Confessions from a Healing Schizophrenic: Tips

I will be done with my degree June 8th. I am so, so close. I am enrolled in summer classes. These summer classes are to fulfill a general ed requirement. They are classes I had to take outside of my major. I have an A in one class and a B or an A in the other class. I got a vacation of a whole two days after the Spring semester. For your average college student this would very stressful. Yet I am doing well with my academics and my home life. For me, the key was having a mental health support network, a steady exercise routine, and a lot of coffee.

I know that due to budget cuts not a lot of people have the benefit of having a therapist or a psychiatrist, but there are ways to get support. I am in a county sponsored program due to my chronic illness of schizo-affective disorder. Therapy and medication are provided so long as I comply with treatment. A lot of counties provide low-income services. However, the wait time is very long. Still, if you are sick and untreated, you deserve medical care. It is in the United Nation's Declaration of Universal Human Rights, Article 25. Google "UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights" for the entire Declaration. 

If you attend college there are resources on campus. My University has a clinic with an attending physician, a small pharmacy, and a trained psychologist on staff. Part of your tuition goes towards paying for a bit of your services at the clinic, so go ask if the doctor can prescribe psychotropic medications.

With a good therapist and a good psychiatrist, a mental illness can be treated and most symptoms can go into remission. A therapist is important for me to discuss my struggle with being "Abnormal" in a "Normal" society. These are things I cannot discuss with my academic advisor or even a friend. A therapist provides positive feed-back and a balanced perspective. The psychiatrist provides the medications which allow me to think clearly without auditory hallucinations, persecution delusions, and panic attacks. Utilizing these people is essential for good mental health. Please don't try to sell me on the psychiatric versions of snake oil. Prayer is amazing but it never worked for me as a consistent anti-psychotic. Abilify worked for psychotic symptoms, vitamin B did not. 

Second, a steady exercise plan works well for improving mood and stabilizing health. It is well known that the biggest side effect of taking atypical anti-psychotics is massive weight gain. I should know. Up until around age 23-25 years my weight was, at my heaviest, 115 pounds. Post-anti-psychotic medications, I have "slimmed down" to 160 pounds. Did I engage in a decade of fast food eating, lazy tv watching, immobility? No. In fact, I did exercise for a 6 month period when I was 18, but for the most part, the bulk of my exercise routine has been recent, ever since I put on weight! I gained a startling 50 or more pounds in a matter of months once I went on Zyprexa. I did not know that by "exercise" my psychiatrist meant "what you do now for exercise is not even a fraction of what you will need to keep slim." Now, I have an exercise bike and a rowing machine that I use 3 times a week, plus hour long walks every day. I also walk to and from the bus stops. Lots of exercise. I might not look like a role model for fitness freaks, but at least I know my heart is healthy. I am also enrolling in a judo class this summer to keep myself active. Also, judo is amazing and teaches balance, coordination, discipline, and the ability to get up after getting flipped into the air and landing on your back. But I digress...

Lastly, coffee is necessary for all college students, but especially for those who have issues with morning time. I have never been able to get out of bed without feeling hopelessly sad, lethargic, and internally fearful of the outside world. The thought of a hot, Pete's brand coffee with half and half and splenda makes me wrestle with my mood disorder so I get out of bed faster. Just writing about coffee makes me want to run to my Bodum coffee press. I hope you also use a coffee press. It's thirty dollars on amazon and the coffee tastes much better than any home brewing machine. Yessss....coffee....I'll end here so I can get myself a coffee from the kitchen.

Thanks for reading! Stay healthy, think positive, and always remember that you deserve love!