A rare case of "schizophrenia"

I have a 'rare' case of "schizophrenia", if that really is what it is. I struggled with visual hallucinations mostly and auditory noise I will call it. The visual hallucinations I have had since birth. SINCE BIRTH, keep this in mind please. I will also note that I was born extremely premature, one pound and 5 ounces. There was a low chance of my survival. I had the hallucinations when I was a toddler and remember having them. And all through out my life they have been there. They are exactly like these hallucinations described here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed-eye_hallucination
(I experience level 1-level4)

There are little videos showing what some of it looks like.

I also will have moments where my mind goes completely blank and I have no thought process for 2-5 seconds. Or I will become completely engulfed in thought and to the outside it looks like I am staring off. Also I have never done any illegal drugs in my life except the one experiment I had with marijuana when I was a teenager. Brain mutation just seems to call out to me at this point. I still wonder if there is more, because I will not be satisfied until I know what this is and why it exists.

I saw ^^that webpage and said THAT IS IT, that is what I have except all the time 24 hours a day. It is not brought on by anything because it is all the time.

When I first consulted doctors about this in my teens it was unheard of for someone to be able to generate schizophrenia at that age or even have it at birth. But I know me better than anyone else. But... could it be something else? Could it be a genetic mutation? And if so will anti-psychotics even work for this? I have taken anti psychotics and they have just made me feel more terrible on than off.

If I ever find a medicine that works I will be very VERY shocked because I have had these visuals my entire life. You would think there would be at least one medicine that would work for me. There is a new medicine my doctor wants to try and I am willing to try it but I will just be upset if it is another failure. All of the failure make me wonder if there is ANYTHING on this planet that is going to help me. I am wondering if anyone else has a complicated situation like this. Maybe it isn't just like this, but just a situation this is unexplained and out of the normalcy for someone with schizophrenia. If so what have you been doing to find out more about what is going on with you?

I know my schizophrenia wasn't brought on by traumatic events or anxiety. I do have an anxiety disorder but it is separated from the "schizophrenia" in the sense that it isn't "schizophrenia" that is causing my anxiety, and it isn't anxiety causing the "schizophrenia". Are there any labs who do research on this sort of thing because I would willingly give myself as a test subject. I am being rolled around like a hamster by the psychiatric system as it is, and generalized with the rest, but I know my situation is not like the rest and I want answers.

That doesn't sound like schizophrenia. Creative type people can experience closed-eye hallucinations, it's nothing to worry about.

Creative type people? What does that have anything to do with uncontrollable images that are being projected from the brain. And it is not okay to hallucinate 24 hours a day. They are still hallucinations, they have to come from somewhere other than just creativity. I would prefer it if they weren't there.

My doctor mentioned that they're pretty common. But, yes, 24 hour a day hallucinations would be bad. I get them sometimes when falling asleep, but rarely when I'm on medication (Olanzapine).

I did some googling and I found some links you might could look at to get an idea of that may point you in other directions, since Im not sure if you have any physical issues.

Here's a link to something that seems a lot like what you are experience, almost right on, if not right on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallucinogen_persisting_perception_disorder

It says a history of any drug use is a good indicator.

Also, look into migraines.

I hope this information helps. Definitely keep talking to a doctor/psychiatrist though to get better insight and better info.

I do not understand why so many different hallucinatory phenomena are all lumped under the label "schizophrenia." You are NOT psychotic, NOT delusional... there are medical terms they can use even though the medical terms may not really indicate exactly WHAT caused the illness. Here is something about that: ICD-10 vs DSM-V. Narcolepsy even sometimes gets called "schizophrenia" because the person's REM looks like "hallucinations". SO? Oh yeah, and the poster mentioning migraines. That's true. That video they showed on your link? Just like some people's migraine auras. If that's your only symptom, that's not schizophrenia - but sure is easy for the doctors to just label you that.

As for medications to make it stop... looks like your brain has a glitch. Maybe it is a physical glitch. I doubt anything will simply make it stop, but you might want to look into everything nutritional that might help support your brain health like high quality fish oil, carnitine, probiotics (there is a gut-brain link) and such after consulting the right kind of doctor (not a psychiatrist in your case). I'd do a search on a MD in your area who knows Integrative or Functional medicine. Maybe there would be a Neurologist who took extra classes in order to also be versed in Integrative medicine? I know there are some gastroenteroligists and even psychiatrists that are... but it takes extra study, so they are less common.

Jaspar wrote:I do not understand why so many different hallucinatory phenomena are all lumped under the label "schizophrenia."

from what i understand that label isn't even specific in itself really. this being the case, it really doesn't make much sense to synonomously use it with life-long psychosis. i don't refer to appleannag, just the persistence that a 24/7/365 psychotic murderous state is the context.

not only that, psychosis is the term used for anything that can be considered 'disagreeable'.

convenience will be the death of us all.

the lack of common boundaries doesn't pose too much of a problem, until all the people that are thrown under the bus because of it.

all i'm sayin is, if someone was in a constant psychotic state, that's what they would call it. not the blanket term schizophrenia. by 'they' i don't mean hollywood-movie watchers who look for convenience.

appleannag you asked about research labs. i'm sure there are many different labs that do a bunch of different research.

but for anyone here to list one in their areas will do you no good unless by chance you happen to be in the same area.

so i would suggest scanning the phone book and calling different hospitals/clinics and such up. sometimes there are advertisements in the paper, hanging up inside city buses, that speak of upcoming studies.

there will be prerequisites for the participants such as age and gender, maybe medical history. i can't tell ya exactly what to ask but if you find a study that you think you'd benefit from and ya don't want to be in the control group ya can try and get some kind of evaluation.

if it's not a research study you're looking for, just an evaluation well you'll still probably call the same places.

i don't know the full extent of your experiences. tranqs don't make ya 'think more'. they are called 'anti-psychotics' for a reason. it is the brains reactions that bring about 'psychotic', so naturally the aim is to take the brain out of the equation.

labs 'do work' on many things. there are gene tests, blood tests, brain-wave tests, brain scans, heart tests, etc... not to 'prove' 'schizophrenia', but to rule out tumors and drugs and blood diseases and such.

i don't know if those are the normal clinical setting, but they are when it comes to research studies.

http://www.acnr.co.uk/pdfs/volume4issue ... ewart3.pdf

Paulig,M. & Mentrup, H. Charles Bonnet's syndrome:
complete remission of complex visual hallucinations
treated by gabapentin. Journal of Neurology,
Neurosurgery and Psychiatry (London) 70, 813-814
(2001).
18. Burke, W. J., Roccaforte, W. H. & Wengel, S. P.
Treating visual hallucinations with donepezil.
American Journal of Psychiatry 156, 1117-1118
(1999).

Just get an MRI scan and target it, could be a number of things. Might be serotonergic modulation, or temporal lobe epilespy also.

I found this where hallucinations from a problem with the retina was misdiagnosed as a psychotic disorder: http://investigatingmentalillness.blogs ... tinal.html
"it is extremely important to rule out general medical causes of hallucinations, as they are often treatable and reversible"