Just sharing the excitement of my first episode of my podcast!!! https://anchor.fm/thrivingwithschizophrenia/episodes/Welcoming-you-to-my-podcast-and-a-little-about-me-eompue ..read more

I created a podcast today, it is the beginning so please give me time to make audio recordings!!! Here is the link https://anchor.fm/thrivingwithschizophrenia ..read more

One thing you need to know for your loved one that is going to be hospitalized for a 5150 (forced hospitalization) and put into a psychward at a hospital or mental health facility is they may be mentally, physically or even in other cases sexually abused. Most people with schizophrenia are already well aware of it because it may have already happened to them so this post is mainly for the families so they can be aware of this. I don't believe mental health workers are adequately trained in compassion and de escalation for conflict resolution. They sometimes use force or truly don't see the nee ..read more

As a disclaimer I am not a medical professional, I am someone with a mental illness that is giving my opinion on what has worked for me, please seek advice from a medical professional before taking any action. This is my own experience. Their is a more professional and better way by a doctor who created a method called LEAP that I will post in another post very soon. The first thing you need to understand is someone in a psychosis can't be reasoned with using logic or explaining reality to them. Most people in this mental state are going through either extreme paranoia or hallucinations and ar ..read more

If you are beginning to date someone I have 3 criteria for myself when disclosing my mental illness. If you are still experiencing symptoms and it is still affecting your life on an everyday basis then you in my opinion have a responsibility to disclose your mental illness after testing the waters to see if your first even compatible with the person you have met. I would not in my opinion tell them in the first few dates but if you see yourself continuing to date this person then it is only fair you tell them what's part of the package with dating you and what to sometimes expect if your have ..read more

Schizophrenia is a chemical imbalance in the brain. It is a biological problem overall so some form of treatment is needed with either nutritional therapy by certain foods and vitamins to increase or decrease certain things in the body like copper for example (this is a longer process of treatment) like Dr. William Walsh suggests in his book Nutrient Power. The other way is balancing out the chemical imbalance with antipsychotic medication such as second generation atyplical medications like invega. As far as I know their are no other types of ways to treat schizophrenia in a biological way. H ..read more

Sometimes schizophrenics have a lack of insight into their own condition and may not even realize they have a mental illness or that everyone else is the problem. This lack of insight is called anosognosia. Sometimes once they get better they stop taking their medication because they feel normal again and feel they don’t need it anymore. “I’m better now”. A good way to help families with those with schizophrenia is follow the steps in LEAP to facilitate trust in your loved one suffering from this condition as described by Dr. Xavier Amador in his book I AM NOT SICK I DONT NEED HELP. LEAP is Li ..read more

I use the Department of Rehabilitation to PAY for me to go to college, it's a free great resource. They are actually paying for me to get a bachelors degree :) Every state has a vocational rehabilitation agency that is designed to help people with disabilities (including mental illness, WOOHOO!) accomplish the goal of getting the education and career of their choosing, the sky is really the limit. The Department of Rehabilitation helps people with disabilities to prepare for, obtain, maintain, or regain employment. The great thing is they are in every state. They will first for school have you ..read more

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/cyp450-test/about/pac-20393711#:~:text=By%20checking%20your%20DNA%20for,such%20as%20the%20CYP2C19%20enzyme. You can see what type of medications work for you by drug-gene testing. I've been given medications I was allergic to or had a severe bad side effect with my particular body chemistry. Some medications are not second generation atypical drugs which for me tend to work better. This is information derived directly from the Mayo Clinic. "Drug-gene testing — also called pharmacogenomics or pharmacogenetics — is the study of how genes affect your bo ..read more

Their is no cure of schizophrenia but their is treatment to bring someone to a normal state of mind. It really depends on someone's body chemistry, the type of medication and whether it is gene friendly to that person’s biology which you can get drug-gene testing. For some schizophrenics I know it took only a few days for the chemical imbalance in the brain to go back to normal after a psychosis and others weeks. It is a different circumstance for each individual person ..read more