Intrusive thoughts/Anxiety over being Schizo.

[Celtics33]

Pretty long so bare with me please just looking for some help.

Alright I have been having on and off intrusive thoughts since about Christmas time. This is the first time in my life i have ever suffered from intrusive thoughts. They seem to plague me for a few days and then I gain control and feel good for a week or so.

I've dealt with anxiety for awhile now. I always thought something was wrong when i was young. I would see people have cancer on TV i would think i would get it. I saw people get a disease from a mosquito, I would then think if i was bitten that i would get that disease.

So fast forward to now. I didn't have to much anxiety through high school at all and now i am 22. I had a SVT ablation and it seems like since that has happened my anxiety has gone threw the roof. I know am having a fear of  becoming a Schizophrenic.

I fear this because last night i had a little to much to drink and was in a real light sleep and i felt like i was dreaming and felt like i was at work and people were calling for me, and members were asking me questions. I am in retail so i deal with this daily. What got me so freaked is that I felt as if i was awake while having this but was very tired and didn't know if i was asleep or not. This freaked me out and now i have been searching all day about schizophrenia.

Nobody in my family that i know of has this disease which i know really decreases my chances of having it. But still my intrusive thoughts feel like they are saying yeah well what if? Sorry this was so long but just looking for a little help.

[Celtics33]

Thank you. I read about the symptoms and that's what gets me. I sit here and think we'll you have been paranoid once or you have these thoughts but what if they are voices. I hate the what ifs.. I know its all in my head just so hard to get around it. I do hope to speak with someone soon.

[nursegirl6572]

Intrusive thoughts are common among anxiety sufferers.  I can promise you don't have schizophrenia.  That's an illness that involves psychotic epsiodes, you wou'dn't be so self aware in the case of that kind of illness.  There are SO many stark differences between a psychotic mental illness, and an anxiety disorder.  Nearly 20% of the US population is diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, that's a LOT of people.  And that doesn't include the people who have suffered but not been officially diagnosed.

I would recommend that you seek professional help for the anxiety, as it has been an issue for you for a long time.  Therapy is vital, and meds may be something worth considering as well.

Lastly, alcohol exacerbates anxiety something terrible.  You would wise to steer clear of it completely, as it will only make you feel worse.

Good luck..keep in touch and let us know how you're doing!

[Dave2436]

Sounds like an anxiety issue, nothing more. The alcohol you drank can disrupt sleep so I am not surprised you had strange dreams.

[Celtics33]

Yeah i have always been a hypochondriac. Always thought something was gonna happen to me.. Idk. Its like deep down inside i know i don't have schizophrenia but then I have the what if's. And then it gets confusing, and thats probably what my anxiety wants.

[Amy4891]

It sounds like to me that you may have hypochondria, and probably not schizophrenia. I would suggest that you talk this over with your psychiatrist or therapist, or if you don't have either maybe you should find a mental health provider and get an evaluation done. Hope you get to feeling better.