I've been going to college for the past 3 1/2 years but I recently had to quit. I was due to graduate in December and had a 3.61 overall GPA and had a 4.0 last semester. But I have a cognitive disorder and had to get up at 4:00 a.m. in order to study so I could get good grades. Then I started having problems with anger and delusional thinking. I've been on anti-psychotics every since I had a psychotic break. My psychosis manifests in several ways. I hear voices and suffer from paranoia and delusional thinking. I was a very active member of this board many years ago but my psychosis kicked in and I started accusing my friends here of talking about me behind my back and conspiring against me. This went on for a while but by the time I got on anti-psychotics no one would talk to me anymore so I left.

I take Geodon but hadn't been taking my daytime dose because it causes drowsiness. But I had to do something so that I could try to stay in school and not continue to deteriorate. So my doctor gave me a bunch of samples and I tried different dosages at different times. I wasn't doing much better when the new semester started. I was now having a really difficult time remembering the material I had to read and I was very stressed. I finally sat down and thought about things for a while. I realized the stress from school was really making me worse. So I wound up dropping out of school. Everything I worked for was for nothing except I got worse. My point is to not underestimate what stress can do to you. I'm now leading a fairly stress free life and I've felt better than I have in years. My other problem was sleep. With all the stress I wasn't getting enough sleep. Be careful and try not to get into stressful situations and if you do find an outlet. I know we all hear our doctors say be sure to get enough sleep and to avoid stress. Please heed those words. I had to find out the hard way. I know it's easier said than done. Just having BP is stressful enough but try and be careful. Take care of yourselves!