Lived Experience Forum

[Ayesha]

As the name states I have schizoaffective bipolar (along w quite debilitating OCD and anxiety) I'm curious to find others in the same boat and how they cope and manage..


Im on a multitude of medication and whilst I'm considered to be high functioning at this point in my life I am not well managed symptomatically.

I have a lot..... like a real lot ..,, of auditory and visual hallucinations (most of the time I cannot tell what is real and what's a hallucination until I test it) I get lost in delusions and fantasies I am most definitely considered "odd" and "eceletic". My brain goes faster then I can manage I have multiple thoughts racing at once and I am frequently wired, I experience periods of mania where I simply cannot stop myself and I just keep going and going and going despite being near collapse, I go through intense avoidant periods. I suffer greatly from insomnia because my brain is so wired and I can't switch off OR I'm completely anxious. I hear voices and objects take on other forms.

That's just a snippet but you get the idea...,,

How do you stop your brain from being on "fast forward" ...., like now I should be asleep (work tomorrow) but I'm so wired

[Pebbles]

Hi @Ayesha 🙂

I just read your post and wondered if these threads may be of interest to you.

New diagnosis schizoaffective bipolar here 

Managing schizoaffective disorder here

Living with schzoaffective disorder here

I hope you these are a good starting point. 

[Norma]

Honey i hear you. You and i are very much a like. My mine never stops. I suffer from bipolar anxiety panic attacks insomnia agoraphobia Fear of going out because of the people who live in my street. The only place i go to is my doctor. I am over being very much obeist. I have high blood pressure high cholesterol wetting my bed and Myself. I'm on medication and yet I'm still feeling like crap i am a Christian woman and yet i struggle live life still. I hope all goes well for you. God bless

[Queenie]

Hi @Ayesha, your take on auditory and visual hallucinations is perfect, I could not have described them better. I hear 3 people with my ears external to my head in which they discuss what I am doing, issue commands, swear and laugh at me. My voices are always derogatory in nature and, for the most part, really get me down. However my mind rushes from point to point and lately the only way to sleep is bombing myself out on medication to prevent the point of collapse. I am desperately depressed, but at the same time I can't switch off. It is very irritating to say the least.

You ask how sza's cope? I ask myself the same question in my own thread. I seem at present to cope very badly as I am in the hospital being treated for a combination of schizophrenia and a depressive episode (even though bipolar has been thrown into the mix because of my inability to switch off my thoughts and my brain is on constant GO without medication intervention). 

For my voices at the moment, I am constantly listening to music via my phone. I've made online music streaming my friend! I also take lengthy showers either too hot or too cold as a form of grounding exercise. It works with mixed affect. I am basically surviving on a mixture of mood stabilisers, antidepressants and antipsychotics to get by. I know I need more, but for now that's the stop-gap solution in such a crisis situation. 

I hope this has answered some of your question without too much of a ramble, take care, Q.

[NikNik]

Thank you @Queenie and @Norma for your contributions and insights on this. I found reading your posts very interesting and informative.
We really appreciate members like yourselves who share their own experiences, It helps us all feel less alone.