can you feel psychotic and not hear any voices?

[MNBrant]

I told my psychiatrist that I was at times feeling psychotic but not hearing any voices. He nodded knowingly, but when I asked him if he had heard of it he muttered maybe paranoia. At any rate I have a new diagnosis.Before I had undefined schizoaffective disorder, now I have bipolar schizoaffective disorder. It sounds real bad. Maybe I should look it up or something.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5016254_sc...olar-type.html

I just found it. It is described as a scary and frightening form of the disease because it combines the symptoms of both bipolar and schizoaffective disorder.
My goodness.

Actually what it sounds like is that they want me to get off my crappy insurance and get back on to disability. Which I will. if I fail accounting this semester, probably. Right now I am being paid rather handsomely to go back to community college.

Apparently, according to the article, I am supposed to be getting a drug cocktail to manage my symptoms. Won't that make me fat?

[TubbaBlubba]

Originally Posted by MNBrant

Apparently, according to the article, I am supposed to be getting a drug cocktail to manage my symptoms. Won't that make me fat?

Well, I can kind of answer this one. I have no experience with antipsychotics, but I know many are associated with weight gain, though I'm not sure if many of the newer atypical ones have that effect.

Mood stabilizers, well, I've been on lithium for 2.5 years. Above all else it will make you REALLY REALLY REALLY thirsty, which means that you should make sure to keep any sugary drinks to a minimum, and drink water instead.

Dunno about other mood stabilizers.


Generally, though, two things tend to hold:
1. If you need this kind of medication, weight will be a second-hand issue.
2. If you keep your weight in mind, and try not to go crazy on high-calorie foods (which is what makes you fat, not the drugs per se, but the cravings), you can generally minimize the weight gain.

In full disclosure, I gained 40 pounds after starting with lithium, but that was because I got some terrible habits at the same time (Reading at McDonalds during off hours at school.) I've now lost 20 of that, and am looking to lose 25 more.

[wardenclyffe]

Originally Posted by MNBrant

I told my psychiatrist that I was at times feeling psychotic but not hearing any voices. He nodded knowingly, but when I asked him if he had heard of it he muttered maybe paranoia. At any rate I have a new diagnosis.Before I had undefined schizoaffective disorder, now I have bipolar schizoaffective disorder. It sounds real bad. Maybe I should look it up or something.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5016254_sc...olar-type.html

I just found it. It is described as a scary and frightening form of the disease because it combines the symptoms of both bipolar and schizoaffective disorder.
My goodness.

Actually what it sounds like is that they want me to get off my crappy insurance and get back on to disability. Which I will. if I fail accounting this semester, probably. Right now I am being paid rather handsomely to go back to community college.

Apparently, according to the article, I am supposed to be getting a drug cocktail to manage my symptoms. Won't that make me fat?

Could you explain what it means to "feel psychotic?" Did you used to hear voices and it came with a feeling and now you get that feeling without the voices? I'm trying to understand.

Thanks,
Ward

[MNBrant]

Originally Posted by wardenclyffe

Could you explain what it means to "feel psychotic?" Did you used to hear voices and it came with a feeling and now you get that feeling without the voices? I'm trying to understand.

Thanks,
Ward

Yeah, I used to hear voices and see hallucinations and it made me feel good and special. Kind of like the Youtube lady who talked about her angels. Now when I feel psychotic, I get very ill. Like when the time I saw Issac Asimov smiling at me. I got very physically ill. Being psychotic without hearing voices is kind of like a waiting state. You are waiting for people to talk about you but they don't. Its very distracting and makes me feel ill. I usually take a different stronger type of medicine as a prn when stuff like that happens.

[mijopaalmc]

As I recall, psychosis consists of both delusions and hallucinations. The hallucinations don't have to be auditory; they can be visual or tactile.

[marplots]

Have you ever said anything to your psychiatrist where he didn't nod knowingly? It's probably part of the job.

[Dancing David]

Originally Posted by MNBrant

I told my psychiatrist that I was at times feeling psychotic but not hearing any voices. He nodded knowingly, but when I asked him if he had heard of it he muttered maybe paranoia. At any rate I have a new diagnosis.Before I had undefined schizoaffective disorder, now I have bipolar schizoaffective disorder. It sounds real bad. Maybe I should look it up or something.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5016254_sc...olar-type.html

I just found it. It is described as a scary and frightening form of the disease because it combines the symptoms of both bipolar and schizoaffective disorder.
My goodness.

Actually what it sounds like is that they want me to get off my crappy insurance and get back on to disability. Which I will. if I fail accounting this semester, probably. Right now I am being paid rather handsomely to go back to community college.

Apparently, according to the article, I am supposed to be getting a drug cocktail to manage my symptoms. Won't that make me fat?

The variety of events under psychosis are myriad, not all psychosis involve hallucinations, you can have the magical thinking,thought disoder, loose associations and delusion and not hear voices.

Schizoaffective just means that you have psychosis absent any mood disorder symptoms or that you have a mood disorder absent any psychosis, but over time will manifest both.

Most doctors I knew used it rareley because most of the people had bipolar disorder or depression and never really had psychosis absent a mood disorder.

In fact given your issues with getting stable on medications I would imagine your diagnosis is rather provisional, most people gain weight because they are no longer manic or depressed. The medications used to treat schizoaffective usually start with a modern ATP and then go on from there dependsing on levels of other symptoms. Some people can even be managed on a single medication like tegretol or lithium, but then use an adjunct for the psychosis.

The biggest problems are multiple;
-treatment refractory symptoms
-medication compliance/ sideffects
-alcohol, caffine and street drugs

[Beerina]

The sentences you think and speak normally seem to be generated subconsciously then paseed through the conscious mind for some kind of review, but it's already "out the door" by that point.

It doesn't suprise me for pathologies where this gets out of whack somehow.

[wardenclyffe]

This subject fascinates me. I have long believed that many people who experience "paranormal" phenomena are having some sort of episode which might be described as psychotic. I think most here believe the same thing. But I believe that this hallucination or delusion or whatever you want to call it is frequently accompanied by a feeling of euphoria, or as MNBrant puts it, "it made me feel good and special."

I think this is what skeptics are often missing. We believe that if we experienced such an hallucination, that our right-thinking rational minds would be able to dismiss it as an anomaly---some sort of mis-fire in the brain. That's what I'd like to think about myself, but I think people who truly experience this stuff have an experience that goes way beyond a mere vision or auditory hallucination. There's something that comes enmeshed with the hallucination that makes it almost impossible to dismiss for that individual.

Until such things completely destroy one's life (and often not even then) or when the "feeling" turns from good to bad, I don't know how to convince a true believer that they might not be really experiencing what they think they are.

I think it's possible to create this experience intentionally in oneself, like those who are "born again," but there are lots of people, it seems, who have the experience thrust upon them, which could be scary, but seems just as often (if not more often) delightful.

Ward

[quarky]

Originally Posted by wardenclyffe

This subject fascinates me. I have long believed that many people who experience "paranormal" phenomena are having some sort of episode which might be described as psychotic. I think most here believe the same thing. But I believe that this hallucination or delusion or whatever you want to call it is frequently accompanied by a feeling of euphoria, or as MNBrant puts it, "it made me feel good and special."

I think this is what skeptics are often missing. We believe that if we experienced such an hallucination, that our right-thinking rational minds would be able to dismiss it as an anomaly---some sort of mis-fire in the brain. That's what I'd like to think about myself, but I think people who truly experience this stuff have an experience that goes way beyond a mere vision or auditory hallucination. There's something that comes enmeshed with the hallucination that makes it almost impossible to dismiss for that individual.

Until such things completely destroy one's life (and often not even then) or when the "feeling" turns from good to bad, I don't know how to convince a true believer that they might not be really experiencing what they think they are.

I think it's possible to create this experience intentionally in oneself, like those who are "born again," but there are lots of people, it seems, who have the experience thrust upon them, which could be scary, but seems just as often (if not more often) delightful.

Ward

That was a very cool post.

I think one of the interesting aspects of psychedelic drug use, is that one can pre-empt a psychotic break down; get sort-of comfortable with it; ultimately blame it on the drug. It allows one to be once removed from insanity, through the scape goat molecules.

[mijopaalmc]

Originally Posted by marplots

Have you ever said anything to your psychiatrist where he didn't nod knowingly? It's probably part of the job.

Actually, my psychiatrist only consults with me for medication. My psychotherapy is handled by my counselor.

So, quarky marplots, do psychiatrists in your world also ask about your mother in thick German accents? Or do they just suddenly inject you with Thorazine?

[mijopaalmc]

MNBrant:

Have you considered discussing Abilify with your psychiatrist?

It's an anti-psychotic, but its direct-to-consumer advertizing markets as an adjunctive therapy for treatment-resistent major depressive disorder.

[quarky]

Originally Posted by mijopaalmc

Actually, my psychiatrist only consults with me for medication. My psychotherapy is handled by my counselor.

So, quarky marplots, do psychiatrists in your world also ask about your mother in thick German accents? Or do they just suddenly inject you with Thorazine?

Both. The German accent; the horrible questions about your mother; and the injection of thorazine.

The part you may not be able to comprehend?
The extraordinary bill for the treatment.

[mijopaalmc]

Originally Posted by quarky

Both. The German accent; the horrible questions about your mother; and the injection of thorazine.

The part you may not be able to comprehend?
The extraordinary bill for the treatment.

No, I understand that medical treatment can be expensive, but is psychiatric any more expensive expensive than, say oncological treatment?

[ExMinister]

MNBrant, this is one of the most interesting threads you've started recently, because it stikes me as real. And because of what you say about being made ill.

As far as psychotic without voices, I think Dancing David said it well, so I wouldn't add anything except to say that I had a close friend years ago on lithium whose psychosis involved delusions and hallucinations but no voices.

Originally Posted by wardenclyffe

This subject fascinates me. I have long believed that many people who experience "paranormal" phenomena are having some sort of episode which might be described as psychotic. I think most here believe the same thing. But I believe that this hallucination or delusion or whatever you want to call it is frequently accompanied by a feeling of euphoria, or as MNBrant puts it, "it made me feel good and special."

I think this is what skeptics are often missing. We believe that if we experienced such an hallucination, that our right-thinking rational minds would be able to dismiss it as an anomaly---some sort of mis-fire in the brain. That's what I'd like to think about myself, but I think people who truly experience this stuff have an experience that goes way beyond a mere vision or auditory hallucination. There's something that comes enmeshed with the hallucination that makes it almost impossible to dismiss for that individual.

Until such things completely destroy one's life (and often not even then) or when the "feeling" turns from good to bad, I don't know how to convince a true believer that they might not be really experiencing what they think they are.

I think it's possible to create this experience intentionally in oneself, like those who are "born again," but there are lots of people, it seems, who have the experience thrust upon them, which could be scary, but seems just as often (if not more often) delightful.

Ward

I am interested in this, too. And what you describe here was my experience.

What I also wonder is: Can the pursuit of spiritual experiences actually bring on a psychotic state eventually?

[ExMinister]

Originally Posted by MNBrant

Yeah, I used to hear voices and see hallucinations and it made me feel good and special. Kind of like the Youtube lady who talked about her angels. Now when I feel psychotic, I get very ill. Like when the time I saw Issac Asimov smiling at me. I got very physically ill. Being psychotic without hearing voices is kind of like a waiting state. You are waiting for people to talk about you but they don't. Its very distracting and makes me feel ill. I usually take a different stronger type of medicine as a prn when stuff like that happens.

Me too, for years everything I had was positive and spiritual. Now it's all negative. And I have no idea why and if I don't take meds now it happens more often than not. It's like it started slowly to change toward negative and then a dam broke.

It all seems to be seizure related, it only happens at night, and the hallucinations are terrifying enough that now I take seizure meds that have side effects I hate and I don't even care anymore. For example, they make me unbelievably tired, they make me gain weight. But the side effects are much better than the symptoms. They also make it safe for me to drive. And I am a mom with 2 kids, and even if I didn't worry about their safety, I have to worry about other people on the road if I had a seizure.

I don't know, I guess what it is for me is a trade-off. I tried to manage without medications for a long time, hating them. But things got bad enough that I am now actually grateful to have them, my life sucks so bad without them.

[quarky]

Originally Posted by mijopaalmc

No, I understand that medical treatment can be expensive, but is psychiatric any more expensive expensive than, say oncological treatment?

Yes.

Some medical treatment actually has results...like, you get cured.

In the psycho-pharmacological community, you're a life time patient/customer.

Keep in mind, Prozac has a street value of $2,000/ ounce.

A decent chemist could synthesize this crap in his tool shed.

Xanax, the wonder drug?

$1000/ bucks a gram.

Pretty heady stuff,

Sure puts heroin to shame.

[MNBrant]

Hmm Abilify has got to be the worst psych med to me and others that has ever been invented. Not only does it not do what it is intended to it has amoung the worst side effects. The name suggests it makes you able to do something which is a lie. It has been heavily marketed for many offlabel uses which is horrible. I mean do you really want to take a very heavy duty antipsychotic for your depression or anxiety? To me it is the very symbol of what is wrong in medicine. Innapropiate, useless medicines being marketed for almost every symtom, and pushed at you by every doctor.

My meds are really cheap. I buy them on my wifes insurance. My psych appointments are free in that I never get the bill. I assume someone (the govt) is paying as they do ask for income information. My old med insurance didnt pay for doctor bills.

Having hallucinations can make you feel good, powerful, and godlike. They can also make you feel like your brain is misfiring. For the subject of this post. My brain feels like it is misfiring but I am not having hallucinations or delusions.

[TubbaBlubba]

Originally Posted by MNBrant

Hmm Abilify has got to be the worst psych med to me and others that has ever been invented. Not only does it not do what it is intended to it has amoung the worst side effects. The name suggests it makes you able to do something which is a lie. It has been heavily marketed for many offlabel uses which is horrible. I mean do you really want to take a very heavy duty antipsychotic for your depression or anxiety? To me it is the very symbol of what is wrong in medicine. Innapropiate, useless medicines being marketed for almost every symtom, and pushed at you by every doctor.

Abilify is one among many antipsychotic drugs. Have you been on Risperidone, Seroquel (my parents are on one each, which is why I mention them), or one of the classical antispychotics, or any combination thereof? Have you been through a lot of them?

[MNBrant]

Originally Posted by TubbaBlubba

Abilify is one among many antipsychotic drugs. Have you been on Risperidone, Seroquel (my parents are on one each, which is why I mention them), or one of the classical antispychotics, or any combination thereof? Have you been through a lot of them?

Yes. I have been on most of them. I am currently taking pherphenizine 4mg bid and clonzapham .5 mg in the morning. And vistoral in the pm for side effects from the pherphenizine. I also have a 10mg olanzaphine prn in case that doesnt work. Abilify made me manic, sweat, and made my underwear stink. Its not a good drug for anything.

I take the pherphenizine twice a day because it tends to wear out in a half day and it speads out the dose so the side effects arent that bad.

[quarky]

Sounds lovely.

Fantastic drugs.

Don't give up until you find the proper 'cocktail' of them.
It takes a village of crappy drugs to convince someone to be a patient for life.

[MNBrant]

Originally Posted by quarky

Sounds lovely.

Fantastic drugs.

Don't give up until you find the proper 'cocktail' of them.
It takes a village of crappy drugs to convince someone to be a patient for life.

Its more than drugs and being on the golden dole. I have tried going off of drugs and usually end up in the hospital. Even with drugs I often piss off some entity as I move through the crowd.Sometimes it feels like I am moving though some other dimension.

I can give you a bit of history. I had a big psychotic episode that ended me in the hospital twice. I got the dole and, even though I wasn't really very psychotic, gave them a story every three months and asked for more of the meds. After years of meds I really am psychotic and can't miss a dose very often. I am not on the dole anymore because I think it saps people of their ability to care for themselves. You have to justify your being on the dole and really can't do for yourself except and unless some worker is helping you on your behalf.

Did the meds cause or delay my psychosis? Don't know and don't care. Just don't try to argue that schizophrenia doesn't exist or is in some way like one of your drug trips. It is not. I didn't get this way from drugs.

I don't do therapists. If I did we would probably sit and stare at each other silently. I am pretty close mouthed about my hallucinations. One because I don't want people to think I am crazy and two; I regard alot of what I hear as a secret. I watched black death on netflix again. I last saw it when I saw psychotic. It was like watching two different versions of the movie. The only thing I remembered that was the same was that both sides, satanic and christian, use the masses for their own ends. The part where the priest became an inquisitor was completely missing.

[quarky]

ignore me.

I have strong opinions on this subject; emotional, even.

I don' trust the bastards even a little bit.

[MNBrant]

Originally Posted by quarky

ignore me.

I have strong opinions on this subject; emotional, even.

I don' trust the bastards even a little bit.

really why? I don't trust them but have put in my dues so can use them to my benefit. I don't really get the feeling that they are there to help me when I go in.

[quarky]

Originally Posted by MNBrant

really why? I don't trust them but have put in my dues so can use them to my benefit. I don't really get the feeling that they are there to help me when I go in.

You're feelings are more generous then mine.
I put them beneath Mexican drug cartels.

[MNBrant]

Originally Posted by quarky

You're feelings are more generous then mine.
I put them beneath Mexican drug cartels.

Hmm, why, sounds a bit paranoid about doctors. They give a lot of people who cant make it, with money, and a place to stay when they flip out. The problem is when people start trusting them too much as too many meds can cause damage that they don't care too much about. You tube is a great place to find out about meds. I suggest http://www.youtube.com/user/DOCTOROFMINDMD He has every kind of med explained.

Wow a big part of this discussion was split into abandon all hope.

[Dancing David]

Originally Posted by wardenclyffe

This subject fascinates me. I have long believed that many people who experience "paranormal" phenomena are having some sort of episode which might be described as psychotic.

Given the nature of brain events there are many causes possible, OCD and intrusive thought, confirmation bias, etc...

[Dancing David]

Originally Posted by quarky

That was a very cool post.

I think one of the interesting aspects of psychedelic drug use, is that one can pre-empt a psychotic break down; get sort-of comfortable with it; ultimately blame it on the drug. It allows one to be once removed from insanity, through the scape goat molecules.

Yes and no, most psychedelics don't work the dopamine pathways the way that the schizophrenias do.

[Dancing David]

Originally Posted by mijopaalmc

Actually, my psychiatrist only consults with me for medication. My psychotherapy is handled by my counselor.

So, quarky marplots, do psychiatrists in your world also ask about your mother in thick German accents? Or do they just suddenly inject you with Thorazine?

Shh, some people want to pretend TV psychiatry is real.

My psychiatrist came in after my interview with the nurse practioner and okayed her diagnosis and treatment.

[Dancing David]

Originally Posted by quarky

Yes.

Some medical treatment actually has results...like, you get cured.

You mean diabetes, heart disease and Parkinson's right?

Quote:

In the psycho-pharmacological community, you're a life time patient/customer.

Not in most cases, most people who have mental health treatment have short term intervention, many prescribed medication take it for one course and then don't have a reoccurrence.

You have a strange view of mental health.

Quote:

Keep in mind, Prozac has a street value of $2,000/ ounce.


A decent chemist could synthesize this crap in his tool shed.

Xanax, the wonder drug?

Xanaz is a bad drug, it has a high addition profile and should not be used. Valium has a much lower addiction profile.

Quote:

$1000/ bucks a gram.

Pretty heady stuff,

Sure puts heroin to shame.

Argument lacking. I wonder what the street value of cephalaxin or viagara is?

[Dancing David]

Originally Posted by quarky

ignore me.

I have strong opinions on this subject; emotional, even.

I don' trust the bastards even a little bit.

You also have a bias against medication, but I bet you are only bigoted against metal health. Ever seen someone who is floridly psychotic, were they having a good time?

I lived with depression since the age of eight, tried suicide twice when I was 13 and 14, suffered through with much effort until I was 35, now my life is easier.

[quarky]

Originally Posted by Dancing David

You also have a bias against medication, but I bet you are only bigoted against metal health. Ever seen someone who is floridly psychotic, were they having a good time?

I lived with depression since the age of eight, tried suicide twice when I was 13 and 14, suffered through with much effort until I was 35, now my life is easier.

I am so sorry.

Honestly, I'm a sweetheart.

I have my own issues, and my own history.

Being as I've been warned, a few times lately, that I'm skirting the boundaries of jref decency...

In kindness, I yield.

[MNBrant]

Originally Posted by quarky

I am so sorry.

Honestly, I'm a sweetheart.

I have my own issues, and my own history.

Being as I've been warned, a few times lately, that I'm skirting the boundaries of jref decency...

In kindness, I yield.

No I like you Quarky, like I like most of the JREF people here. Alcohol can sometimes cover up your psychosis in that you can make yourself so drunk that the connections dont make sense. Of course you can become so psychotic that no matter how much you drink your going to have it bad. Alcohol, in moderation, like 1-2 drinks can have a sedative effect that is mildly helpful in slowing you down, and relieving anxiety quicker. The problem is that it will make your problem worse in the long run.

[kellyb]

I think the term psychosis is just a somewhat vague description of a very subjective experience/state of mind. I also think everyone's mental "health/profile" is kind of like DNA or fingerprints - we're all different.

Quote:

Me too, for years everything I had was positive and spiritual. Now it's all negative. And I have no idea why and if I don't take meds now it happens more often than not. It's like it started slowly to change toward negative and then a dam broke.

It all seems to be seizure related, it only happens at night,

I'm epileptic and used to be a fanatical, miracle-seeing Christian, high on Christ rather a lot of the time. In retrospect, most of my spontaneous spiritual experiences were complex partial seizures.

Like Dan Barker, I can still turn on what feels like a spiritual part of my brain and "feel the spirit." But also like him, I know it's not real.

Makes me think of this passage from the Grapes of Wrath:

Quote:

"I ain't sayin' I'm like Jesus," the preacher went on. "But I got tired like Him, an' I
got mixed up like Him, an' I went into the wilderness like Him, without no campin'
stuff. Nighttime I'd lay on my back an' look up at the stars; morning I'd set an' watch
the sun come up; midday I'd look out from a hill at the rollin' dry country; evenin' I'd foller the sun down. Sometimes I'd pray like I always done. On'y I couldn' figure what
I was prayin' to or for. There was the hills, an' there was me, an' we wasn't separate no
more. We was one thing. An' that one thing was holy."
"Hallelujah," said Granma, and she rocked a little, back and forth, trying to catch
hold of an ecstasy.

Regarding this:

Quote:

What I also wonder is: Can the pursuit of spiritual experiences actually bring on a psychotic state eventually?

I suspect it can emulate one very closely. Especially with group dynamics. I'd love to see a smart shrink infiltrate a small Pentecostal church and report on the mass hysteria thing going on there.

[Dancing David]

Originally Posted by quarky

I am so sorry.

Honestly, I'm a sweetheart.

I have my own issues, and my own history.

Being as I've been warned, a few times lately, that I'm skirting the boundaries of jref decency...

In kindness, I yield.

In kindness I accept, I have issues with people who talk about mental health treatment that way.

You are a fine poster.

[fuelair]

I have never heard that psychotic required hearing non-real voices! But it did allow for them as a possible state.

[MNBrant]

Originally Posted by Dancing David

You also have a bias against medication, but I bet you are only bigoted against metal health. Ever seen someone who is floridly psychotic, were they having a good time?

I lived with depression since the age of eight, tried suicide twice when I was 13 and 14, suffered through with much effort until I was 35, now my life is easier.

1. Yes, you can have a good time while floridly psychotic. Sometimes the voices help you, sometimes they don't. Supposedly they always act in their best interests.

2. Yes you can hear normal voices while psychotic. Sometimes when you ask them about it they don't remember the conversation.

3. Yes studying religious subjects can trigger psychosis. I am currently avoiding studying religious subjects and the last time I was studying religious subjects, it was about snakes that everyone is carrying around that they don't know about. I doubt that that web page actually existed on the web I was so psychotic.

Kellyb. Thats pretty interesting about the religious experiences caused by seizures. I never knew that. Being psychotic with hypereligous features is like that 24/7 for months and years. It stops being fun after awhile.

[Jonesboy]

Originally Posted by MNBrant

I told my psychiatrist that I was at times feeling psychotic but not hearing any voices. He nodded knowingly, but when I asked him if he had heard of it he muttered maybe paranoia. At any rate I have a new diagnosis.Before I had undefined schizoaffective disorder, now I have bipolar schizoaffective disorder. It sounds real bad. Maybe I should look it up or something.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5016254_sc...olar-type.html

I just found it. It is described as a scary and frightening form of the disease because it combines the symptoms of both bipolar and schizoaffective disorder.
My goodness.

Actually what it sounds like is that they want me to get off my crappy insurance and get back on to disability. Which I will. if I fail accounting this semester, probably. Right now I am being paid rather handsomely to go back to community college.

Apparently, according to the article, I am supposed to be getting a drug cocktail to manage my symptoms. Won't that make me fat?

You must be an American. Only americans dote on psychiatry, their drugs and empty intrigues of disease this and disease that. Man up.

There's nothing wrong with you.

[kellyb]

Originally Posted by Jonesboy

You must be an American. Only americans dote on psychiatry, their drugs and empty intrigues of disease this and disease that. Man up.

There's nothing wrong with you.

Who the hell do you think you are, telling someone possibly suffering from self-described psychosis to just "man up"?

WTF?

Have you ever been psychotic? I went 14 days without sleep once and went psychotic as hell. It was the most miserable, terrifying experience of my life, and I've had 2 "natural" childbirths.

WTF is wrong with you?

[TubbaBlubba]

Originally Posted by MNBrant

Kellyb. Thats pretty interesting about the religious experiences caused by seizures. I never knew that. Being psychotic with hypereligous features is like that 24/7 for months and years. It stops being fun after awhile.

Interesting, I didn't know "hyperreligious" was something of a term. It describes my brother perfectly - delusions of being chosen by God, obsession with certain lines of scripture, buying tons and tons and tons of books on Christianity, being unable to stop himself from bringing it up in every context, seeing miracles everywhere, seeing himself as constantly engaged in a spiritual battle against demons, hallucinations of demons and angels and god touching him, and so on.