Wow!!! I just saw that 173 people have looked at my blog! I'm totally shocked. So I thought if that many people are checking it out - think about all those people who can learn from it. My story doesn't really tell much about schizophrenia - just what has happened to us. So for those who are interested here's some info...
Schizophrenia is a disturbance of the brain's functioning. It can seriously disturb the way people think, feel and relate to others. About one person in 100 develops this disease, and men and women are affected equally however men usually have their first onset of psychosis in their late teens early 20's, while woman usually experience it a few years later. The onset can be so gradual that a family doesn't notice for a long time, or the onset can be rapid. In our case it was the former - when we look back we can see changes that were occurring while Kit was in high school, but we attributed them to adolescence and the typical changes that might happen at that time in his life. People with schizophrenia also often suffer from drug addictions as well - often to help self medicate and treat their symptoms.
There are three stages of schizophrenia. Prodomal, active and residual. In the first stage - the beginning people may lose interest in their normal activities and pull away from friends and family. They can be easily confused, have trouble concentrating and prefer to spend their time alone. Many become obsessed with religion or philosophy. This stage can last weeks, months, years. For us it probably started in grade 9 and lasted till 2nd year University when it became a crisis. The second stage is the active stage. The person may have delusions, hallucinations (either visual or auditory) and have a marked distortion in the way they think. This is the most frightful time for both the person suffering from schizophrenia and their family. The last stage the person will be listless and withdrawn and have trouble concentrating. It can present similar to the first stage. The stages may recur over and over in a persons life.
When people talk about schizophrenia there are two types of symptoms. Positive and negative. In this case it means what the disease adds and takes away. For example some positive symptoms would be: delusions (false beliefs) hallucinations (could hear, see, taste , smell or feel something that isn't there) disorganized thoughts, moods and behaviors. The negative symptoms would be: slowing of physical activity, reduced motivation, loss of interest in the feelings and lives of those around them, lack of concern for personal appearance. So the positive symptoms are the symptoms we see and are scared of and the negative symptoms are the ones we don't always see but are equally distressing.
There is no single cause for schizophrenia. There is definitely a genetic link, but they haven't determined exactly how that fits. There are things that can trigger psychosis - extreme stress and marijuana to name a couple. They have found that their is a much higher level of dopamine in a person's brain who has schizophrenia.
Treatment is usually done in a hospital as an in patient or an out-patient. Treatment usually consists of anti-psychotic drugs and psycho-social interventions. The anti-psychotic drugs help to control the amount of dopamine in the brain - but dopamine is the neurotransmitter responsible for our feeling good, so take it away and you don't feel so great any more. All of the anti-psychotic drugs have awful side affects. It's a matter of find the one that works with each person and the right balance to take away the positive symptoms without making the negative ones worse. All done by trial and error. While one drug may work well for one person - it may not work at all on another. One person may have terrible side-affects from one drug and another may not. It's totally hit and miss. And frustrating!
One book I have read said that 30% of people diagnosed with schizophrenia do very well - live relatively normal lives, have a job, relationships etc. Another 30% don't do so well - they may be able to live on their own, supported by disability or welfare and another 30% are those we see on the street. The last 10% commit suicide. At the beginning we were very hopeful that Kit would be in the top 30%. Now we are hoping for that but reality looks like it may be the second 30%. And that's okay. It beats the rest!
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