result of underlining PTSD, I may have had from experiencing death of a loved one for the first time. My therapist was very nice, and schooled me in the effects of Autism.

Hearing voices is quite common for people with Autism. There is something known as the spectrum of Autism. It is basically saying that many of the mental problems seen in seemingly normal people, could be from them having high functioning Autism. People with Autism are more likely to have PTSD from a stressful situation.

I'd like this thread to be a place where people can discuss their experiences hearing voices. I also feel that the more people talk about hearing voices, the better and calmer they feel about what has happened to them.

As for the feeling strong false emotion, which is closer to true schizophrenia, I have had this happen often. It has even caused me to lash out on my loved ones. I have found that discussing the situations with others has helped tremedously. Also, remembing that we all have different interpitations of a situation is a healthy thought.

After therapy for months working on this spectific issue, we found a good method to combat this.
- Always stay calm! It is never OK to be mad. However, upset is a resonable response.
- Remember that people can not read your mind, and some people have trouble with recognizing body language (I.E. frown or crossed arms).
- Most importantly, ask questions! If the emotion is felt over another person, ask them about it, hear and see their interpitation of the situation.

 

[Shady's Fox]

How are you feeling, Donny?

 

[DonLearnsWhy]

Pretty good my friend. I have an exam in qualitative chem tomorrow. I have studied well and should pass. My goal is to learn how to make safer RC's.

How are you Shady?

 

[Opi_Kid_Rock]

I had symptoms of hearing voices for just over a year. I am prescribed nightly antipsychotics. The voices when I heard them, I could not tell if they were real or imagined. I believe that it was meth-induced, when I used for a month a year ago. While my best friend thinks I suffer from the same thing as his son has, which is late stage schizophrenia development. What do you think? The voices are always talking about me and may be about very personal matters that others shouldn’t know about. Thank you.

 

[Joey]

I had symptoms of hearing voices for just over a year. I am prescribed nightly antipsychotics. The voices when I heard them, I could not tell if they were real or imagined. I believe that it was meth-induced, when I used for a month a year ago. While my best friend thinks I suffer from the same thing as his son has, which is late stage schizophrenia development. What do you think? The voices are always talking about me and may be about very personal matters that others shouldn’t know about. Thank you.

I get this too exclusively when the meth is going sour, and even post detox for awhile. They’re commenting on every single thing I think and do right now for example. I take antipsychotic to quieter them up and I just try to ignore it too, or make cracks at them in my head because I have this zany sense of humour that especially comes out when I’m high lately.. that’s more than a little crazy though.

Brain damage due to meth, and schizophrenia are very similar in how they show up on MRI scans. The white matter is damaged / depleted, it’s what protects the neurons in your brain like a coating for a wire. If that’s gone and the wires are all frayed and crossing paths... can lead to psychosis.

Irreversible brain damage caused by methamphetamine: Persisting structural brain lesions

Methamphetamine is an addictive scene substance usage of which is increasing rapidly. While methamphetamine often causes neuropsychiatric symptoms lik…

www.sciencedirect.com

Comparison of Brain White Matter Hyperintensities in Methamphetamine and Methadone Dependent Patients and Healthy Controls

Previous studies have proven the development of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in methamphetamine and opioid users. Opiates and methamphetamines (MA) are the most common addictive agents in Iran. The adverse effects of drugs on the CNS is of concern ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Especially in youths

Meth messes up brains of youths far more than adults

In a study with chronic adolescent and adult meth users in South Korea, MRI brain scans showed decreased thickness in the gray matter of younger users’ frontal cortex. Adult brains showed less damage.

www.sciencedaily.com

All of those articles are explaining basically the same thing, white matter is wrecked by met abuse. Especially if you’re young. Brain stops developing about age 25 on average btw..

Understanding the Teen Brain - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center

www.urmc.rochester.edu

So...









Schizophrenia has similar white matter abnormalities causing psychosis..

White Matter Matters in Schizophrenia

New study of effects of two genes on schizophrenia may aid in quicker diagnoses and the development of new therapies

www.scientificamerican.com

Really interesting line in this article

“The mutant mice also proved to be more sensitive to amphetamines—a hallmark of schizophrenia in humans—“





Tie it all together and...

A Comparison of Methamphetamine-Induced Psychosis and Schizophrenia: A Review of Positive, Negative, and Cognitive Symptomatology

Methamphetamine is a potent psychostimulant that can induce psychosis among recreational and chronic users, with some users developing a persistent psychotic syndrome that shows similarities to schizophrenia. This review provides a comprehensive critique ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

“Preliminary evidence, on the other hand, suggests that chronic METH psychosis may be clinically similar to that of primary psychotic disorders, particularly with respect to positive and cognitive symptomatology, although negative symptoms appear to be more pronounced in schizophrenia.”




But if you cross reference it all the way I just did we have the start of a pretty grounded thesis that meth can not only induced Schizophrenia-like symptoms die to white matter damage, but that people who are predisposed to schizophrenia are prone to meth abuse. Especially for youths under 25 it’s a double whammy.

 

[Joey]

@Opi_Kid_Rock you may or may not have schizophrenia. Either way what you have closely resembles it. I’m the same way.

 

[sonicwhite]

The more I think about it. I notice that from childhood I struggled, and I don’t understand why the teachers never caught it.
So I could have Autism maybe not tho.

when I heard loud commanding voices in 05 it was like behind me so I’ll look to see where the voice is coming from.
Sometimes it would sound like it was coming above the ceiling.
Now I know that it wasn’t drug induced because I abstained from drugs and it never went away.

If I’m off my antipsychotic I lose it bad.

in 06-08 I was telling everyone that God told me He was going to bring me and my ex together, it wasn’t until a older lady telling me I was sick that it sunk in, everyone had been saying that but I was humiliated by her saying it.
As soon as I was getting help crap hit the fan, my PURE O OCD was beyond terrible.

I understand tho

 

[DeathRow]

I’m a diagnosed schizophrenic for over 10 years now. My voices have almost always had a negative spin to them, and have frequently come in the form of command voices (telling me to hurt myself, telling me to hurt others).

As hard as it can be to ignore several voices piling onto you telling you to end your life, for me, the most difficult auditory hallucinations I’ve experienced thus far was hearing the voice of my late father, saying some things to me that I know he’d never say.
I’ve been on a lot of antipsychotics and have settled with the most effective being the invega IM shot, although it doesn’t work as well as I wish it did.
I suffer frequently from delusions that my voices are coming from other entities that legitimately are watching and stalking me. I have a hard time ignoring these thoughts, and even when I’m at my “most stable,” I still find myself unable to convince myself that it is all totally a result of mental illness.
Another frequent delusion I experience is a pretty common one as far as psychosis goes, which is believing others can read my mind, and that I can read theirs.
When I first began to experience psychotic symptoms, and the idea of mind-reading came about pretty quick as I remember being in the car with my grandma, and her almost seemingly responding verbally to things I was thinking in my head. Now, whether the responses I heard were coincidence or even just hallucinations themselves, I don’t know, but I started testing it. I would think something like “if you can hear this, talk about the speed of the car in front of us” or something similar, and nearly every time, it seemed like she would respond appropriately to what I was thinking.
Of course this could just be more hallucinations, but I can’t really be sure honestly. I started hearing things in other people’s voices when their mouths were closed, and came to the conclusion I could read others minds as well, considering some of the things I’d hear I was sure they wouldn’t have wanted me to know about.
I ended up at the conclusion through trial and error, that people could only read my mind if they were making eye contact with me or touching me. I grew my hair out for years based on that sole purpose, the belief that if it covered my eyes, it would prevent people from reading my thoughts.

It’s been a long, long road, but I’m happy to say that I’m in a better place than I used to be at the start of this whole mess. Still not at a great place, hell, maybe not even a good place, but at least I’m not actively attempting suicide like I used to.

 

[DonLearnsWhy]

This was a good read. I used to think that same thing about mind reading. But I figured out what is happening. We can tell what people are thinking through picking up facial expressions. That is why you feel like eye contact is a pathway to mind reading. It is really you picking up and understanding facial expressions and a high rate and being able to think a response to it. Many people go their whole lifes oblivious to reading faces.

As for you in your car with your grandma. That is a real deal schitzo experience. I feel this way many times throughout the day. So to speak that my thoughts can be 'heard' by other people. In the movie The Shining they call it the "shine" and I honestly do feel like there is a form of telepathy or natures telephone that we do not full understand.
- if I could explain it in a way scientist won't think I am too crazy, I would say that it is possible that two brains vibrating at the same resonance could communicate with each other.

A good example is if you ever feel like you know something is going to happen, like your mom is going to call. Some may say that the ability to have insight on the future, if it is 2 seconds or 20 years, is a gift from god. Others may use it as evidence the world is fake and life is a simulation. BUT why can't it be both? Or at least we should look at the glass half full.

I do not know what to say about the negative voices in your head DeathRow. I have had voices but they haven't been negative since I left my last relationship. Back then I would think for hours a day about doing terrible things. But I also found out that I had extremely low Testosterone. Once I got on a hormone treatment and left the relationship I have had no negative voices and almost no voices of any kind.

I reccomend looking into a hormone test to see your T levels, it could help. I remember my first month with T. I could feel a huge difference, I would start to get night terrors but quickly would start thinking about sexy women.

 

[deficiT]

last night i was trapped in a loop;
told me listen to my wife or wince? thought i'd die by the end of the 4th quarter

dissociaton
depersonalized

Iv only option
sin is in

dont listen it aint real

 

[Hezman94]

I'm getting runni g commenEntary and racing thoughts bad on risperidone 1.5mg asked to put it up to 2mg or switch back to quetiapine just cba with withdrawal as ended up committing attempting I mean suicide as I hadn't taper serowuel enoough
Is 1.5mg a tiny dose I've started taking one in day and two at night as noticed voices coming on I. Afternoon sometimes get really sedated tho

 

[sdxyln]

 

[DonLearnsWhy]

Really great vid thank you!

Bob did not seem that bad, However, he could of been having a good day.

Missy seemed to also been on amphetamines, but clearly has a rough mental disorder. My case is closest to hers, I feel like the divorce she experienced could have made her mental disorder a lot worse.

A theme with these people is that they all try hard to seem 'normal'. They do a good job in masking the waves of emotion they get that come with a schizo experience.

Bob - when he goes off into spacey conversation, it appears that his words are making complete sense to himself which is extremely interesting and I have only seen people do this while on psychedelic drugs. He also seems to be lightly obsessed with becoming a man, which may be related to having a sexual experiences. I know this seems like a rehash but it looks like he has low testosterone. He also stated he has to kill a person to become a man, disturbing as it is, it only proves more that his disorder may be testosterone related.

Missy - I do not have too much to over analysis here lol.

Stephen - By far the worst case. It may have escalated quicker from over parenting, for instance; 20+ institutions for anyone growing up would start to mess with your head, at one point you will be driven crazy from going too often, soon you will be convinced that you are permanently different.

I do not know how you guys feel about this, but I recognized that everyone of those subjects still live at home with their parents. Their parents also seem weird to me, singing randomly, celebrating fake birthdays,

Would you guys ever treat your schizophrenia with LSD?

 

[DonLearnsWhy]

I'm getting runni g commenEntary and racing thoughts bad on risperidone 1.5mg asked to put it up to 2mg or switch back to quetiapine just cba with withdrawal as ended up committing attempting I mean suicide as I hadn't taper serowuel enoough
Is 1.5mg a tiny dose I've started taking one in day and two at night as noticed voices coming on I. Afternoon sometimes get really sedated tho

Sorry to hear the waves hit that hard. No matter how rough they toss you, try your best to swim up for air. Depression and suicidal thoughts are a terrible combination, but if you can get past them, it is worth it. I know it will probably never ever go away.... But with practice you can know what to expect and feel it coming on, and then try your best to fight it off.

My grandmother had quit antipsychotics cold turkey and we found her hanging in the garage. They are fucked up drugs, it has to mess with your mentality taking pills everyday multiple times a day.

You aren't alone either, I have ptsd, depression, and was suicidal at one point. Golly I remember having a revolver in my hand debating ending the voices. I used to tell myself "I am only killing the thoughts". Keep in mind I had a schizo episode that lasted nearly 4 years of hearing voices everyday for nearly 60% of my day. The voices would tell me to go and do bad things to the person that had sexually assaulted me, and then to do the same bad thing to myself if you catch my drift.

Therapist help a lot, but so does this forum. I hope to hear more about your life, it is very interesting to me, and I would very much so like to see a recovery from your depression.