One of many problems I had with schizophrenia was cognitive impairment, there are a number of symptoms associated with schizophrenia and that was just one of them. It took years for the impairment to pass, in that initially I would suffer from it once a week and as I kept taking medication it went to once every two weeks and slowly dissipated. Essentially it became once a month, then once every two months, eventually after this slow decline I would be lucky to experience it once a year. 

The frequency declined only due to long term medication use. It took some time and adjustments to get a combination that worked. Now let’s say I didn’t take the medication and I went into denial or I never went to a psychiatrist where would I be now? It took five years for the cognitive impairment to slowly disappear. What about all of the other symptoms? Where would I be? It takes time these days just to see a professional psychiatrist in the first place.

Not a lot has just landed in my lap, I had to have cash flow and work a job. Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I am basically stuck at work doing what I have to do a lot of the time. Now it was hard enough trying to raise a family and hold a job with schizophrenia. I wasn’t well enough for almost a decade to get promotions or go anywhere. Because I kept getting some relief and put in the time to let the medications do its thing I am where I am now.

It isn’t some lofty position let me tell you but if you don’t get the help you need you will be worse off again. If you have some issues get it checked out, try and get the help you need. There is of course deep stigma associated with schizophrenia especially. Most of that you will hopefully realise when you are stable is the stigma is mostly within yourself. It is in other people too don’t get me wrong, yet it is you that has to be able to function and get the most out of your life.