I was wondering, for you guys out there with schizophrenia, when you smoke marijuana, how is the interaction with your voices any different? From what I heard, it seems that marijuana mellowed out the torture from the voices. The person who told me this mentioned that anti-psychotic medication never did anything for her voices, but that marijuana made them manageable to deal with.
This is interesting because some one in my familiy works with Schizophrenics and from what i here, there is nothing worse then marijuana for them, however interestingly enough tabacco apparantly does alot of good.
Sorry to hear this my friend. Im sure marijuana could do no worse. Yet the true dullard of all things is Lord Opiate. Only to be used under dire circumstances with pure intent. I would not recommend taking government issued substances, maybe im just Paranoid but you can't trust them. Instead Id vouch for Lord Opiate, in any of his wonderful incarnations, if you are seeking a drug for escape, or anti-anxiety or socialization. Only Lord Opiate has the power to steal your soul, so its up to you.
I've been diagnosed, but I don't consider myself schizophrenic. Everything has a use, even voices, real or imagined. But I digress: Marijuana is, or has been in the past, a living hell for me. It brings the paranoia into sharp focus. It's kind of hard to describe how horrible it can be. I haven't smoked in a long time. The last time was a little better, as I discovered a technique that helps me to cope, which I will share... Instead of focusing on what I believe could be happening...I began concentrating only on what I knew for certain was happening, rendering me very infantile, e.g. "I am looking out the window...I am looking out the window...I am looking out the window; I am eating...I am eating...I am eating; I am stepping outside...I am stepping outside...I am stepping outside..." etc. After a while it became second nature to just be a regular guy doing normal things, instead of "Mr. Extraordinary Mystery Man 2000". For fleeting moments I was almost extremely relaxed, like I hear most people are when they "toke the reefer". Perhaps this technique can give some valuable insight into the schizo mind. Or perhaps I'm not really schizo, in which case: Stop incorrectly diagnosing people! Why smoke when it's so painful? Because the weirdness is still fun. Even the painful weirdness. In no way is it certain to make me more relaxed, though.
smokin opens the doors of our mind ......herb and shizophrenia .........surely not . people hearing voices should take advice off a spiritualist healer (maybe the voices are of spirits )
No - schitzophrenia is a medical condition, caused by imbalances of dopamine and seretonin in the brain. Marijuana affects the levels of these and other chemicals in the brain. Depending on a persons specific brain structure and other variables, smoking pot may be helpful or harmful. Smoking can open the doors of the mind, but what if there's a monster behind the door?
you sit with the monster and learn what you can from its presence, refusing to be afraid, then send it on its way. its called properly operating your own mind in a heathy manner. and no im not talking out of my ass...iv definatly played the insanity trip and come to realize that its fear thats the catalyst for insanity. i dont care how dark your demons are, if you eliminate fear and negetive emotion they no longer exist.
i grew upwith a kid who was just diagnosed 2 years ago. the meds calm the voices to where he feels "safe". smoking pot helped him get into a zone when doing things (music, video games, etc) so that he wouldn't have as many paranoid thoughts. plus, it helps his hand twitching (nerve damage from a suicide attempt).
Yeah im pretty sure weed is the last thing a schizophrenic person wants to take. Their life is bad enough without giving them a big dose of paranoia in a bag.
i just want to say for all you schizophrenics out there, stay strong. one of my good friends committed suicide and i think that had something to trigger it.
when im high i realize the voice is just a subconcious part of my personality....i can have a full blown conversation.....and it dosnt bother me at all.....cept when it starts saying shit like HES UNDER YOUR BED, OH MY GOD HES GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU
oh and for the critics that would correct me about whats what......im a manic depressant schitzohprenic with dissociative identity disorder......and it makes a nice cocktail.......weed helps it alot if u ask me....
my aunt is schizophrenic and she does many drugs and drinks heavily aswell. In her opinion she isn't doing anymore harm than is already done. But to her family (me included) she is. When shes high or drunk she becomes a different person. One that is depressed and paranoid and difficult to be around. When she doesn't use drugs or alcohol she is more in control of herself. But I belive that this is a very individual question. I only know one diagnosed schizophrenic and I am basing my response on her. I'm sure that just like the disease is different for each person, so is the disease and drug use.
It increases my paranoia, and the voices become more severe. I can't focus at all, and they take me to places I don't want to be....so I don't smoke anymore
Yeah, it messed with my mind a lot, so I quit... I used to get so paranoid I literally couldn't move or speak, that was with my friends so naturally they picked up on it, they thought it was funny but they had no idea lol.. and sometimes I'd have panic attacks if I was smoking outside (I still have them, but they started when I was smoking).. no voices or anything, that sort of stuff started happening after I quit. I did have hallucinations though.. like I could look at a wall with a grainy pattern on it, and I'd see a pattern that looked like something (you know like when you look at clouds), an then it'd start morphing into other things (mickey mouse to dogs to giraffees).. strange.. but interesting when you think about its relation to how the mind works. Anyway, towards 'the end' of smoking pot, I grew to hate the feeling I got, I just smoked it for whatever reason.. out of habit, I liked the taste.. but eventually I just couldn't cope with it and gave up. I do think though that it played a part in my illness now, it certainly triggered something that hasn't gone away.. my advice, don't smoke it, or don't smoke it like I did lol, every day and like cigarettes. Seeing as the ice has kinda been broken, what do your voices say ?? I think mine are pretty unique.. I get stuff like "schitz", "freak" or "fool" (sounds fucked up when I type it lol).. you know.. that sort of stinging, one word insult.. then occasionally I think I'm getting talked about on T.V. or the radio, like I've been watched by them all my life and they're commenting on me.. it's crazy, the wierdest thing is half of me believes this stuff as true and the other half doesn't..
