I'm a 20something male and I'm exhibiting early signs

Schizophrenia is degenerative and if it is in fact that and not something else (some of the symptoms are shared with other things), the only thing you can do is seek psychiatric help immediately. It'll only get worse with time if left untreated, whereas medication prevents it from degenerating and helps ease or even prevent the symptoms.

Even if it's not schizophrenia, psychiatric help will help greatly for most of the other things it could be, and a doctor could look into the rest. Some medication carries series and negative side effects, so if one isn't working for you don't be afraid to talk to your doctor about it, but don't ever go off the medication on your own.

>>18197711
I'll give you the quick rundown
as a kid I used to sleepwalk, had a touch of OCD, and they say I had ADD but I disagree, I think I was just disinterested in school because it was school. I grew out of all of that

fast forward to now.
I don't sleep well, I have waking dreams every single night and intense visual hallucinations when I'm in bed
In general I have a sense of impending danger if I'm not at home or around other people, I get very nervous if I'm walking by myself because I can't see what's happening behind me
if I overhear people talking and I don't know what they are talking about my immediate gut reaction is they are talking about me and conspiring against me even though that's totally ridiculous because why would they be?

I have much less intense visual hallucinations during the day, like out of the corner of my eye I always think I see a dark figure peering around a corner at me or something like that, sometimes it spooks me, makes me a little jumpy.
At night this happens more frequently, I accredit that partially to shadows playing tricks on my eyes.
But in fact I don't know if there is a term for it in young people but something similar to sundowning happens to me. As night falls I get a little, silly is the best word to describe it, just sort of erratic and a little confused.

the newest thing to crop up is I just lose words now, I didn't know that was even a symptom. Like my vocabulary is diminishing, I just can't string complex sentences together verbally the way I have always been able to
some of my compulsions are coming back too. I was out for a walk the other day and I started to feel anxiety from being "unbalanced" Because I took a left turn, so for me that used to mean I need to take a right turn to even it out. Haven't had to do that in many years so I was disappointed to feel that feeling again
I can reconcile this stuff for now and get my heat on straight. I have a jerk reaction but recognize its not real stimuli. For now

Find something to work on to get you occupied. Work, read books, read books about the illness.

>>18197742
This sounds more like severe case of generalized anxiety disorder than schizo.

Reduce your stress and systemic inflammation and fix your diet ASAP

>>18197856
I certainly hope so. Thing is I've had anxiety my whole life, and it ususally comes when something I'm unsure about happens and then my head spins with all the terrible consequences that could happen as a result, but my higher thinking has always won the day and I can quickly calm down because I recognize it as an overreaction to something fictional.
this feels different though because there's no real trigger for it and I'm not recognizing it when it's happening right away. I'm not worried about something bad maybe happening, I feel like something bad IS happening

I just don't want to be a nutter ;_;


anyway, thanks for the help everyone

>>18198880
Fear of going crazy is common in anxiety.

>>18198780
This. People usually overlook the simplest solutions. A balanced diet and a routine are both things that help.

That said, see someone if you think it's serious. Shit like waking up at the same time, eating well, and developing a routine CAN and WILL help mild to moderate cases of anxiety/stress/depression/whatever.

Anything serious and you will most definitely need outside help. However, diet/routine will most likely build momentum/keep it going should you decide to seek therapy/psychiatric care.

Also, get off 4chan. It's cancer. I suggest everyone leaves this site if they have any modicum of stress/anxiety/depression/schizoid/whatever slew of disorders are currently filling the pages of the DSM.

It's like junk food, but instead of for physical health, it's for social/mental well-being. AKA - it's bad news bears.

>>18199600
but isn't fear your going crazy when you're not going crazy also going crazy anyway?
so its like inception for mental illness
auception