Bad Day

 

Bad Day

Schizophrenia Bulletin, volume39. Issue 6, November 2013, Page 1173

http://doi.org/10.1093/schbul/sbt003

 

            When I have a bad day or even a bad night, I try to reduce the triggers. I can name three off the top of my head: stress, hunger, and lack of sleep. If I made a Venn diagram they would all be in the middle because they coincide. For me bad days do happen but not all the time.

            I do forget to eat sometimes which causes stress. Stress leads to seeing my cat where he isn’t. Now if you know about cats they can go all over the place, and sometimes they do things without myself knowing what exactly they are doing. Just the fact that I am questioning my senses makes me think I am in fact schizophrenic and I do not have special powers over my cat. However, special powers over my cat would be very helpful.

            Yesterday, I received my injection of Paliperidone. I know it is a shot but I feel some relief the minute the nurse injects it. I am told it is time release so it does take time. Now last night I did have a big full dinner. Afterwards I tried my best to relax. I watched tv and listened to music. When it was time to sleep, I couldn’t. Meanwhile I was hearing about three voices in my head at once.

The voices were: an ex-girlfriend, her dad, and some stranger. Her dad would congratulate me on my publications. I thought it was a nice conversation. I thought the ex-girlfriend and the stranger were outside at my car. I can see my car from my sliding glass door. The ex-girlfriend was pretty much propositioning the stranger for sex if he saw off my tail pipe. A lot went on last night in my brain.

I checked the evidence. I looked for my car from my clear sliding glass door. There was no one out there. Then I got hungry so I ate two muffins. It is a bad idea to eat this late at night because you will not be able to go to sleep so I should have eaten more before I went to bed. It was close to 4am before I got some shut eye.

I forced myself awake in the early afternoon. I had coffee. I heard some voices but they were faint. I called my mom, and she advised me to engage myself in something so I listened to the president’s press conference on the radio. After it was over I was motivated to take a walk.

A schizophrenic needs constant stimulation, mentally and physically before it is time to go to bed. If no stimulation then the mind will wander, this more often than not is a bad thing.

I came back from my walk and ate some leftovers, and finished it off with an apple. I also checked my cabinets and freezer for more food for tonight. I had a can of soup and a frozen pizza so I figured I was okay. This was supposed to be my day for grocery shopping but I wasn’t feeling up to it, maybe tomorrow.  

So what can a patient do when they are having a bad day? 1) check the evidence 2) eat 3)do your best to get some sleep, but don’t sleep to long especially in the fall and winter months.4) avoid stress

             

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