Early Detection of Schizophrenia: The Prodrome Phase

Hello Paul Ballas,

Your article was very helpful in understanding the prodromal signs of schizophrenia. I found your article in a google search.

Ashley

Life has turned in a complete chaos ever since prodrome stormed into my life. Profrome refers to a period of decreased functioning prior to the first psychosis or the onset of schizophrenia. I wish I only knew it before its rude awakening to my life of insanity.

About six months ago, I studied my final exam like a zombie with the assistance of prescription drug dexamphetamine( Psycho-stimulant for Attention Deficit Disorder). I became withdrawn from friends and family which I thought to be the outcome of stress and depression. Over many restless days and nights, I buried my head in the textbooks and thanks to my supercharged brain power. All of those hard work compensated for the fact that I did not attend most of the classes. But I have now realized, It was nothing but a dysfunction robot struggled to deliver ever decaying performance.

I shed 10kgs since that I was not able to eat but live on the nutrient of cups and cups of full cream coffee with one sugar. Prior to the start of the exam, I was vomiting bile outside of the building; during the exam, I was not only struggled with stomach ache( was in fact chest pain), I also started hearing mp3 music on my phone, I was thinking:

" I must have accidently left the music on. Should I bend down to switch it off? What if people caught me on cheating, as we are not supposed to have our phone switched on?"

The music only gets louder and so as people started making a lot of noises walking out of the exam hall. I was vaguely aware of the mere hallucination,

" STOP IT!!!!!!" I shook my head hard and I'm not sure if I had screamed out aloud.

Overall, I was convinced that "severe anxiety disorder" was the real offender of my mental disturbance and declining academic performance. Therefore, I decided to take the semester off to recover from distress, but I had only became less motivated and certainly did not feel easier with a new chapter of ambivalence. I had never thought that it was the "Prodrome Phase" which is the onset of a path of esoteric, a path towards insanity.

Please visit my blog, I tracked down all my thought throughout the process of becoming schizophreniac.  http://lesstraveledby.wordpress.com/

I just had a very moving conversation with my son, twenty-nine years old and diagnosed with schizophrenia 10 years ago. He said that he can look back at the beginning of symptoms at age 12, even though he continued to function as he always had to us, he said that he starting feeling different in the fifth grade. His first symptom was that he felt a social withdrawal from what was otherwise an extrodinary social live, popularity, sports, and lots of friends. He said he no longer felt like the shining star in school, interested in everything, and always conversational.  He continued his same activities until he had his first break, but obviously he knew something was wrong that he could not articulate.  Maybe we need to start looking much sooner than we thought. Don't have a clue how that could be done, but the enumeration of his feelings from so long ago and his insight into his own illness were so poignant.

Do you have any information about a condition called Kaufman's Autism that mimics some sz symptoms (in a 13 year old girl) This girl has been evaluated between 15 to 20 times in the last several years by some top professionals in their lines (including a pediatric psyciatrist who specalizes in Autistic Spectrum Disorders, pediatric neurologist, 2 neuro-developmental psycologists, speech pathologist and quite a few others) with no definite conclusion of what is wrong with her.

She has a maternal grandmother with paranoid sz, and a cousin with sza.

Do you have any suggestions or insight?

Im laying down at night and my day is over,,,sometimes i have a real bad day at my job ,,,here at home or im argueing with friends or family,i get real stressed out and after a day or even the same night i lay down and hear either heavy metal or a symphony,,,i check too see if the radio was left on or the television is on from my sons room and none of it is on.I run around and see if there is a car out side with someone sitting in it and there is no one,,,but i do regognise that it only happens when there is a large amount of stress,I try too drink alchole to make it stop and it does,thats becouse it numbs my system,my brother was diagnosed with schizophrenia.