Peggy Symons lives every single day advocating for more and better access to medications, not only for herself but for everyone living with this condition and their families.
Her story started more than 40 years ago, when she was first diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a combination of schizophrenia and a mood disorder. She battled the process of finding the right medication to treat her symptoms, trying more than 30 treatments before finding the two that worked for her.
Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness that interferes with a person’s ability to think clearly, manage emotions, make decisions and relate to others. It is a complex, long-term medical illness, affecting about 1 percent of Americans. While it is possible to live functionally with schizophrenia, diagnosis can be difficult because it shares symptoms with other conditions.
