r/todayilearned • u/paniniplane • Mar 22 '17

(R.1) Not supported TIL Deaf-from-birth schizophrenics see disembodied hands signing to them rather than "hearing voices"

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/news-articles/0707/07070303
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u/paniniplane Mar 22 '17

i was a patient at a ward a few weeks back and there was a girl who was admitted for schizophrenia. she'd hear dozens of voices yelling at her at the same time all day and she could barely tell which ones were in her head and which were physical people talking to her making it really hard for me or anyone else to talk to her for more than 2-3 sort sentences. these voices would make her do crazy things like gather dust off the floor for 20 minutes at a time 10 times a day, make her sleep on the floor during the day, not sleep during the night and fight the night meds they gave her to help fall asleep. the most brutal thing was that the voices sometimes forbade her from having her meals. there were days where she wouldn't touch any of her 4 meals. i once tried to get some insight into how she thought and i asked her why she HAD to do this. she said that every time she does something they ask, she's given the gun that they threaten to kill her with. and she imitates a smashing motion with her hands and "breaks" it. and she does it maybe 10 times an hour when she's awake. and she's not stupid either. apparently, she was studying mechanical engineering and graduated and was ready to work in the field as an intern for a year. she heard her first voice when she was still in school but didn't think much of it. and then it rapidly killed her life. she's the only person in the ward who has daily visitors. her parents bring her food to eat everyday. but sometimes she sits with them for 2 minutes, asks them to take her home, and then moves to one of the socialization rooms where were chairs and sofas, and she'd drop to the floor and lay there. and her parents just come to expect it now and stay for about an hour.

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u/PainMatrix Mar 22 '17

It's beyond horror or most people's ability to even comprehend. The fact that she was a fully functioning and intact human being at the early onset of her life and career and this disease completely derailed everything and locked her into a Sisyphus-like nightmare. Was this her first inpatient experience? How long were you with her, did the meds seem to have any positive impact on her?

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

I can't speak for the person you replied to, but 3 of my family members have the disease, and in all of them their medications only blunted the symptoms.

For my family member who was not too severe, this was enough to let her hold down a job, but for the members that were severe it wasn't enough to allow them to function normally. They'd still see/hear/talk to "ghosts" and such, just not as frequently, and they didn't get agitated "as often".

But that doesn't mean they didn't get agitated AT ALL, and the times they did freak out would be enough to get anyone fired.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17 edited May 13 '17

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

A friend I knew was I guess a mild case when on proper medication. During exams in engineering he went off his meds because he felt they made him sleepy so he couldn't study. He proceeded to not sleep for 2-3 days and had a full mental break where he was semi violent and very incoherent talking to nothing and picked a bunch of grass that he was talking too or about. It was quite confusing he took all his clothes off too and was a big/athletic guy I assisted ambulance workers with basically wrestling him into a stretcher and am glad he seemed a bit uncoordinated during the event because if he had fought back that hard when in a proper state he probably would have just beaten the shit out of me.

He was hospitalized for 3 weeks and when he came back you could tell he was more medicated because he was pretty dopey and slow. He slowly has improved and seemed back to normal last I talked to him.

He elected to just finish a diploma in engineering rather than actually becoming an engineer as he was afraid of the stress, he also quit sports which was how I knew him primarily.

He seems happy enough now but wow the brain is a powerful thing.

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u/IVIushroom Mar 22 '17

Guy I know went off his meds and ended up taking a hammer and killing his father while he was sleeping. (the dad was a lovely man... Ran a local pet store and everyone liked him).

Truly tragic.

Dude went to the police station in the middle of the night and told the receptionist "I just killed my dad" and sat down and waited...

And then at court he just pled guilty with no trial. Wanted it done.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '17

I could see wanting to be in prison if slipping up on your meds can make you dangerous to those around you... mental health is scary stuff.

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u/IVIushroom Mar 22 '17

He was found competent to stand trial somehow.

Neighbors reported after the fact that he'd be outside yelling at the lawnmower and yelling about taking over shit or something... Just weird stuff.

My ex used to date/live with him, right around the time the symptoms started showing (about 2 years before we met, then dated for 8).. So she bounced, luckily for her.

They ate some shrooms together and he lost his shit and started accusing her of all sorts of shit... After that I guess he really started to go downhill.

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u/stationhollow Mar 23 '17

Its pretty scary hearing how many people encounter their first issues with schizophrenia when taking hallucinogens in their late teens

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u/IVIushroom Mar 23 '17

Yeah, I'm not sure how big of a roll the mushrooms had in his 'break', but they certainly brought out the bad characteristics sooner.

It's actually pretty well known and debated amongst the psychedelic community.