Hey Anon, I'll try to explain to you and maybe other people might learn someting too.
1) it sucks. As I said with this thread, there's a hell of a lot of stigma and I can be open here on TSR, but irl I am very secretive and it actually scares me that people might find out. It's like I have this huge secret that I have to make sure only a few select people know - I do have a job but I have to see my psychiatrist monthly sometimes more so I am an object of intrigue where I work because people start to get suspicious about me having "doctor appointments" sometimes even weekly. I have to try and act "normal" all the time. Voices scream at me sometimes calling me names and telling me to do "things" and they're a lot more scary and intrusive than the stigma. My body is a mess because of me following their orders. They know exactly how to push my buttons to make me as upset and subservient as possible. My brother means so much to me so usually they threaten me that they will hurt him if I don't obey. I know that sounds stupid but when I'm not doing well it scares me. With delusions, I get very paranoid about world governments using me as a IRL experiment. The reason for my last hospital admission was my belief that my psychiatrist was trying to kill me. And it's so hard to fight those thoughts. So erm...yeah, the main continuous feeling is fear I would say. Sorry, kind of rambled here.
2) The prodromal stage started for me around 16 according to my psychologist. I didn't notice at the time nor did anyone else but he's pointed out to me how my behavior was abnormal then. I developed depression around that time too and that's what I first went to my GP about.
3) I was 19 and studying at university.
4) I kind of already answered this. I do experience negative symptoms as well as the positive ones I've described. So stuff like ****ty concentration, a tendency to forget words a lot, social withdrawal, sleeping problems, poor motivation. A lot of people seem to think I'm just very lazy and/or slow.
5) I've tried a number of antipsychotics and a lot of them have helped a little but many symptoms remain. I'm on a good combination right now which I've taken for about a year and a half and I'm actually reducing one of them slowly to try and take less meds because of the side effects and me just wanting to take less. In 2017 I was off all meds for about a month and a half and I look back now I'm doing better and just feel so embarrassed about things I said to people and things I did, I was bat**** crazy. Had to spend Christmas in hospital which was really rough because of how usually I spend it with my family.
Sorry about the rambling. Does this answer you? Any other questions I'd be willing to try answering if you think of any.