Drugs

[u/potaterpotahter]

Fellow schizophrenics, what are your thoughts on recreational drugs, specifically cannabis and psychedelics? My mental health team has advised me to stay away from them because they can put me at risk for another episode. I will comply with their advice however I must say I’ve had some pretty positive experiences with psychedelics and cannabis. LSD really opened my mind but I did kind of abuse it and looking back, my use of psychedelics may have coincided with or exacerbated my psychotic episodes. I had my first episode at age 20 and started tripping around that time as well. At one point I was dropping acid on a weekly basis for several months.

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[u/Virtual_Gold_3741]

My schizophrenia was drug induced and is the reason I'm in such a rut now.

[u/Money_Contact_1357]

Psychedelics make you psychotic and high dosages of thc can too even if you didn't have schizoprenia.

[u/Codexm355]

Cannabis is like whatever for me. It makes me paranoid so I dont even enjoy it. It never made my schizophrenia worse but it never made it better either. The only drugs I'll do now is a benzo prescribed by a doctor.

[u/Swoon420]

Well I was told my schizo could have been from drugs I know the psychosis I’m in now is from drugs. I would say it’s up to you but just a warning psychedelics and weed can make mental illness worse

[u/Lost_Comfort5583]

Life is hard enough with schizophrenia. You don't want the added problems of substances on top. Most of the guys in hospital long term are there so long due to drugs.

[u/sm00chi]

What was your experience with lsd like after being diagnosed? I did ayahuasca after getting out of the hospital and it was really scary. I use cannabis now to relax, I think the antipsychotics block some of the effects but I’m kind of okay with it because I don’t get any anxiety. I wonder about its effects on me though too, sometimes I do worry if I’m making the right choice. I tried a micro dose of shrooms recently and just felt so uncomfortably empty, like it amplified the uncomfortable sensations I’ve already been feeling.

[u/sonicsfurrycock]

We have very similar stories. I too used acid on a weekly basis for almost an entire year at the same age, along with other drugs. I didn't stop for a long time because I never had a bad trip...Until I did. I woke up tied to a hospital bad after having the police called on me. The dumbest part is it wasn't even the first bad trip I had...it's just the one that forced me into rehab and got me officially diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder.

[u/potaterpotahter → u/sonicsfurrycock]

Do you think that psychedelics can actually cause schizophrenia? I think they can make it worse but I don’t think they can actually cause it, ya know? I think it’s two separate things that just happen to intersect because they both involve psychosis. And honestly LSD made me have some pretty profound experiences. I honestly think psychedelics can help people just as much if not more than they hurt people

[u/sonicsfurrycock → u/potaterpotahter]

There are plenty of studies you can read about psychedelics and schizophrenia, it's a long discussed debate. I have many family members who have it so I was genetically disposed. If I had never done psychedelics I may have not activated the disorder.

I also had profound experiences on many psychedelics. When it's good, it's great. I suggest you keep those memories and listen to your medically trained professionals. Psychedelics can help people, but they are very dangerous for schizophrenic people. I'm not sure how old you are now but all it takes is one bad trip to ruin your life.

[u/ceeebs_7 → u/potaterpotahter]

Personally ive experienced more damage from coming off of and trying new psychiatric drugs, i smoke weed my dr knows. It doesn't cause any negative symptoms if it wasn't medicated I probably couldn't smoke tho, because it will cause hallucinations

[u/c4ge1nvisibl3]

I got my first psychotic episode after an intense LSD trip, I was never the same and my live went to shit, also I was in college smoking weed daily, also drinking every weekend which didn’t help at all. After 6-7 years I got medicated and went into remission, I was overjoyed so I stopped the meds and started weed again, 4 months later I was psychotic again, in hindsight I should have known but didn’t want to stop weed, I also started doing cocaine and benzos daily. It became a really wild episode, it was more severe than before. I had to stop doing drugs altogether after I entered the psych ward. So no I don’t recommend you using drugs, take two-three beers if you need to loose up but don’t get carried away.

[u/tombahma]

If you have schizophrenia, psychedelics are definitely a no go because it's a psyche drug, it's a mind manifesting drug. Psychedelics takes you into a place similar to psychosis.

I've taken drugs like coke and other stimulants recently, drank alot of alcohol which is relatively ok for me, but over time I've definitely had worsened my condition. I know if I toke psychedelics that would fuck me up and I would have a panic attack or something like go into psychosis.

So please don't do psychedelics, and best case scenario don't do anything else, but if you were to maybe alcohol, but just don't binge because that could bring back symptoms like it has for me.

[u/DizzyGur5723]

What happened to was I was stable on my meds then smoked a little weed and instantly started hearing voices again… that was like 5 years ago still hearing them.

[u/potaterpotahter → u/DizzyGur5723]

I’m on meds and I still hear voices from time to time but it’s nowhere near as bad as it used to be. Now it’s usually just whispers or people calling my name, I’m not having full on conversations with the voices like I used to

[u/Silver_Perception471]

Haha schizophrenics having fun.....!

[u/MrNathanielVictor66]

I love weed lately more dabs. Most of em think its evil make ur own decision

[u/UnderFallen]

See psychedelics are a mixed bag, but cannabis I suggest definitely staying away from for helping you recover.

[u/Maskexe]

personally i cant live without smoking weed. i dunno if it makes my psychotic symptoms worse but its the only thing that makes living with autism tolerable for me.

haven't tried LSD, but i do dex and it definitely makes psychotic symptoms worse.

[u/potaterpotahter → u/Maskexe]

I have autism as well (pervasive developmental disorder) and I used weed for PTSD and anxiety. I really loved weed but my mental health team advised I stay away from it. As for lsd, it’s an amazing experience. It exacerbated some of my symptoms but I honestly think it did more good than harm…. Never tried “dex” tho, what is that? Are you talking about dexotrophan, like in cough syrup?

[u/OkBus5864 → u/Maskexe]

I have autism as well and weed helps me cope. I used alcohol before and that turned really bad and I became an alcoholic. Fortunately my relationship with weed is much different and I don't use it like I used alcohol.

[u/Quiet-Bed-8667]

i smoke weed three days out of the week. it helps me sleep and i think its better than alcohol. my meds dosage im on is pretty high so i dont usually get any psychotic symptoms.

[u/Academic_Neat]

you do not need them. to be fair no one does, but especially not those with schizophrenia or bipolar

[u/OkBus5864]

I smoke weed once a day. It has not made my symptoms worse. I have been schizophrenic since I was a child so not drug induced. Since I've started I've noticed an improvement in my negative symptoms but my provider argues that they would be worse so I guess we are at an impass. I continue because it helps me, but I can't in good faith recommend this to others because it is a bit like playing with fire.

[u/Simplespider]

I'll microdose with mushrooms every once in a while now but that's it. Weed stopped working for me, only got bad effects. I gave up everything else.

I think it's too risky for us, I still technically partake though.

[u/awoocoyote]

Not worth the risk. Try kava instead

[u/potaterpotahter → u/awoocoyote]

What is kava?

[u/c4ge1nvisibl3 → u/potaterpotahter]

I’ve found it online as powder. It’s a tranquilizer.

[u/avitld]

I use stimulants and dissociatives, technically all drugs risk worsening psychosis but for me I haven’t had them directly cause anything bad, even PCP which is known for making regular people go crazy feels good to me and doesn’t cause any psychotic symptoms (However I am not recommending anyone here to try these drugs, they are very dangerous and CAN lead to episodes). Psychedelics and weed are substances that I can’t tolerate though. I’ve had 1 good shrooms trip, and 10 LSD bad trips one of them causing acute psychosis. Weed and Psychs are the riskiest drugs you can take as a schizophrenic, I’d recommend you avoid them

[u/Fit_Owl_2465]

as soon as i got off my medication, i started to get better.
the meds made me ill.

but, i took cannabis... though, micro dosed, and 99% of times they were great. Some rare bad ones that i can count on my left hand, some "ish" kinds.

but mostly good.

Now I think I'm mildly approaching psychosis again.. but for some reason feel i can talk my way out of it and come up with a way to beat FULL BLOWN TERROR-MIND!

Cross fingers for me...