LEAP help here please? Quickly mid conversation

Maybe we should start a full-moon thread so we can all remember to pay attention?

3 Likes

Yesterday Jeb went golfing late in the day. He rarely golfs, when he does, he goes late when fewer people will be out there.

He called and his car had died on the way home. With some trepidation, given his last couple of weeks, I went to get him. He was calm and sweet and grateful. Quiet conversation all the way home. He mentioned delusions twice. Saying that it was a shame people were always trying to start fights with him at the golf course and how he needed to get a job as living near us was too difficult with all “that was going on”. All calm and nice and highly intelligent- just like he was before the psychotic episodes started.

I did the LEAP stuff when he mentioned the delusions, otherwise it was a normal conversation. I could clearly see why it was so difficult for us to realize that he had scz until he lived with us after he was fired from his job and we saw more than small glimpses of him.

This is the Jeb that would show up in a courtroom if we tried to force meds.

Just 22 hours early he was opening his apartment door and yelling obscenities at our house.

I have said it before, when he gets into trouble, the scz seems to push a calm version of Jeb out to handle the problem. When the scz gets him into serious trouble, its the same way. No wonder people used to think sufferers of scz had split personalities.

2 Likes

The screaming outside sounds familiar. It must be a way for them to release some stress or pressure. I remember w my sz husband, I’d be begging him to keep quiet for our neighbor’s sake, and he’d say something like"let me yell this one more time." And he would.

On the bright side, maybe these episodes will give you a chance to record or log his behavoir.

2 Likes

Jan, After reading the community function article, my husband wondered if maybe the yelling was his CBT therapist’s suggestion.

I hope it does give him relief, like it did for your husband. Just the idea that it may have been a suggestion of his therapist has relaxed my husband. So far they have been too brief to get recorded since we started trying.

Jeb became angry last week when I said I would think about his request that I make it possible for him to work in a job that would require a car that is “younger” than the car I own that he currently drives.

Dr Amador tells us that they will take meds for their own reasons and we should listen for things that might motivate them to take meds. He also tells us bribery works and it has worked in the past to get Jeb to see a psychiatrist in the first place.

There is no way that he could be successful in the work he wants to do if he wasn’t medicated. It could be a disaster and I end up stuck with a car payment. There is no way I would risk my insurance. BUT, if he was on meds, that could be a different situation entirely. I figured it was worth a go.

I texted Jeb and told him if he returned to his psychiatrist and took meds for 6 months, I would buy the car he needs for the job.

Of course he hasn’t responded. With this sort of thing it could be months before he actually responds. The offer is out there. I know him, he will be mulling it over. Even before the scz, he liked to give decisions a good deal of thought. I won’t mention it again or push him to respond. We can continue to agree to disagree while I support his “choice”.

2 Likes

Here is a link to the videos and book:

Hope - As I read these posts, I am surprised about some of the entries. My sz son had super sensitivity to sound as early as age 6. His kindergarten teacher had me come in for a conference and said during class parties for Valentine’s Day or other holidays, my son would go in the corner and cover his ears since the sound level was so much greater. Although I would expect people with sz to have similar symptoms, I thought this was just a “thing” he had that went along with his ADHD diagnosis at the time. As he got older, the noise sensitivity seemed not to bother him as much (for instance when he would listen to music at a loud level). It is just so amazing to me the things I am discovering that are attributable to his condition. I am so thankful for having found this forum because most of this info isn’t available in general reading about sz. Thanks to all of you for sharing about your family members and helping to “fill in the gaps” for some of us who are relatively new to this.

@LisaS - my son listens to music loud too. Sometimes because he likes it that way, but sometimes I think it’s to drown out any voices.

However, other loud noises that aren’t his choice still bother him - especially if they’re sudden or related to a crowd.

During the recent “siege” I did a lot of research online. Might as well do something if I can’t get out and do yard work. I listened to several lectures - while so much of it just doesn’t seem to apply, one did. I don’t have the reference at hand, so, in layman’s terms, here goes. Someone else might recognize it and post a link.

Think about how when you are truly frightened, your senses ramp up. Your hearing becomes hypersensitive, your heart beats faster and your body releases adrenalin. What if that hearing hypersensitivity was like a switch in your brain that you couldn’t turn off once it was activated?

If right now someone were to surprise you with a loud single clap of hands, your brain would react. If that clap was followed by a second identical clap, most people’s brains would NOT register the second clap as strongly in their brain as they did the first clap. For some people, both claps register equally - its as though their “switch” stayed open.

They did research with babies and did find that they could replicate the results in babies. Some of the babies reacted equally to both claps.

You could see how someone in a war zone with an open “switch” could end up with PTSD.

My son had been practicing hypervigilant behaviors during that last bad stretch. He was turning off his air conditioner to hear things outside his apartment and peeking out his windows at the slightest sound and yelling. I found that if I went outside and his ac unit was off, MY hearing amped up listening for him to start yelling. While I would startle each time he began to yell, I would also “unstartle” and be able to listen to what he was saying in a detached manner.

I can’t imagine how awful it would be if my brain kept reacting to each word with the same initial startle effect.

They found this quite by accident as a result of a brain surgery, whether it can mean anything going forward, I don’t know. It does help me understand that this is possibly the case with my son.The more I can understand about his experience ,the better I can communicate with him when i have the opportunity.

Its back to the reason so many families complain they have to sound wise “walk on eggshells” around their family members with scz.

It really explains why my son totally freaks out if his dad raises his voice. I believe I have finally gotten through to my husband about this, but if my son startles him - he is still likely to yell back. Hasn’t happened in over a year, I hope we can keep that streak alive.

1 Like

That’s so interesting because during some of my son’s full-blown psychotic breaks, his heart beats so fast & so hard even when he’s at rest that it’s like his adrenalin in on over-drive & won’t shut off.

Even this last hospitalization, they had to take him through medical first because his heart rate was dangerously high.

You have to think when they’re in a manic state that part of the brain has to be functioning poorly.

Then, it becomes a chicken & egg thing. Are they manic because the adrenaline is rushing through them, or is the adrenaline rushing because they’re manic?

2 Likes

Hope,
No wonder people used to think sufferers of scz had split personalities.
I’ve thought the same thing before. That and the way they say one thing and two seconds later, the exact opposite.

1 Like

Okay - I DID not see this coming. Over two weeks ago, still working Amador theories, if you read back in this thread - I had offered to buy Jeb a car.

This week he saw a psychiatrist that he arranged all on his own. He got a prescription for an anti-psychotic.

No idea where it will go, but it does say something for the LEAP theory. Maybe the recent six week nightmare episode played a part.

Talk about playing the long game - we’ve been working this for a couple of years. I think since late 2013 when we originally used LEAP to get him to see a doctor in 2014 by bribing him.

His dad and I are glad of the news, I wouldn’t go so far as to say we are cautiously optimistic - that would be much more optimistic than we feel, but there is a little spark of hope lit. While its probably going to be short lived, it feels nice.

Yes, we expect the usual wall of water schizophrenia brings will douse out this spark of hope, but in the meantime, we might as well savor it.

4 Likes

@hope - that is such good news!

And, since he did all of this on his own, he’s so much more likely to take his meds.

1 Like

that’s what they say, right?

2 Likes

I can’t offer any detailed observations about how my son is doing on his newly prescribed psych meds. I know he hasn’t left his apartment which means he isn’t feeling well enough to leave.

He has had the meds in his possession for about four days. He did open his door and yell something out when we were at breakfast. Whatever he said was garbled, when he has garbled speech he doesn’t realize its garbled.

He texted a couple of times in a row about the sex abuse issue and that was it.

Thank you for update. I hope he takes the medication long enough to see whether it works for him.

1 Like

the odds are not very good, but at least its something.

2 Likes

@hope4us

Here is one of the threads I mentioned, I am looking for a thread that discussed another source of communication which offers more options that can supplement LEAP

@Hereandhere, @Mom2, @Vallpen @Jan @Day-by-Day Do any of you remember what I am referring to?

1 Like

I know which resource you’re talking about. @SzAdmin posted it. I will look for it.

Are you thinking of the “First aid for psychosis” page?

http://www.schizophrenia.com/sznews/archives/005561.html#

1 Like