Can't believe i got schizophrenia after 4 years of successful kickboxing experience !

[Pedro sanchez]

Hello everybody.

I am 33 years old man now and I have nice souvenirs with full contact kickboxing , which i practiced since i was 20 until around 24 yo .

So after that period of time i developped a mental illness called schizophrenia between 24 and 26 yo , which forced me to stop my training as well as my job activities.

I till today can't believe it. I mean I have never done drugs or any thing that alters brain functioning.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

The causes of schizophrenia are poorly understood, but the primary factors seem to be genetic rather than any particular behavior or lifestyle. I hope that you are getting good treatment. Appropriate medication and other therapies can often be very helpful in managing the disease and improving quality of life.

I’m sorry that you had to quit kickboxing. It’s possible that if you are able to work with your medical team to manage your symptoms and keep them under control that you may be able to practice some other martial art that you would find rewarding.

 

[Pedro sanchez]

The causes of schizophrenia are poorly understood, but the primary factors seem to be genetic rather than any particular behavior or lifestyle. I hope that you are getting good treatment. Appropriate medication and other therapies can often be very helpful in managing the disease and improving quality of life.

I’m sorry that you had to quit kickboxing. It’s possible that if you are able to work with your medical team to manage your symptoms and keep them under control that you may be able to practice some other martial art that you would find rewarding.

Thanks . I just felt I had to open up , specially in this place where I get to remember how great are sports in general.

 

[Ivan]

Schizophrenia can affect people of any age. I’m not sure what the correlation is between contact sports and schizophrenia specifically; I am aware they are linked to other conditions such as CTE, but I doubt that it has anything to do with Schizophrenia. As far as I am aware Schizophrenia is a mental condition, not a condition with the brain - I am not sure whether there is a difference according to official medicine, but I believe that it is different, even though physical changes in the brain can be seen as a result, or as a cause, of it.

There is even a philosophical theory that Schizophrenia stems from a subconscious questioning of whether you’re actually real. I believe that mental disorders are caused from obtaining information, or suffering through extreme experiences that are not desired, whilst physical brain conditions, such as CTE are caused by external physical stimuli.

I hope you’re receiving good treatment. But I would recommend that you do some introspection and thinking whether your schizophrenia could be partly caused by your own mindset, outlook or subconsciousness.

 

[Pedro sanchez]

The hard part of this condition is accepting the fact that I need meds for life to function .

Back in the days when I was training and young , this was the last thing i would think about.

I mean I turned from perfect to fighting for survival ( from a thought perspective).

I forgot to mention that people with this condition are at high risk of homelessness if they can't secure their meds daily !

 

[Gyakuto]

Schizophrenia is characterised by two broad types of symptoms: positive and negative. The positive symptoms are ’additions’ to you previous ‘well’ symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, repetitive movements - the more obvious. These are caused by an increase in the production of dopamine in the brain are very well treated with medication that ‘block’ the effects of dopamine and pretty much stop the positive symptoms. It takes a bit of time to get the medication dose ‘just right’.

The negative symptoms are characterised by the loss of ones usual traits: reduced outward displays of emotional responses (‘blunted affect’), reduction is amount of speech, decreased motivation to do anything, reduced sociability, reduced experience of pleasure. These symptoms seem to disturb the loved ones of the effected as they rightly see this as a loss of the person they love. These symptoms seem to be due to the loss of neural tissue.

You can see scan of two brains here (the nose/eyes are at the top of the image) and the black areas are fluid-filled voids such as the ventricles toward the middle of the images. The brain on the right is of a healthy person. On the left is a scan of a brain of a person with schizophrenia. Can you see that the ventricles on the left are much bigger because of the loss of brain tissue. Also there are bigger invaginations (infolding) around the edge of the brain, rather like fjords, and again this is due to the loss of brain tissue on the surface of the brain. The outer surface of the brain (cortex) is made up of the computational parts of the brain…the bits that do the thinking, if you like. Once you lose this cortical tissue, it cannot be regenerated, it’s gone forever. Thus the negative symptoms of schizophrenia are very hard to treat but can be ameliorated in various ways.

The most important thing is to take the medication as prescribed by your medical doctor. Many stop taking them when they feel better and spiral down into distressing acute schizophrenic episodes. Follow all you doctor’s recommendations to the letter, engage fully in all therapies and discuss any issues with your medical practitioner. There is no blame associated with schizophrenia. You have done nothing wrong to be afflicted by this condition anymore than anyone has Crohn’s disease or rheumatoid arthritis has done anything wrong.

Stay well and practise your martial art with all your heart!

 

[mograph]

It sounds as if there might be a risk of depression at this point, in my opinion. Keeping active physically and socially would be a good idea.
Do you have a real-life support network? People you can talk to, spend time with, and so on? Social interaction and physical activity can help mitigate the effects of it. And staying physically healthy is a kind of baseline: without health, we just have fewer resources with which to meet the challenges we face.

Keep us posted: let us know how you're doing.

 

[Darren]

Believe it to be more mental then anything, my head has met cement maybe 22-25 times in my lifetime with 8-9 times so serious had to be rushed to the Emergency Room to get my head stitched up then my body learned how to fall if it was not for my hands and arms don’t think I would have a head anymore!! Thoughts I do believe can rewire the connections in the brain as in you are what ya think you are!! Think well!!!!!!!!

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Schizophrenia can affect people of any age. I’m not sure what the correlation is between contact sports and schizophrenia specifically; I am aware they are linked to other conditions such as CTE, but I doubt that it has anything to do with Schizophrenia. As far as I am aware Schizophrenia is a mental condition, not a condition with the brain - I am not sure whether there is a difference according to official medicine, but I believe that it is different, even though physical changes in the brain can be seen as a result, or as a cause, of it.

There is even a philosophical theory that Schizophrenia stems from a subconscious questioning of whether you’re actually real. I believe that mental disorders are caused from obtaining information, or suffering through extreme experiences that are not desired, whilst physical brain conditions, such as CTE are caused by external physical stimuli.

I hope you’re receiving good treatment. But I would recommend that you do some introspection and thinking whether your schizophrenia could be partly caused by your own mindset, outlook or subconsciousness.

There’s strong evidence of a genetic component to schizophrenia, so while trauma may (likely does) affect both incidence and how it manifests, there’s little evidence to support the idea that self-questioning (even of the existential variety) contributes.

I consider it likely there’s an epigenetic component, which could be triggerable by either physical or psychological trauma.

 

[Pedro sanchez]

I consider it likely there’s an epigenetic component, which could be triggerable by either physical or psychological trtrauma.

This may be somehow relevant in future research.

If i remember well ; I experienced my first psychotic break right after 4 months internship in electronics repair .

I was using analytics a lot to figure out faults in PCBs.

This may be one if not the real trigger.

Before that I was top notch mentally.

 

[Prince_Alarming]

I developed it at 19. I take antipsychotics and antidepressants daily- they've given me my life back.

 

[geezer]

I developed it at 19. I take antipsychotics and antidepressants daily- they've given me my life back.

I am glad that the meds are working for you and that you are getting on productively with your life. And, thanks for posting. Your comments offer a ray of hope to others who struggle with mental illness. Never give up.

 

[Prince_Alarming]

Thanks. A song is in order, I think.
Not all fights are won by skill, some are won by luck:

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Hello everybody.

I am 33 years old man now and I have nice souvenirs with full contact kickboxing , which i practiced since i was 20 until around 24 yo .

So after that period of time i developped a mental illness called schizophrenia between 24 and 26 yo , which forced me to stop my training as well as my job activities.

I till today can't believe it. I mean I have never done drugs or any thing that alters brain functioning.

I was 18, serving in the Marine Corps and away from home for the first time. Something bad happened to me. I brushed it off and went on with my life. After age 50, the nightmares started. At age 60, I started withdrawing into myself, seldom leaving my home, cutting off communication with friends and family, etc. I finally connected with the Veterans Administration and got diagnosed with PTSD and Depression. I'm getting therapy and I hope to get better.

You never know what effect something is going to have on you until it does.

Best of luck in your recovery.

 

[gyoja]

I was 18, serving in the Marine Corps and away from home for the first time. Something bad happened to me. I brushed it off and went on with my life. After age 50, the nightmares started. At age 60, I started withdrawing into myself, seldom leaving my home, cutting off communication with friends and family, etc. I finally connected with the Veterans Administration and got diagnosed with PTSD and Depression. I'm getting therapy and I hope to get better.

You never know what effect something is going to have on you until it does.

Best of luck in your recovery.

Are you a combat veteran?

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Are you a combat veteran?

I served during peacetime. Does that matter to you?

 

[gyoja]

I served during peacetime. Does that matter to you?

It does, but has nothing to do with my question.

 

[HighKick]

There’s strong evidence of a genetic component to schizophrenia, so while trauma may (likely does) affect both incidence and how it manifests, there’s little evidence to support the idea that self-questioning (even of the existential variety) contributes.

I consider it likely there’s an epigenetic component, which could be triggerable by either physical or psychological trauma.

Are you saying something like mental trauma can cause permanent physical changes in the brain?

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Are you saying something like mental trauma can cause permanent physical changes in the brain?

Not Gerry, but yes. This is pretty well documented.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Are you saying something like mental trauma can cause permanent physical changes in the brain?

Yep. There's plenty of evidence that trauma - both mental and physical - can cause epigenetic changes. My memory on the topic is hazy, but I think those can lead to genetic changes over time.