Feelings are Not FACTS
...he posts enough ....that the amt of time spent on studying the internals of his thought processes can be spent similarly on calculations for the dose and sourcing the vitamin....max time = 5 min,
No excuses...lol...
Primal stated: source post
However...were you willing to actually give it a go and experiment with it........that would be fun to set up....see what happens....
It's not uncommon for me to experiment on myself and do light research on possible answers others have found every so often. Back when I was more gung ho about it, before I'd found Zinc, I kept records to study differences in my own behavior knowing that I couldn't trust my own appraisal without something more consistent than my thoughts to weigh it with. Without that I would have lost some of the crazier stuff that I otherwise mostly blacked out and wouldn't have fully understood down the line what was happening to me. I briefly used it to check even stupid little things like heart rate, anything that could express small changes that might add up to something if combined with other things. From that I've found many things that have given me small improvements alongside gaining an intrigue in things like calories, vitamins, and minerals.
It's fascinating to feel differently than you're used to feeling and be able to account for why... until it passes certain extremes anyway.
But.....you like spinning in your rut...highly doubt that something as potentially helpful would be up your alley
Jeez, I haven't even begun experimenting with it and already you're making B3 into your usual train of unfalsifiability: "If it doesn't work, he must have not really wanted to get better." Let me at least try it first before you give up on it like some sort of pre-deterministic pessimist. 
Being "cured" wouldn't rid me of my past experiences or a number of my quirks (other than a lobotomy), so I have nothing to worry about when it comes to seeking it.
Primal stated: source post
Feelings are Not FACTS
I agree, but it's said facts that are disheartening, whether those facts are from past trials, others' stories, or what psych data I've found related to it. If anything, getting away from "FACTS" could have once been the answer, as that would have at least increased the potential for placebo success... but if I didn't do any research I also likely would have overlooked some important issues that would serve to keep me that much more disconnected from reality.
I haven't given up, I'm not "helpless", but it's difficult to not be a little defeatist despite the efforts this far along. If despite my efforts I don't find any sort of cure, I need to make do by working on functioning within this blueprint as I have been for years now, in the name of harm reduction, to be prepared for the worst instead of having it sneak up on me again. I need to understand myself if I am to have any chance of functioning in lieu of a cure, and that understanding isn't an excuse, it's a handicap that I haven't let stop me (yet). Believe me, while you clearly aren't impressed, who you see here is sadly a comparative improvement.
Let me at least try it first before you give up on it like some sort of pre-deterministic pessimist.
Deal.
1. Start and End date. ( you set it and get the B3, if you cannot find it, I can )
2. Journal your experience in a thread here.
3. If you have trouble with calculations or whatever....I can help you out on that....willing to do so.
That is reasonable or not?
* n.b. you have 2 weeks to get your ass in gear on that...lol...no dawdling ;)
Curious how this turns out for you. What if it actually works?!!
Turncoat stated: source post
haart stated: source post
Turncoat stated: source post
I've met quite a few contented schizophrenics, actually. Episodically very distressed, but plenty who lead rich, full lives most of the time.
How can they be happy when dealing with this crap? Are they magical thinkers?
When were you diagnosed? By whom? How long did it take you to develop this degree of insight?
While I was still in college, by a team of people after my therapist finally decided that it'd be worth testing, and this degree of "insight" came from excessive introspection without knowing the labels in advance. My original means of trying to figure myself out without a DSM came from studying others and comparing them to myself, figuring that using other people's similarities and striking differences would be the best way to learn about myself through comparison beyond my own range for self-appraisal error, that learning about people would help me finally figure out the mystery that was myself if I just kept digging. None of them quite fit beyond my father, a victim of a false diagnosis, so I kept looking until I found a few diagnosed schizophrenics that scared the shit out of me through being too relatable. If it wasn't for them and my eventual interest in conventional psych, half of the shit that's crazy I might not have even noticed prior to my brief departures off the deep end.
Have you ever had a second opinion on your diagnosis? It sounds like you possibly self-diagnosed and then found people to support your conclusion.
It also sounds like you've decided that this is a life sentence with only one outcome. There is no cure for schizophrenia but there's treatment.
My cousin has schizophrenia. He had several bizarre episodes, with the last one finding him wandering downtown in a city in the dead of winter with no coat or shoes. He was hospitalized and finally diagnosed. It took much time before doctors reached that conclusion, so I am surprised how your diagnosis seemed to come.
Anyhow, that was about 15 years ago and now he takes his medication regularly. Since then he has received a second undergrad degree and recently completed his MBA. He has a well paying, low stress government job that he enjoys. He will be on medication for the rest of his life, which is a bummer but no different than someone with diabetes or a heart condition. He leads a good life and he seems cheerful enough to me. I suspect he experiences happiness coming and going like anyone else.
My point is that you don't have to suffer needlessly. You should research the positive outcomes of treatment and open your mind to that. Maybe find people who have the illness but are living productive lives. Not just the monsters in the movies and media ~ There are a lot of false stereotypes about schizophrenia.
Primal stated: source post
1. Start and End date. ( you set it and get the B3, if you cannot find it, I can )
I can probably find it, supplement sections tend to be pretty big.
2. Journal your experience in a thread here.
Either that or I'll post my written notes.
3. If you have trouble with calculations or whatever....I can help you out on that....willing to do so.
What sorts of calculations, like how many mg's to try?
That is reasonable or not?
* n.b. you have 2 weeks to get your ass in gear on that...lol...no dawdling ;)
Should I be trying B3 when more lucid, unstable, or anytime? If it's anything like my trials with Zinc in the past, if I try it when I'm lucid I might not notice a difference from it maintaining that status or only amounting to small changes, whereas if I wait for a more unstable period I'd imagine myself being more likely to notice any results.
There's also the question of how long it might take to build up in my system (Zinc was two to three days until it became more regular, but showed partial symptoms at the beginning as well as a brief period of nausia from my body trying to reject it).
Curious how this turns out for you. What if it actually works?!!
It'd either be miraculous, be the next Zinc (partial assist), or disappointing to an acceptable degree from how cheap it costs to buy supplements. There's very little to lose here so I don't see why not.
I read the same sort of stuff that you were saying about B3 related to Zinc and Pyroluria, that naturally and supposedly BPh didn't want it to be known from it being cheap and easy to get ahold of, so this holistic approach isn't unknown to me. We'll see if it works.
Excellent.
And yes....dosage is key....see what more you can find for data...there is some already posted along with the dosage changes over time..
I'd not wait for instability as a start point.....
We'll see if it works.
Many things are extremely effective.....and will never hit the market due to lack of patent protection..so....
Let's see what happens. No Risk = No reward.....in this case....you have nothing to lose and much to gain.
MissCommunication stated: source post
Have you ever had a second opinion on your diagnosis?
Not one that I'd say counts anyway. My abnormal psych professor ended up asking me about it half-way through the semester after watching some of my behaviors, but that's like... 10% usable at most.
A second opinion couldn't hurt, but I can't imagine what other disorders offhand could have these symptoms. Do you have any potential leads?
It sounds like you possibly self-diagnosed and then found people to support your conclusion.
I was actually in denial for a pretty long time about it, trying to find any reason why it wasn't that. Still though, what else could it be?
It also sounds like you've decided that this is a life sentence with only one outcome. There is no cure for schizophrenia but there's treatment.
So... therapy and meds. I could try wasting spending money time with therapy again, but that won't get rid of the symptoms. At most they'll give me a few more coping tactics.
Maybe when I can afford to have insurance again.
My cousin has schizophrenia. He had several bizarre episodes, with the last one finding him wandering downtown in a city in the dead of winter with no coat or shoes. He was hospitalized and finally diagnosed. It took much time before doctors reached that conclusion, so I am surprised how your diagnosis seemed to come.
It was around half a year of video taped therapy before the weird tests happened.
Anyhow, that was about 15 years ago and now he takes his medication regularly. Since then he has received a second undergrad degree and recently completed his MBA. He has a well paying, low stress government job that he enjoys. He will be on medication for the rest of his life, which is a bummer but no different than someone with diabetes or a heart condition. He leads a good life and he seems cheerful enough to me. I suspect he experiences happiness coming and going like anyone else.
Weird, as medication for schizophrenia doesn't typically solve the joy deficits, as all it can do is treat some of the positive symptoms (namely the worst of them, the psychosis). Maybe he was lucky and escaped that symptom entirely?
My point is that you don't have to suffer needlessly. You should research the positive outcomes of treatment and open your mind to that.
I won't risk becoming that side of myself permanently. I'd rather die.
Maybe find people who have the illness but are living productive lives.
I've only met one so far (unmedicated), and he's still suffering despite it. I've had a lot of time to watch his life, over two decades of time, seeing as it's my own father. The others... aren't doing so well right now.
Finding cases that are doing well won't stop the meds from scaring the piss out of me. It might decrease some of the pessimism, but by how much?
Not just the monsters in the movies and media ~ There are a lot of false stereotypes about schizophrenia.
No shit, movies like Sybil have done a ton of damage.
I'm a fairly textbook case of the disorder as opposed to a Hollywood sensationalism case. Shit, if I were like how it is in horror flicks I'd need to be put away right now. 
Turncoat stated: source post
A second opinion couldn't hurt, but I can't imagine what other disorders offhand could have these symptoms. Do you have any potential leads?I was actually in denial for a pretty long time about it, trying to find any reason why it wasn't that. Still though, what else could it be?
So... therapy and meds. I could try
wastingspendingmoneytime with therapy again, but that won't get rid of the symptoms. At most they'll give me a few more coping tactics.Weird, as medication for schizophrenia doesn't typically solve the joy deficits, as all it can do is treat some of the positive symptoms (namely the worst of them, the psychosis). Maybe he was lucky and escaped that symptom entirely?
I won't risk becoming that side of myself permanently. I'd rather die.
Finding cases that are doing well won't stop the meds from scaring the piss out of me. It might decrease some of the pessimism, but by how much?
Pretending to be TK, I see.