I am a single mom, caregiver to my adult 32year old son, who has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. The CT Scan shows frontal lobe cortical atrophy.
There is dual diagnosis, in that, he had started taking hard core narcotic drugs, ended up in a mental hospita for a month, dicharged and started smoking canibis as though he were smoking cigarettes. He does smoke cigarettes too. 5months later , he ended up in the mental hospital again and was discharged to a rehab facility.
He was discharged from the rehab because they found him in a psychotic state ( reason being, they were not giving him his medication). He is back , refusing medication most of the time. He is on olanzapine.
Kindly assist in any advise, or the latest therapy or medication that can help him with recovery and methods to cope.
I would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
Very sorry to hear about your situation. The suggestions and reading I’ve outlined in this earlier post might be a good place for you to start. And I hope others can add suggestions:
I have a 33 year old daughter with a diagnosis of schizo-affective disorder. All of the parents/caregivers understand what you are going through. It’s tough. My daughter does take her medication now – it’s not perfect and she still struggles but far better when she wasn’t taking her medication. Unfortunately the medication have very nasty side effects and I feel that is why so many of our children turn to illegal drugs. The hardest thing for me has been to remain hopeful but for me there is no other choice but to always find hope.
I’m posting a BBC radio presentation about the latest hopeful research - in fact if true its revolutionary and may change the way we medically treat folks with any type of mental illness. The BBC presentation is called “The Inflamed Mind.” Just a heads up when you click the presentation there is a little bit of another news but then it goes into “The Inflamed Mind.” Best to you and keep posting on this forum as it will provide the support you may need. There are many parents on this forum who understand. Several years ago I was on this forum daily but now I check in occasionally just to see if I can be a source of support and hope for the new parent who just learned their child have a serious mental illness.