Schizophrenia or Anxiety?

[John23a]

Hello Everyone

Few months ago i had an anxiety attack and i thought something is wrong with my health. So i did an CT scan from my head and a MRI from my neck thinking it might be a tumor and i did a full blood test. My doctor told me its all my thoughts and its because of my anxiety. I had a very hard 4 weeks of constant anxiety going to the emergency room 4 times for no reason during those 4 weeks. This was 5-6 months ago. Its been 3 days now that i'm starting to feel some symptoms of anxiety but i believe i will get through this just like how i did 6 months ago. But im happy its not that bad. The only symptom i have right now is feeling of depersonalization. I randomly researched about Schizophrenia just to see what it is and i'm freaking out right now. Most the early symptoms is what i have. Is it possible that i have Schizophrenia or im getting Schizophrenia? disordered thinking, depersonalization, depersonalization, lack of pleasure in everyday life, feels extremely suspicious to what my girlfriend does and etc. Could it be Schizophrenia? please let me know im freakin outt

- i always feel that my girlfriend is cheating on me when i know she isnt but even when she talks to her cousin i think somethings goin on between them and i just hate the fact that i always feel suspicious when i know shes not the cheating type of girl

- i was feeling very well for 2-3 months but i started having the depersonalization feeling again

- when i wake up i have this pain in my heart and its like a sharp pain..i usually get it when i want to go to bed and when i wake up

- sometimes i feel like im dead and im just two eyes watching this world..like im doing somethin and suddenly i feel empty..i feel like i dont exist and i feel like its all a dream..

- sometimes i feel like im goin crazy..i cant focus on one thought

i just hate the fact that i was feeling great a week ago and now im starting to get the symptoms again..i wish i never did drugs..because i think thats the main reason that i got my first panic attack which caused my anxiety..i did a lot of ecstasy and weed for a year and i stopped..but i had 4-5 bad trips and twice i had to go to hospital because of it..im glad that i stopped but i just wish i could get rid of my anxiety..i thought it was gone..and tonight i started tripping out over the fact that i  might be having the early symptoms of Schizophrenia..im 19 by the way

[ILADVOCATE]

As a person who has made a full recovery from schizoaffective disorder with glycine, an antipsychotic in Phase II FDA study I believe I could answer that from a consumer perspective. First of all, one thing to understand is that ecstasy in itself can cause permanent brain damage and psychosis. That is seperate from schizophrenia. Some symptoms you describe could be part of anxiety disorder but many describe paranoia and having trouble with social relations which are part of schizophrenia. I would suggest you speak to your psychiatrist more about this. Perhaps taking ecstasy triggered the onset of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is treatable and psychosis is something that can be mitigated and as the future generation of antipsychotics come out if the research pans out perhaps put in remmision as in me though substance abuse even in the past can make recovery more difficult but it still is acheivable.

[John23a]

i asked my family doctor about it and he said that i dont have Schizophrenia and im just suffering from anxiety..but im still scared maybe this goes back to my anxiety..the only social problem i have is feeling suspicious aboyut my girlfriend which i can guess what caused..my first girlfriend cheated on me several times and one day she just left and i went into a severe depression for a year..i dont really have that much of social problems..i get along with people..

[ILADVOCATE]

Really a psychiatrist is better equipped than a doctor to make a mental health diagnosis. I would obtain a referral to a psychiatrist and detail exactly what's wrong and let them come to a better conclusion.

[primetime21]

sounds way more like an anxiety disorder than schizophrenia..i know becuase ive had  depersonalization and constant anxieety for months on end..and once the anxiety dies down u can really look at urself and know that ur not going crazy.
good luck

[mkor]

Sounds more like anxiety then schizophrenia and perhaps also a tendency to overanalyse things and your statement about "freaking out" when you read the symptoms of schizophrenia and thought it applied to you all seem to point back at anxiety.You said your first girlfriend cheated on you so naturally your going to have fear and insecurity that this girlfriend might even though you know shes not the cheating type because that experience is still left over from the last relationship you were in.Some feelings are "normal' human reactions and are not pathological.We are meant to have feelings-we're not meant to be robots-although some psychiatrists appear to think that any feeling is a mental disorder(whens happiness going to be placed the Dsm as a disorder lol)
Humans have a wide range of emotions and while some are definately not healthy they are not indicative of mental illness either.The suspicion/paranoia in Schizophrenia is not the "normal" type of paranoia that "healthy" people might experience in everyday life:for example a woman might be paranoid that her coworkers are talking about her behind her back and she might have very good reason to because they might very well be doing that(it happens) or someone could have told her they were or it might be left over from an experience she had in highschool etc.The paranoia that is in schizophrenia is very different and without basis or being able to rationalise it etc.For example if you start believing that your girlfriend has bugged your house(and there no possible-although highly unlikely reason that this could have really happened,for example if your a drug dealer and your girlfriend was an undercover policewoman)then you could start questioning do you have the early signs of schizophrenia or if you thought there was bugs crawling out the wall that noone could see etc.
Maybe try taking antianxiety tablet and see if they help or if you dont want pills/doctors then maybe consider seeing a good Traditional chinese medicine practitioner/acupuncturist-theyve have a lot of success with different illnesses including psych symptoms.Perhaps consider seeing a counselor too if you think it would help to heal your feelings from your last relationship and also if you feel that you do have anxiety and dont have any overt signs of schizophrenia maybe it might be a good idea to keep away from websites that talk about symptoms of schizophrenia etc
Take care

[ILADVOCATE]

Honestly it varies with the amount of paranoia in schizophrenia. Despite my recovery from psychosis with an experimental treatment in Phase II FDA study I still need a mood stabilizer as well. And for a while (not due to discontinuing anything but because I had tried all known options) because in schizoaffective for any antipsychotic to work you need a working mood stabilizer as well what might have been a minor remark by someone on the street that was just hostile appeared to be a "threat". Now I am on Clonidine which is working as a mood stabilizer and all that has calmed down. So it all depends. It would be rare for someone with full blown psychosis to even have the ability to sign up and post here but there are degrees of psychosis and honestly its hard to say. Best to speak to your psychiatrist about it. As for a misinterpratation of "normal feelings" that's what a talk therapist is for. I have schizoaffective disorder and it doesn't mean I don't have normal human emotions as well. Even before recovery when I was blatantly paranoid. Its best to understand all issues and come to your own conclusions and have an honest discussion with your psychiatrist about it.