Hi Lara,

If you're the same woman who asked the question about the pot smoking, now I can definitely tell you to lay off the marijuana if my original response didn't sound definitive to you.

I don't treat or diagnosis medical conditions such as SZ, however, I can tell you that in my life I feel I've always had a subtle paranoia, the most subtle form, and then when my Grandpa was in a coma, hooked up to a respirator in the intensive care unit, that was my breaking point and I had a breakdown and was diagnosed with SZ.

What I can tell you: if any of your paranoia returns and holds fast in your mind, you should get help quickly because if it turns out you have SZ down the road, the quicker you get into treatment, the better the outcome will be.

I suggest you do the things that the average young person does: work at a job, maybe go to college, do things with friends outside of the usual pot smoking sessions [and that may mean finding new friends who don't smoke pot].  The higher your level of "pre-morbid functioning" [a fancy term for your functioning level before a psychotic break], the better your chances are if you are diagnosed with SZ down the line.

Lastly, there's some debate about whether behavior in children foreshadows the development of schizophrenia later in life.  Myself, I feel in my life I was born with the gene for schizophrenia [it runs in my family, too] and my grandpa's coma pushed me over the edge.  I feel there definitely was a connection, even if it was subtle.

Mind you, SZ could develop apart from a major life stressor such as the one I experienced.

I urge you to live your life, engage in positive activities that any young person would have, and not obsess over the possibility that something could happen.

Best wishes,

Christina