please help

[waterchild]

Before I say what happened I sould say that I have extreme anxiety problems and ocd, that is all this could be but I want to be sure. The other day I was walking outside, not paying attention really to anything around me and i opened the door, i looked down and i swear i saw a snake on the doorstep. i jumped over it, ran for about 3 seconds, slowly walked back and it wasnt there. i dont know how fast snake are but my uncle looked all over for it and couldnt find a snake inside or outside. im constantly worried that im going to get schizophrenia so it could be just my anxiety. but if the snake really wasnt there is that schizophrenea or just seeing something out of the corner of my eye and saw it wrong. I don't have any other symptoms, I sleep a lot and am detached but thats because im scared all the time, panic attacks. I don't hear things, although im always doing stuff like ill hear something, ill freak out and think im hearing something, but then my husband will say he heard it too and im not crazy. please just tell me if this sounds like sch. or not. thanks

[ILADVOCATE]

Hard to say. For schizophrenia a person must have a whole set of symptoms including auditory hallucinations and delusions. What you describe more sounds like some of the more extreme aspects of anxiety disorder but only a psychiatrist could provide a diagnosis but it would be worth speaking to one and if you are already describe your new symptoms and they'll see how they can help you.

[Hluhluwe]

Hi there.. well the only thing i can say is that i have had and still have the same thing that you have.. mine started 5 years ago.  It started with severe paranoia, i was scared of everything, i still am.  i started getting severe anxiety attacks.  constantly for about a year. Along with that, well i was told that it is not real, i had visual hallusinations of animals and scary ghosts.  It faded away after about 8 months and i started hearing things that are'nt there..constantly, for months, every day, which i still hear.  I started believing that all these things are real and i was convinced that someone has cursed me.  I seemed to change my mind on the way i felt about all of this.  My dad died 10 years ago.  He has had heart surgery when i was little.  You could always hear hes heartbeat when he stood next to you.  A tick tick sound.  Anyway, that is what i heard, its coming from the outside, i still hear that.  but im not scared anymore , because i know it is not real.  I was molested as a child (by my dad) and at one stage when i started seeing the ghosts i was convinced that it was my dad that was haunting me because of the way the figure looked.  It was a really scary figure and i thought that my dad is a demon and that satan has send him to come and collect my soul.. It was a really bad time for me.  

After all of that i started to develop other fears like im too scared to drive, because people are following me around to rape me and kill me.. unfortunately it is still a fear that i have and i cant seem to kick it.  It was so bad at one stage that i was convinced my car had a secret tracking device in. and that there is someone in town that wants me dead.   I dont even drive far distances alone anymore.  I also had fears of people i know trying to get rid of me, i sometimes still have those as well.

I can sit and explain the whole day of all the stupid things i was thinking and the way my loved ones gets upset with me because of the way i always talk about it and ask them out .. they say im too paranoid.  

So, after a while, from talking to people about it, they said it wasnt real.  I started to believe them and till now, i believe it is not real.  I also thought after a while that i might be schitzoprhenic.  And from what i know, schitzophrenic people dont know they are ill.  They believe all these things they are experiencing are true no matter how hard you are trying to convince them.  

I have been on psycotic medication for a while, where i was diagnosed with major psycotic depression.  But it still carries on and on.. i have learned to ignore it.. i went back to the doc, they have given me different medication for anxiety.  I have been re-diagnosed with GAD and OCD.

So, i dont think you have anything to worry about.  I think you are ok.. maybe it is anxiety as well.   Once your family memebers realise that the things you say and do is a bit bizarre and you dont realise it, then i would say, you should go and consult the doc again.

Good luck
:)

[corlenbelspar]

People with schizophrenia can know they're ill, it's just the matter of whether you're stable or not.  It's during psychotic episodes you lose usually all insight you had into your illness and there's also the problem of people with it not knowing about the disease at all which I thought it was all normal and everyone experienced it until I read up about it one day.  Psychosis usually re-emerges during times of stress even while you're stable.  I had to be my own advocate because everyone just thought I was really weird and I hid it all out of embarrassment because I knew how people who experienced the same things as me were considered "f*cking nuts" and I didn't want to lose my credibility.  My boss is nice and gave people speeches on how I wasn't weird and how she thinks people who think that are as*holes which in reality I'm am just a normal person with mental illness.  A hallmark of psychosis is lack of insight.  There's still some problems you won't have any insight on like knowing the difference between what's real and fake.  I only knew to tell my therapist about delusions I had by determining which beliefs are bizarre and which aren't and I still think some are true.  I don't know what to believe or doubt because of my problems.  Now don't get me wrong however, there's a lot of people who have no insight at all into their illness who have this.

[Julie359]

I would say go and seek help from your GP, explain what you are going through and let him/her make the decision.  He may refer you to a therapist who will make a diganosis.  Don't ignore it, it's not getting any better and the more you worry the more it will affect you, the vicious cycle fear produces fear.  Once you seek help you may be relieved to learn that you are fine and it is severe anxiety.  Remenber if you suffer from severe anxiety as i do, you are proberly exausted most of the time, through lack of sleep and energy consumed being anxious, so this could just be fatigue.  Either way you could be put on some med's to combat your symtoms and you may feel better sooner than you think.  Good-luck and remember your not alone!!