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Recovery from Schizophrenia: 4 Tips for Proper Recovery

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It is deeply upsetting when you are diagnosed with Schizophrenia. However, its occurrence does not imply that you will have to cut yourself from the society and live in isolation. Consider yourself lucky if you have been diagnosed with schizophrenia while it is still at its nascent stage, as it increases the scope of recovery from schizophrenia. Therefore, if you think you have the symptoms of schizophrenia, you should visit a physician immediately. Timely medical support and treatment have helped many schizophrenics control their symptoms, earn a living, form relationships, and be happy and satisfied.

Schizophrenia treatment curbs present symptoms, prevents future ones, and also enables you to enjoy life just as others do. A treatment that is a combination of therapy, medicines, and hospital support service works best.

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Recovery from Schizophrenia: 4 Tips for Proper Recovery
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Tip #1: Become a Part of the Treatment for Proper Recovery from Schizophrenia

Becoming a part of the treatment is crucial for proper recovery from schizophrenia.If you spot yourself, your friend, or a family member showing schizophrenia symptoms, you should get medical advice straight away. A mental health care practitioner is qualified to discern that the symptoms are being caused by schizophrenia. He/she will also decide the most suitable treatment plan for it.

For proper recovery from schizophrenia, you need to be attentive about your medication and several other factors. Read and learn more about schizophrenia, be communicative with your therapists and physicians, get help whenever required from the support system, follow the treatment schedule, and choose a healthy lifestyle.

You should take active part in your treatment plan. The plan itself should be devised keeping in mind your unique needs. The treatment will work best when you are active and are well supported by your family, therapists, and doctors. How you react to your treatment has a strong impact. Below are few points to become a part of the treatment and for faster recovery from schizophrenia:

  • Do not believe in everything you hear about schizophrenia. A majority of conceptions about the disease is not backed by reality. Never give in to the thinking that you cannot be better. Become friends with people, who are positive and make you feel good.
  • Stay in touch with your health practitioner. Tell them of your side effects and other indications. Your feedback will play an important role in deciding the ideal dosage of medicine for you.
  • Therapies are vital and you should not ignore them. They will teach you how you should think logically, disregard voices ringing in your head, prevent worsening of symptoms, and stay positive.
  • Keep going towards your life goals. Being schizophrenic does not limit your ability to work, enter relationships, or play an active role in community improvement. Set goals and work towards keeping your mind and body healthy.

Tip #2: Work Towards Creating an Effective Support System for Proper Recovery from Schizophrenia

Working towards creating an effective support system will help in proper recovery from schizophrenia. When you have the support of your friends and family members, the scope of success of the treatment raises manifold. There are many ways you could gain support from people around you:

  • Talk about your health condition to your family members and close friends. They can help you choose the most suitable treatment, manage symptoms, become active in the community. Let them know that you would need their help in case of emergency. Your well-wishers will be more than glad to be of help.
  • Try to go back to your older self. If you worked before and still feel that you can, you should go back to your workplace. If you like to be surrounded by people, you should take part in support group sessions for schizophrenia. You could also become involved in activities organized by local organizations like clubs, churches, etc.
  • Get help whenever you need from the local support services. Talk to your doctor/therapist and learn about these services, mental health centers, and hospitals.

Compassionate environment can help you recover from schizophrenia. Success of Schizophrenia treatment depends largely on the environment wherein you live. According to studies, most patients show better results when they are at home surrounded by caring family members. Nevertheless, any environment in which you feel safe can help you deal with schizophrenia.

It is a good idea to stay with your family when they understand what you are going through, are caring, and willing to help whenever you need it. However, good family support does not diminish your importance. You will find the treatment plan to be working better when you do not abuse yourself with drugs/alcohol, get help from local support services, and take your medications as and when prescribed by the doctor.

Tip #3: Medication is Important But it is Not Everything in the Path of Recovery from Schizophrenia

Treatment of Schizophrenia does involve consumption of anti psychotic medicines. Nevertheless, you should remember that medication is just a part of the treatment and it is not everything in the path of recovery from schizophrenia.

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  • Medication solely is not enough for recovery from schizophrenia. It aims at reducing the intensity of symptoms like delusions, distorted thinking, hallucinations, and paranoia.
  • Medication is capable of resolving only certain issues related to the disease. Symptoms like social withdrawal, unresponsiveness, and demotivation cannot be controlled or cured with medicines.
  • True, schizophrenia medicines have grave side effects, which include rise in body weight, sexual dysfunction, low energy, sleepiness, and involuntary movements. However, you need not suffer these side effects because they can be managed. Talk to your health practitioner about them. Modification in medicines and/or in their dose may relieve you of these side effects.
  • Always consult your doctor if you feel a medicine is not right for you or its dose needs to be changed. If you do the modification in dosage or change the medicine on your own, you run the risk of witnessing grave complications; sometimes, it also leads to a relapse of the disease.

What is the Procedure for Deciding the Correct Dose of Schizophrenia Medicines?

What is the Procedure for Deciding the Correct Dose of Schizophrenia Medicines?

Many patients require taking schizophrenia medication for years or for as long as they are alive. Hence, the aim of a health practitioner is to find the best combination of medicines that would limit the impact of symptoms and will have the lowest number of side effects on the patient.

Like many other medicines, the anti psychotics produce different results in different people. That is why it is hard for a physician to tell which anti psychotic will be most effective or which dose will most beneficial for the patient. By prescribing various doses and listening to feedbacks from the patient, the physician decides on the perfect dose and medicines. This process also takes time, as most anti psychotics do not show instant results.

You may observe that a few of your symptoms have gone or become less intense within 5 to 6 days of consumption of medicines. However, others may take time ranging from weeks to months to show good improvement. Generally, most schizophrenia patients witness waning of symptoms within 6 weeks of consuming medicines. In case, there is no such improvement even after 6 weeks, the physician may modify the dose of the anti psychotic or prescribe another one.

Tip #4: Choose a Healthy Lifestyle for Proper Recovery from Schizophrenia

Choosing a healthy lifestyle is suggested for proper recovery from schizophrenia. The extent and intensity of symptoms of schizophrenia in each patient differ. Consequently, for some patients, it is easier to manage the disease. On the other hand, others may need constant support and frequent change in medications. Irrespective of the type of patient you are, you can make your treatment plan work better for yourself by keeping your health first in every decision you make. The below mentioned tips will not only help you deal with schizophrenia better but will also help you stay positive and motivated to go on with the treatment.

  • Keep your stress level low. Stress is one of the major causes of psychosis and it can worsen the symptoms of the disease. That is why it is important that you keep stress level low at all times. In a professional environment, stay away from making overwhelming commitments. Know your limits and stick to them. Do not shy away from taking a break if work is proving to be overwhelming for you.
  • Do not compromise on sleep hours. It is possible that your medications will make you sleepy. Hence, you may be required to spend more time in bed. Therefore, even after sleeping for 8 hours, you may feel sleepy. Many patients experience sleeplessness. For them, regular workouts and low caffeine intake can resolve the issue.
  • Stop intake of alcohol/drugs. Research has shown that alcohol and drugs can cause the symptoms of schizophrenia to become worse. They can also interfere with the proper working of medications. Hence, after you have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, you must eliminate alcohol and drugs from your life. If you are unable to do so on your own, you should ask for professional help.
  • Exercise daily. There is enough evidence, which shows that regular workouts can lower the symptoms of schizophrenia. Actually, when you exercise, you feel physically and emotionally better and it helps curb many of the schizophrenia symptoms. It is important that you should exercise for at least 30 minutes every day.
  • Keep yourself happy. No one can disregard the significance of staying happy. If your work keeps you happy, you should work. In case you are unemployed or a student or retired, you could take part in charity events. It will boost your moral and you would feel that you have gained something.

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Team PainAssist
Team PainAssist
Written, Edited or Reviewed By: Team PainAssist, Pain Assist Inc. This article does not provide medical advice. See disclaimer
Last Modified On:April 22, 2019

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