←back to thread

262 points Anon84 | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.77s | source
Show context
suzzer99 ◴[] No.44408657[source]
I've lost one of my best friends to what I think is schizophrenia. We don't know because she's cut off all contact with friends and family and refuses to see a doctor. It's definitely psychosis. She thinks she's in some kind of Truman show that she calls "the game". Since none of her friends or family are willing to admit to it, then we must be in on it.

We don't know her full family medical history because her dad was adopted. I do know that she was "microdosing" and macro-dosing hallucinogens for years. Mostly acid and shrooms as far as I know. She followed the band Phish around with a group of friends. I can't imagine most of those shows were sober.

We've also seen a few incidents of paranoia when she was under the influence of drugs/alcohol going back decades. So it feels like this was always there in some form, but maybe the estrogen was holding it back before menopause hit. I read an article about women who get schizophrenia after menopause that suggested this could be the case.

Anyway, whenever I see wellness healers and the like extolling the virtues of psilocybin, I want to point out that there could be a downside. We don't know that all of her hallucinogen use over the years contributed to this. But it's certainly a possibility.

replies(16): >>44408738 #>>44409140 #>>44410914 #>>44410949 #>>44411914 #>>44412372 #>>44412432 #>>44412769 #>>44414552 #>>44414645 #>>44414752 #>>44415014 #>>44415642 #>>44416610 #>>44417767 #>>44424314 #
winrid ◴[] No.44408738[source]
If you have a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia it's starting to seem like drugs that seem harmless like marijuana (specifically THC?) can definitely bring it out. At least, that's what seemed to happen to my mother and another friend.
replies(7): >>44408770 #>>44408778 #>>44409003 #>>44412493 #>>44413494 #>>44413840 #>>44417784 #
tony69 ◴[] No.44408778[source]
In Europe this (some rec drugs bring out latent schizophrenia) is taught in med school as a “known fact” (source: psychiatrist friend) so it’s well beyond “starting to seem”
replies(4): >>44409006 #>>44410648 #>>44410707 #>>44412235 #
euranon96 ◴[] No.44412235[source]
Do you know what is considered as "latent schizophrenia"? Is it like in your 40's or 30's or just couple years after the mean?
replies(2): >>44413306 #>>44414590 #
lucidrains ◴[] No.44413306[source]
if you are a man and make it past age of 29 without starting to hear voices, you can breathe a sigh of relief (I did)
replies(5): >>44413449 #>>44413607 #>>44414009 #>>44414781 #>>44414990 #
thrwwXZTYE ◴[] No.44414990[source]
I kinda heard lots of whispers when I was very young (like 6-7) and now I'm 40 and haven't had any such problems.

I blamed it on the drugs I got prescripted for sleeping (I had bad allergy and was scratching myself to the point of bleeding during sleep so I got some "pacifying" drugs).

replies(1): >>44415581 #
heavyset_go ◴[] No.44415581[source]
Older antihistamines were anticholinergics, the latter of which are famous for causing vivid auditory, visual and somatic hallucinations.
replies(2): >>44416920 #>>44416974 #
1. johnisgood ◴[] No.44416920[source]
Also known as "delirium". They cause delirium. Benadryl (DPH) for example does that. It is very dysphoric.
replies(1): >>44417313 #
2. heavyset_go ◴[] No.44417313[source]
Lower doses can induce hallucinations before it becomes full on delirium that you see in higher doses. You'll regularly hear about people seeing "spiders" after taking 25-50mg of Benedryl, the recommended dose.
replies(1): >>44422206 #
3. johnisgood ◴[] No.44422206[source]
I think that may be more common in the elderly. I had full-on delirium from 5 x 50 mg, however. I would not recommend. It took me months for my body to recover. The auditory hallucinations lasted the longest (2-3 days), but my body and my mind was a wreck for months. Thanks to our beautiful hospital that did not administer the antidote for anticholinergic toxicity.