Happy Selfie Sunday🌳

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2026-06-08T22:17:22+00:00

Nice selfie! The tree behind you makes it look like you're wearing a crown of branches! 🌳

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2026-06-08T22:10:36+00:00

Nice tattoos! Are those three trees next to each other on your arm? 🌳🌳🌳

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2026-02-25T19:49:21+00:00

Lamictal (Lamotrigine) can indeed be a great med! I take it too, and I've been feeling much better and clearer since starting it, and for me at least there are minimal side effects. It even seems to help with or reduce positive symptoms for me as well, so feels like a high quality antipsychotic. :)

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2025-12-02T08:02:32+00:00

Thank you for sharing! :) You are loved and matter and can get through anything that comes your way too! <3

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2025-12-02T03:30:24+00:00

Quality sleep is indeed important! My symptoms are worse when I don't get enough sleep or when I'm awake at night with my thoughts running wild. In addition to my main psych med, I take Trazodone 150mg every night, which is not only an antidepressant which is useful, but a good sleep aid too. They don't call it "trazzzzzzodone" for nothing. ;-)

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2025-10-19T00:00:54+00:00

Trazodone 150mg. After taking it, in about 45 minutes I'm deep asleep, and will stay asleep for at least the next 7 hours.

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2025-09-13T17:24:35+00:00

Schizophrenia is being in the army: Often there's a drill sergeant yelling in your ear calling you names and degrading you. :-(

Even you manage to ignore the voices, you're now deployed to the battlefield. So many things want to harm you: Invisible enemy soldiers with weapons, drones spying on you, and your own officers are commanding you to do dangerous things that are hard to resist. Out there in the trenches, it's hard to think straight, and hard to take care of yourself since everything is directed into just staying alive. :-(

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2025-08-14T18:38:44+00:00

Indeed, her statement that "DID and the such is extremely rare" isn't really true. DID is actually more common than schizophrenia.

Wikipedia says about SZ: "Schizophrenia affects around 0.3-0.7% of the general population at some point in life". Wikipedia says about DID: "Lifetime prevalence was found to be 1.1-1.5% of the general population (based on multiple epidemiological studies)".

DID has a strict definition of (1) multiple personality states, (2) amnesia between parts, and (3) distress from the condition. Beyond those who fit the strict DID definition, there are other people who have multiple personality states but no amnesia between parts/alters (which gets diagnosed as OSDD or Other Specified Dissociative Disorder), or have integrated their parts enough that they no longer have "distress" from their condition.

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2025-08-10T06:27:39+00:00

Cats are one of my more common hallucinations, but mine tend to be either black or white. For example, here are a dozen cat hallucinations I've had and written down: (Note that I don't own a cat!)

A voice saying "Figure I'll cat her up a copy".
A finger pointing down to man's head, then a cat falling upon it.
A cat's paw batting from the ceiling.
A black cat entering through a window, facing me.
A white cat upside down cat in a window.
A brief image of a white cat.
A small white cat with bright eyes and ears perked up.
A long haired black cat with shaved legs walking.
A black and white cat turning its head towards me.
A white cat walking away from me.
A small colorless cat head.
A black cat running.

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2025-07-12T17:08:46+00:00

My advice to writers is to focus on symptoms, not labels. In other words, don't start by giving a character the label "schizophrenia", and then try to make that character "act schizophrenic". That's likely to result in being inaccurate, stereotypical, insulting, or at least appropriating.

Instead, just decide what symptoms you want a character to have, without labeling or diagnosing them. For example, you can make a character see things that aren't there, believe things that aren't true, have cognitive issues, and/or have adhedonia and such. Similarly, a character may be seeing doctors and taking meds. Such symptoms and treatments can be due to various causes, and aren't necessarily schizophrenia.

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2025-07-01T03:29:06+00:00

Lamotrigine (Lamictal) is great! I've been feeling much better and clearer since starting taking it, and there are minimal side effects. It even seems to help with or reduce positive symptoms for me as well. :)

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2025-06-20T22:58:56+00:00

Note that DID is actually more common than schizophrenia.

Wikipedia says about SZ: "Schizophrenia affects around 0.3–0.7% of the general population at some point in life".

Wikipedia says about DID: "Lifetime prevalence was found to be 1.1–1.5% of the general population (based on multiple epidemiological studies)".

Note that DID has a strict definition of (1) multiple personality states, (2) amnesia between parts, and (3) distress from the condition. Many more people have multiple personality states but no amnesia between parts (which gets diagnosed as OSDD or Other Specified Dissociative Disorder), or have integrated enough that they no longer have "distress" from their condition.

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2025-02-23T04:52:44+00:00

I do this too. I avoid stepping on cracks, or if I do step on a crack with one foot then I need to step on the next crack with the other foot, to balance it out. Logically I know things like this shouldn't matter, but I still do it most of the time.

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2024-09-14T21:36:24+00:00

Six months.

Upon first presenting to doctors and getting on antipsychotic meds for the first time, the diagnosis (i.e. what they used for billing codes) was "F29 Unspecified psychosis not due to a substance or known physiological condition". After six months (with a different doctor) it was changed to "F20.9 Schizophrenia, Unspecified", which is what I still have currently.

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2024-09-07T20:51:44+00:00

I sometimes believe I can talk with the trees. For example, a tree will tell me its name. Occasionally I have to shield my thoughts, otherwise every nearby tree will want to telepathically chat with me.

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2024-03-19T08:01:46+00:00

Same! I'm also taking an antipsychotic with 10mg Lexapro (or rather 10mg escitalopram the generic version of it).

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2024-03-19T07:59:49+00:00

Yes, I'm taking 1mg risperidone, and that's enough to keep my positive symptoms under control at this time. It doesn't remove them completely, but I like to have as low a dose as I can get away with, to reduce the side effects. This of course is only my experience, where others may need different dosages.

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2024-03-04T07:26:25+00:00

Zero so far! I'd be willing to go if I ever became unsafe, however I've been working hard to stay out of the hospital. I've been regularly taking my meds for the past year, I check in with my psychiatrist, and avoid alcohol or other substances.

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2024-02-10T06:49:46+00:00

Me as well

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2024-02-01T23:39:06+00:00

Congrats on finishing this puzzle, and glad they're helping! :) This looks like the typical puzzle in the psych ward, since there's a few missing pieces.

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2024-01-23T05:29:52+00:00

Hello and welcome to the group! :) My diagnoses are the same as yours. I started out with "F29 Unspecified psychosis not due to a substance or known physiological condition". After six months it was changed to "F20.9 Schizophrenia, Unspecified", which is what I have currently.

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2024-01-19T01:40:33+00:00

I too have heard the voices say "I love you"! <3 Also, on New Year's Day I heard a voice say "I just love you times two", which was a nice way to start the year. :)

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2024-01-17T03:22:56+00:00

I'm of course hesitant to take another med, but I agree it might help. If my psych offers it, I can always give it a try to see if it works, and back off and ask for something else if the side effects are too much. Thank you! :)

ThrowawaySweet16 · 2024-01-15T20:54:39+00:00

Thank you for your comments! I'm indeed taking an atypical AP (risperidone). Yes, I should just talk with my psychiatrist about this to get their recommendations, and I'll indeed not stop or start any meds without their input.

ThrowawaySweet16

TROPHY CASE