Has anyone else noticed a connection between abuse of dextromethorfan and lasting psychosis?
368099
No, but it wouldn't surprise me too much.  After using the stuff for about 10 days straight (not abusing it, I had a god-awful cold) I know I experienced some pretty nasty effects when I stopped.\n\nI do know that the manufacturer of Robitussin (Whitehall-Robbins) makes it taste unpleasant because they want to discourage abuse.
123018
if u have or are losing touch with reality,  or are showing signs of talking to someone in the room  but noone is there (this can be a mild start)  if it seems to be worsening ones behaviors,   or one does things he or she might not have done before,,,for example   self mutilation, hurting pets, scatching other  hurting siblings,  and talking to them like they are someone or something else,,,,schizophrenia has many signs that lead to a big blow up of the illness,   but w treatment early on this can be slowed down, and they can even lead descent lives again when meds are adjusted correctly......good luck deary, im sure u will get many more great answers.....dilusional and fantasy world are also part of this illness!
916083
I haven't hallucinated conclusively, so I can't definitively answer the question (everyone is different, so I doubt there is a definitive answer).\n\nThere is no cutoff between mania and manic psychosis, they just blur into one another. My manias tended to become obsessional - I would fix on an object or activity that would be the 'magic bullet' for all my problems, but then the more I obsessed, the more twisted my thinking became. At some point, it was possible to say that I was fully delusional, but you couldn't say 'at this point I became psychotic'\n\nThe only thing I have that could possibly be hallucinations is buzzing vibrations over my body, a little like a cell phone on vibrate. It can happen any time and all over my trunk. Not severe enough to warrant upping the dose of my antipsychotics though...
879488
You could be suffering from some sort of Psychosis.  People experiencing a psychotic episode may experience hallucinations, entertain delusional beliefs (grandiose or paranoid delusions), undergo personality changes and may show disorganized or sporadic thinking.  But you should get the professional opinion of a doctor.  \n\nBut it also could be linked with other little things...meaning you could be perfectly fine, but maybe dehydrated or something similar that would cause your body to have hallucinations.  Again, paying a trip to the doctor might be in your best interest. Especially if this seems to interrupt your life in a negative way or if it is worrying the people around you.  In any case, good luck.  Hope this helped!
445978
There are no proven connection between artificial sweeteners and neurochemistry at all. I don't know where you heard this, but until a study tells you to worry, don't worry! Otherwise, you can wory about anything which hasn't been looked into. Does cheese make my toes bigger? Will looking at plastic make my nostrils fall off? If so, how many pounds of plastic do I have to look at per nostril?\n\nDrink away, dear.
20363
A paranoid delusion is most often a sympton of a disorder that is chronic rather than acute. There really is no such thing as a cure....maintanence of symptoms, treatment yes...This varies for everyone...I have known some people that never leave behind their delusions (it is how they frame...make sense of the world) others experience delusions on and off while recieving treatment. Some people find the wonder drug and, if they are lucky, therapy combo and leave their delusions behind. It is such an unknown that brain of ours that it really is true  that we are guinea pigs. And for me that is an okay trade-off. My illness has been very responsive to treatment. So what is a little cottonmouth or possible threat of shaving a decade off my life if I don't live in perpetual fear. Whatever... I am getting off track.
543935
It could be hysteria, and then again it could be related to  somatic delusions as a result of a psychotic process.
644157
No, but having a brain injury could possibly cause someone to become mentally ill.  A brain injury is when trauma occurs to one or more brain regions and would usually result in behavioural changes.  This could be pretty much anything from a change in personality, memory deficits and motor inabilities (problems with physical behaviours-shaking hands for example) to name a few.  However these changes do not mean the person is mentally ill.  Alternatively, the trauma could result in damage to brain neurons causing malfunctions in the release of neurotransmitters.  This may lead to the person becoming depressed or experiencing some form of psychosis, which would likely be able to be controlled to a point with medication, depending on the severity of the damage.  It is also possible that the person may suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) if their brain damage resulted from a serious accident.  On the whole though brain damage does not often result in mental illness.  Contrary to one of the previous answers, as you have already read in my answer, many mental illnesses do stem from malfunctions in the brain, although these do not need to be caused by damage.  Schizophrenia and serious depression are 2-these can be caused by malfunctions of neurotransmitters (depression is believed to be caused by an ineffective use of serotonin in the brain, for example) and are often treated with medication.  If mental illness was purely psychological and not biological, medication wouldnt work would it?! Use of most illegal drugs (Heroin, Cocaine, LSD, Ecstacy) can also cause mental illness over time through destroying brain regions and depleting neurotransmitter levels. Anxiety disorders can be also treated with medication-I'm sure you get what I'm saying about how biological mental illness often is!\nAs for the last part of your question, Alzheimers disease can often make elderly people confused about 'time'-they may believe they are only 25 years old when indeed they are 70.  This is because the disease affects (among others) the brain region known as the hippocampus, which is closely related to memory. \nAbuse could make someone act much younger than they are because they feel as though their childhood was stolen and hasn't yet been lived-this is prominent in sexual abuse, where the individuals were forced to partake in very adult behaviours as a child.   \nI hope this all makes sense for you!  All the best!
578557
I think your refering to risperdol, and that may be your answer...
773550
Eighteen year old Eric Harris, who with his friend Dylan Klebold, 17, massacred their classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado on April 20, 1999 had been taking Luvox. T. J. Solomon, 15, who shot and wounded six fellow students at Heritage High School in Conyers, Georgia on May 20, 1999 was on Ritalin. Fifteen year old Shawn Cooper, who fired two shotgun rounds, narrowly missing classmates at his high school in Notus, Idaho was on Ritalin. Fifteen year old Kip Kinkell who first murdered his parents and later killed two students and wounded 22 more in his Oregon school's cafeteria was on Ritalin and Prozac.   I'm not surprised these facts never made the news!\n\nPutting kids on drugs is one of the most heinous manipulations by the pharmaceutical industry this decade!  Did you know that there isn't really a way to test for ADD or ADHD?  What most parents don't seem to realize is that Ritalin is a narcotic, a potentially addictive one at that.   The practice has reached virtual epidemic proportions with an estimated 5 million children being subjected to drugs such as methylphenidate (Ritalin) and amphetamines (Dexedrine, Adderall).  \n\nThe Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Revised Edition published by the American Psychiatric Association, originally warned of the dangers of administering Ritalin to children - but that this information mysteriously disappeared from the most recent edition, thus supporting suspicions that the industry is engaged in a cover-up. \n\nRitalin and other such stimulants suppress growth of all organs of the body by disrupting growth-hormone cycles - an effect that is likely to have long-lasting detrimental effects to the health of the child. Animal studies show that amphetamines such as Adderall and Dexedrine cause brain-cell death - and that Ritalin causes permanent brain dysfunction if administered at regular clinical doses. Some children develop tics - which in some cases become permanent. Some children develop severe mental disorders such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorders - as well as manic and schizophrenic-like behavior.  As if this weren't bad enough, Ritalin, Adderall, and all such stimulants cause cardiovascular problems by disrupting the rhythm of the heart, and on occasion can (and have) lead to cardiac arrest. \n\nNeed I say more?
201491
Use your search engine with keywords: +schizoprenia +paranoid +hallucinations +suicide.\n\nDig it out, chew it up, discuss it down and consult it to the right person or institution. Don't make any judgement or hope an answer merely to brand names.
295584
I have trichtotillamania, a disorder brought on by stress that runs in my family.  I've been compulsively plucking hair from my eyebrows, eyelashes, arms, and face since I was 8.  I can tell you from experience that two more will not grow back in place of a plucked hair, otherwise I'd be plucking 24/7.  Also, trichtotillamania is classified in with the other manias, such as pyromania and kleptomania...which I believe needs to be changed because it's more like Obsessive Compulsive Disorder...which I also seem to have a touch of since childhood.
983220
I haven't but my best friend has. We used to work together at Planet Hollywood in Orlando and one day we were working side by side and she started to have a seizure. this was the first time it ever happened to her. Our boss called 911 and an ambulance showed up. They tested her blood sugar and found that it was down to 31. The doctor at the hospital said it happened because she hadn't eaten in a while. A few years later we were at college together and in the middle of our graphic design class she had a seizure again, I fed her a candy bar because it was all I had and she started to come around. Now we all just make sure she eats normally so that her blood sugar doesn't drop.
788587
The burden of double-dependency - Click on the link, is worth a read. Good luck!
189638
i used to be heavy into that shit and it is reallly really bad, my firend had a seziure the sooner your friend stops the better. i auses a terrible memory prblem and we dont even know the long term effects because its so recently been adop[ted as a problem. email me if u want to know more
244284
I work with Adults with mental illness. I am also raising 2 of my siblings with it. My father on the other hand is a schizo. I am not and neither are any of my siblings. Though they do have Bi-polar, Mild mental retardation, add, adhd. I told my doctor this before my husband and I first started to try and she told me to take a high dose of Folic Acid. I am 9 weeks pregnant. I feel fine about the decision. \nSchizophrenia can be heridiry. You will not see signs of it until the teenage years. Those of them with it that show signs in the teenage years have a better chance of responding to treatment than those that show symptoms in the 20's.
479109
I have in the past, and I have known others that have had various experiences with demons.  I don't understand the connection, but it has been my experience (both in my own life, and from discussing with others), that this has occured most often when sexual sin was rampant.