@rav3n
Thank you for your response, I found the forum interesting but unfortunately could not find a way to post to it and so have written a post within this post plus added some of the forum contributors. It may help somehow, if it can be added into the forum that would be great, if not then hopefully the others will receive this message.
Regards
Altitleorange
@Dimity
Thank you for your story.
Before I tell you mine let me tell you what brought me to SANE and that was to see if I could find some type of peer support network rather than the usual psychologist sessions. The reason is that there is no one beyond them in my day to day life to discuss my schizophrenia and paranoia with, because when I did it once with a new friend they nearly freaked.
It tends to make you button your lip, and tragically events in society such as a shopping Centre rampage not by me but others that were reported as schizophrenic do nothing to help this.
I have friends and acquaintances, not though that know my health record, and even with my family it is not discussed.
Now to my story.
I divorced in my mid 30’s, and at roughly the same time stated to hear voices. At first it was an irritant and not something I bothered with. Over the next two years this increased and my head turned into a not so well supported FM Radio station, with music and playlists and back stories and voices.
It made it difficult to function, and especially in a high-pressure job.
I had epilepsy as a child and that taught me to delve into the root cause of things, but this was a mystery to me. In time the paranoia crept in and the media were following me everywhere. I could not watch even Playschool it got that ridiculous and did not read a newspaper for nearly two years.
Eventually things got even worse as a voice took charge, and this was malicious and was trying to drive me towards suicide. In time I saw a GP in Melbourne and explained all this who referred me to a psychiatrist that medicated me successfully. This took years for me to achieve though, not the medication but the simple process of getting the nerve to discuss this ‘insanity’ with a Doctor.
I live on my medication, which was changed but still controls this situation, and perhaps as others on this site indicate it will shorten my life but it is not much of a life without it.
I have written a self-help book that is a fiercely independent as me, and still write occasionally, these my outlets beyond medication and psych’s, and it is possible that the psychosis even allowed me to develop these skills that had been so underdeveloped before.
That in summary is my story, and reason for initially seeking something like SANE. It seems worthwhile if I can contribute to the overall conversation and perhaps assist others in some way with my tale.
Does it repair the isolated state? No, that is something that the stigma of society for the moment it seems precludes to some extent however I did find a research project with aims, and from my review good data, to if not correct then ameliorate this to some extent.
I can only wish Melbourne university, SANE, you and others success in this.
Alittleorange
Others from the Hearing and Voices Forum who may be interested are:
@Dimity @RiverSeal
