(no subject)

[blue-bullet.livejournal.com]

Uh, well, hello! :D; New to this community, and things like that. ^^;

We are a multiple system, and...I'm bad at introductions. We're pretty big, considering. But alot of people who are "here" don't come to the front often. We've been loosely calling ourself an 'open system', where people can come and go as they please. Some people stay, others drop by, then leave. High traffic, oftenly. >__> But it makes things interesting.

We found this community by journal hopping, so made an account to join (because if we joined on the other account, we'd get some raised eyebrows from people ;-;).

Oh! Sorry, um, my name is Ticker, though just commonly Tick. >__> And I come bearing questions!

We've been (officially) a system for maybe two years now, due to constant denial and constantly thinking "OHEMGEE DID is bad!", but yeah..those thoughts passed, we opened our arms to everyone and were like "Hey! Hell with that!". People'd been lurking around here long before, but you know..

But two things: One is that, lately, we've been having trouble communicating Inside and Out. It's like there's a screen between the two, and only little pieces of residual are getting through, and we can't See clearly. D: And we were wondering if anyone has had something like this happen before, and if anyone has any idea of how to, I guess, remove that screen?

It also makes people going In and Out difficult, and there've been times when people who aren't comfortable being Out from long periods of time, being sort of "Stuck".

The second thing, is that we have Schizophrenia, on top of this (though the Schizophrenia is troublesome, whereas this is not). I don't know if it's really a body-oriented thing, or if the er..host (? I don't know what else to call Her >__>) has it and it's just filtering through. But regardless, it's there, and it makes things really unstable and confusing (thankfully, it isn't severe, but it has..er..grown in the past year).

So we were wondering if anyone else is in a similar situation with that, or not. Because honestly, we want to go to a Psychiatrist and get medication for it (we haven't seen our Psychiatrist in a few years, which was originally only for anxiety. But he diagnosed us with Schizophrenia and WAS going to prescribe us medicine, but we declined and hadn't gone back since~), but we don't know how the medicine would effect us as a whole, what it would do, or anything like that.

Thank you for your help, everyone who may reply, and thank you for even reading! >__> :D

- Ticker

Comments

[kyouketsusha.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the comm. :)

[rhymer-713.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the com. We don't have schizophrenia but we do occasionally have that communication problem. And it's annoying as crap. Meditation can help some, as in imagining doors out and in. But if any one has better suggestions, by all means.........They'd help us too. Oh BTW, glad to meet you!
Jess

[diagnosis-four.livejournal.com]

Welcome! The same thing has happened to both us and another system we know. For us it was the communication thing. It ended up going away by itself somehow, and we're still not sure how it even started. So, I guess really, we can't help you there? Sunset actually thinks that It was magickal interference from some other things or something.

As for the stuck problem, it also went away by itself... So I guess wait?

I am so not helpful...

[chaostiny.livejournal.com]

We havent been diagnosed with schizophrenia but we have psychotic features that cause anxiety and often times panic attacks. We take risperdal and as well as not giving us much for side affects... studies have shown that trauma based psychosis or psychotic features can have the psychotic issues reversed by taking risperdal or other related meds regularly for a few years. I hope this is true!:)
It helps the whole system... anxiety for everyone is seriously reduced and we communicate better...
hope this helps:)
Alex

[arcis.livejournal.com]

when there was a.. barrier, we carved a gate through it. there used to be a tunnel between front and inside, and when the communication between them were difficult, they (the gate and tunnel) helped.

no idea if that'll be applicable in your situation, but I think it worked for us because it basically gave the members a longer process to communicate.

[arcis.livejournal.com]

^^; and welcome to the community :D

for the schizophrenia.. we had a friend with both multiplicity and schizophrenia, but we don't really have any experience with it +_+;; I'm sorry we can't help with that, just.. uh, good luck? :<

[aquilawolf.livejournal.com]

I was diagnosed with schizophrenia (not quite correctly) several years ago during a prolonged and intense nervous breakdown. Every childhood trauma I had experienced seemed to be trying to surface at one time and I became quite delusional in trying to cover it up and survive. I was offered Zyprexia and finally did take it, but it was an emergency and after 3 or 4 months I weaned myself off. I don't care for drugs and have always had an interest in alternative medicine and herbs and such.

I have found that fish oil, lemon flavored, by the teaspoon after dinner, and a teaspoon of mint flavored cod liver oil after breakfast have a strong healing and stabiliziing influence on me. I wouldn't do without it now, and it took only a few months of taking it before I could see the difference. I have heard it can help schizophrenia if enough is taken.

Sometimes communication is not real good in my system. Children and adults that need a lot of quiet, can't get out if brainy intense people, like myself, don't relax and let go of controling stuff.

The best way to reestablish harmony to my system is to relax for a few hours before bedtime. No TV, internet or reading, but something that gets me in touch with my body, light household chores, or a walk and this helps others get out. I have a lot of kids, and they like to help with chores, and there are stuffed animals in the bed, but they can't enjoy them if I go to bed all intense and thought obesssed and they can't get out. They also like to be dressed for bed and just in general be taken care of as they missed out on this (or so long ago), and they want to feel safe and loved.

I wouldn't take Zyprexia again if I had other options (side effects) but I still have a prescription for Ativan and find that taking even .25 mg at night can help me relax and sleep, if needed, and that way I don't get hooked on it (when I took 1 mg in the past, I had to wean myself off to avoid side effects). I'm not positive but I think Ativan has been used to help with schizphrenia. I might be wrong, it was prescribed to me for anxiety and to help with sleep. Anyway, Zyprexia helped me when I needed it, but it's a pretty powerful drug.

I don't post here real regular, but welcome.

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, about the vitamin thing; we found that vitamin B over a long period of time was helpful with anxiety. Re your experience and chaostiny's, we had something happen to us when we were 17, except we never really found any drug that worked well for us. The one neuroleptic we ever took made us really, really paranoid and bitchy. We did eventually come out of it though it took a long time, so this isn't to give anyone a "hopeless prognosis" or anything. We're actually doing well now.

Ativan and similar things actually helped more than anything else, if we could catch ourselves before the panic went too far. The main thing we had to learn to do was to tell the difference between what was a realistic belief and what wasn't, which was really difficult at times, but we ended up getting help from friends. (John Nash actually talked about doing something similar, his real story was different from what they showed in the movie.)

[ricktboy.livejournal.com]

We take Ativan for anxiety, but on a per panic attack basis. we used to only have to take 1mg, but we've gotten used to it over time, and now have to take 2mg tablets...sometimes two of them.

we've never taken them more often than just for our attacks, so it kind of worries us that we've become so tolerant of it, but *sighs*.

not sure why I posted this, but there you are.

Rick
Pack Collective

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

Yeah, building up tolerance is a known problem with benzodiazepines. Anecdotal evidence (both ours and others') suggests to us, though, that if you quit taking it altogether for a few months, your chemical tolerance can 'reset' so that the lower doses still have an effect on you. (Well, if you're taking it on a PRN basis like you mentioned-- it may be more difficult if you use it habitually.)

[aquilawolf.livejournal.com]

Panic attacks suck. I used to have major bad ones many years ago and mostly just survived them. I now keep a Bach Flower Remedy on hand called 'Rescue' that I grab if I have one, almost always in the middle of the night. I also have an herbal tincture called 'Skullcap' that I sometimes take for the same thing. They don't really make the attack go away but make it a little easier. I don't have them often any more, but did have one a week or so ago. I didn't even think to grab the Ativan for it.

I have also tryed alcohol a few times, a couple good swigs of vodka or something (which I usually have on hand for making herbal tinctures). Not the best choice though, but better than nothing.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

jason agrees about skullcap and suggests you try a glass of wine instead of vodka, and see if you can get one without sulfites. We need to get our Bach prescription updated.

[aquilawolf.livejournal.com]

A nice glass of wine does sound a lot better than gulping vodka. Good suggestion.

[aquilawolf.livejournal.com]

Me again. I just wanted to clarify about fish oil. High doses have been said to help schizophrenia because of the omega 3's. Cod liver oil not only has omega 3's but also has vitamin A, which can be toxic in large doses, so only 1 teaspoon a day is generally safe on a regular basis. More of regular fish oil is safe.

[shadowechoes.livejournal.com]

hi and welcome. :)

We don't have Schizophrenia, but we do have Borderline Personality Disorder on top of being multiple (which is also troublesome, whereas like you said, the being multiple part isn't). We also think it's more of a body-oriented thing since people in here are more affected by it over time (especially when fronting or people who front a lot get affected by it more and more over time), although some of us are more predispositioned to it than others. It's interesting I guess.

Similarly, we're looking into going back to a psychiatrist and going on meds again (since our BPD has also been getting worse lately, especially now that our husband has been deployed) but have similar fears and reservations. The last time we were on medications, they messed us up a lot, not to mention made us gain a lot of weight which had a horrible affect on us (compounded by the fact that most of us have really bad body-image issues).

So, sorry we don't have any advice for the situation, but we are going through something similar. So you're not alone at least. :/

[tahaton.livejournal.com]

Welcome =)

I *think* schizophrenia tends to be a body problem. We have depression as a body problem, and for a time had it as a problem of someone else inside as well (she fronted a lot at the time as well, so it was a rough patch for all).

I would try it. If it does bad things, you can come off it again. We've had a load of anti-depressants, and anti-anxiety meds, none have affected us as an us. I even take an anti-psychotic to help me sleep, it has never bothered us. If it did I'd just not take it.

All meds affect everybody a little differently, so your best bet is to see how it affects you and see whether or not you like it =)


We sometimes have problems with communicating. Most of what we do is just wait for it to pass. We've tried a bunch of things like meditation and whatnot, and they didn't work much. Eventually things just get better. You could try visualisation like somebody suggested, that's how we put walls up so maybe it'd work bringing walls down or getting through them.

[sethrenn.livejournal.com]

Just a note about that kind of drug (I assume you know this part, but for anyone else who might be reading): if you *do* take it just on an 'experimental basis,' you still have to be careful about tapering off. Antipsychotics/neuroleptics can actually make you feel crazier while you're in withdrawal than you did before you were prescribed them. (And then some doctors will say "Well, this proves you need it" and put you back on...)

We can't take those kinds of drugs at all, ourselves. They make our sensory input really fragmentary, and do bad things to our in-system communication. (Not in the sense that we start losing time, but whoever is out front can't talk to anybody who is not at front.)

[tahaton.livejournal.com]

Eep, yeah. I'm so used to psych meds I forget to mention things like that. I don't taper the anti-psychotic I take because I don't take it consistantly (like if you take an anti-anxiety for a panic attack here and there, rather than every day), but yeah if you take it every day taper it. I forget that isn't a universally known fact. I also forget not everybody is as google-addicted over-cautious as me =P

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

I assume your psychiatrist explains these things when he prescribes such medicine for you, too. (For others reading, a good psychiatrist always explains thoroughly how to take something, how much to take at a time, what to expect, side effects, tells you not to drink alcohol or take recreational drugs while you're using it, how to increase and decrease, etc.)

[jsystem.livejournal.com]

Hey! We're a gateway system with over 100. We actually happen to be Schizo-affective. Pandora has major depressive-disorder... and we think the body just hallucinates because we basically don't hallucinate on the other world.

Our counselors put us on Resperdol.... but it made parts of the body go numb.... which was just a little too weird for us. (We really don't like psych meds because they always do weird stuff to us. We've also been on Lithium, Depakote, and Ritalin when we were younger.)
Ummm... we take a few herbs, that's pretty much it. I'd imagine sleeping helps, but we have odd sleep patterns that depend on who's out later at night. Sometimes the body doesn't get much sleep which obviously makes it worse.

Ironically enough, the body's hallucinations have increased in visual, but lessened in audio. The body has always hallucinated.... since it was little.
A counselor has yet to properly explain that to us. I don't think they can.

Naomi & Pandora

[ex-memepr0g.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the community; we're quite pleased to have you here. Perhaps your system could start talking to each other about how to organise ways to communicate otwardly? It's fairly easy for us to go in and out, and no-one really gets stuck, or anything like that.

[othergalaxy.livejournal.com]

I see the system had some problems regarding schizophrenia-like features in the past, but again, this has been due to not good communication of birthpeople and the rest of a group, plus spiritual crisis and childhood trauma left offs that didn't get integrated by the time. From what I know, it got fixed after few months of more intensive health care of the group as a whole; the group didn't go to psychs yet.

We hope to be able to manage anything should it arise again-- and I, personally, swore I would try my best to prevent stuff like that from happening again-- and agree on the ideas posted above, mainly about health care improvement, getting more calm before sleep, making alterations in a feeding style etc.

I know I didn't write an overtly informative post, yet numb as I am today, I don't think I would be any better with different post.

Selene

the screen

[weezanne.livejournal.com]

oh man.O.k. tick this is the second time that i've try'd to post this letter to ya for the second time.I was research'n my own bull#!% and came across this site and notice your pic first then i read your post.The SCREEN,yes I'm very firmiliar with the screen,it's as though I have a rezen over my eyes,whatn to open my eyes wider and wider and wider.maybe clouded but not blurry.Just like my eyelids are huvering to close,so I talked to my doc that i see every second thursday and she gave in a daily pill.One of 3 I have to take daily.ahhh those tiny little pills i hate them..the screen still hinders me and it's hard to ignor.well man i hope i've given someth'n back to you. because of your cool pic I 2 now am a member and will write someth'n here everyday.I try to remember my days weeks years by writting to myself at nite before bed.thanks tick i hope to read of you again.