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[|Human|] My wife is suffering from "Paranoid Schizophrenia" and it has been detected in the year 2003 and she is under medication (Arzu 15 mg + Flunaxol 2mg)by a private psychiatrist in Delhi who is MBBS and MD from AIIMS. The disease was under control till Sept, 2010. But now it has relapsed and the doctor has changed the salt (Serenace 3 mg) and till date it could not be controlled. It has been confirmed by AIIMS, Delhi. Now, I have some queries regarding this :1. Whether it is curable.2. Is there any test for the disease.3. Whether you advise to visit your hospital. AK Goswami11A, Srijan ApttB-9/8, Sector-62Noida
[|AI|]  Hi, Thanks for writing to Chat Doctor .1st of all, let me give you some information about schizophrenia. According to DSM IV TR, schizophrenia has 5 subtypes and paranoid schizophrenia(schizo) is one of them. In paranoid schizo, there are hallucinations and delusions prominently as chief complaints. Schizophrenia occurs due to biological reasons especially involvement of dopaminergic neurotransmitter pathway. Certain brain structures also involved specially basal ganglia. So schizophrenia is also like other physical illness where brain is involved, and other psychosocial factors make impact over illness and its prognosis. Unfortunately, there are no any specific test yet to make certain the diagnosis of schizophrenia, but a good psychiatrist can diagnose the disease by using DSM OR ICD, classical diagnostic systems present for psychiatric disorders. Schizophrenia has long term remitting and relapsing course. Paranoid schizo has particularly good prognosis than other type of schizo. Patient may need to take very long term medications. Sometimes if patient become defaulter for treatment then it's possible that in the future, that molecule may not work. Illness gets worsened after stopping medicines so it's always better to continue the medicines for long run on which patient is stable. There are many Chat Doctor. In general population per se, 100 people suffering from schizo then 33 gets completely alright, 33 will have few symptoms but at quiet manageable level and rest not going to improve.in your case, your wife got almost improved in past for 7 years, that itself shows very good prognostic factor. So there are every possible chance of getting almost improved again. Hope I have answered your query,